<p>Kaukauna - I did, and honestly they weren’t too helpful. They basically gave no reason why Cornell’s rate is lower other than “getting into medical school is hard.” They also didn’t give a legit reason why, ever since 2010, Cornell’s med school acceptance data is no longer reported. This raises a HUGE red flag. </p>
<p>2Daswell - I understand what you are saying, you can’t take the numbers solely at face value (even if they are broken up into applied/accepted charts). There are a lot of confounding factors that may affect the placement rate, which is why I posted on this forum in the first place (to find a justification for why Cornell’s acceptance rate is low). At the same time, I think your midwest argument isn’t true. Think about all the great med schools in the midwest - WashU, UMich, Northwestern, UChicago, Wisconsin-Madison, Case Western, Mayo. You’ve got Vanderbilt, Duke, Baylor, and Emory not too far away from WashU (relatively speaking). Plus we’re talking about students getting into ANY med school. I find it hard to believe that less Cornell students apply to “easier to get into” med schools than do WashU students. As far as high GPA, I understand my GPA will suffer at a higher-ranked school, and I am okay with that. What bothers me is that peer schools of Cornell routinely get many more students (with lesser or equal GPAs to their Cornell counterparts) into medical school. </p>
<p>Monydad - While I see what you are saying, again this is why I looked up the charts. What the charts show to me clearly is that WashU has more lesser-qualified applicants to med school than Cornell does, and still has a significantly higher acceptance rate. It’s not like Cornell has a weaker overall applicant pool, in fact Cornell’s applicant pool based on the charts seem quite strong compared to WashU. Plus, for students with lesser GPA’s at WashU than Cornell, the acceptance rate is still higher. That is my concern. I understand the concept of being weeded out and how hard it is to stay above the curve, but that happens at Cornell too. Cornell is often cited as “grade deflated and cutthroat” and while I largely disagree with that, students at Cornell (and peer schools) have told me that Cornell is among the toughest schools of its class/ranking to attend and to succeed at. </p>
<p>As far as the chart taking into account only MD schools and non-URM first-time applicants, yes that is one of the only reasons I can think of for why Cornell’s acceptance rate is so low. The other reason, I am guessing, is poor advising and/or clinical opportunities. I have spoken with Cornell premed students who say that clinical opportunities, if you don’t have a car, are very rarely pursued during the school year. There is no nearby affiliated hospital, transportation to the Ithaca Med Center is difficult (there’s not even a Cornell shuttle that goes there), and not many opportunities for volunteers exist there anyways. Everybody at Cornell points to the “fantastic EMS” in response to this, but honestly EMS is different than hospital experience and WashU/peer schools have student-run EMS as well. I think Cornell sorely lacks in clinical opportunities for undergrads, why this is I do not know (again the pre health advising team was not helpful in this regard and basically suggested you have to be quite creative in finding meaningful clinical opportunities during the school year).</p>
<p>It’s unfortunate Cornell’s premed lags behind, as again it is a fantastic school and I love it and I was ecstatic when admitted. But looking deeper reveals that the premed just isn’t that great - yes numbers and stats only tell part of the picture, but numbers don’t lie. Statistically speaking, Cornell’s placement rate isn’t where it should be for such a great, rigorous school. Additionally, why Cornell doesn’t take more of an effort to provide more clinical opportunities for undergrads is beyond me. They don’t even run a program with Weill for summer undergrad opportunities, according to the pre health team. That is just sad…</p>
<p>I’m not trying to belittle Cornell, I’m just frustrated that such an amazing institution that I love so much does not have a great premed track (its premed may be decent or even good, but it’s not even comparable to many of its peer schools)… I think the harsh reality is that I - and most who want to get into med school - would be better off at WashU for premed…</p>