Cornell vs. JHU vs. Duke PREMED

Colleges & Universities Cornell University
21

<p>When it comes to grading and grade inflation in PRE-MED, who do you think is more cutthroat, Cornell or Duke? I think I may drop out JHU simply because the really superintense BME’s will kill me when it comes to GPAs and grades. I dont want a hardcore pre-med environment such as JHU, which i believe is more fierce than Duke and Cornell. </p>

<p>-However, what I really wnat to choose from when I apply ED this fall, is that whether the academics are exremel rigorous at Duke or Cornell and JHU. How are the professors? Do you get good outside help from professors? Can you at least go to a party on Saturday without danger to your GPA? I have visited the campuses, however, when it comes to these questions, I want to make sure that these schools are something I can endure for the whole year. My goal is to really get a solid 3.6 or above GPA and I want to know which school will be the easiest to do it in.</p>

22

<p>Hard choice. </p>

<p>Wait…not its not. Go to Duke. The students are about equal in terms of cuthroat behavior, but Duke fares better in med school placement. Since JHU is out of the equation, the chose becomes obvious. At Duke, you have time to party regardless of your major. It seems as if you are the premier Duke applicant in terms of interests and goals.</p>

23

<p>Cornell and Duke will both prepare you for med school; however, due to Cornell’s grading deflation and Duke’s grade inflation, you are likely to get a higher GPA at Duke. Quite frankly, you will have to work hard regardless of which school you choose to attend assuming you get into both.</p>

<p>It is possible do well in your science classes despite Cornell’s policy–I think norcalguy can testify to that. </p>

<p>It is possible to perform poorly in your science classes despite Duke’s policy–I think many Duke pre-meds can testify to that.</p>

24

<p>Well well, I see where we are now. Yeah, I mean, the reason why I pose such a question is that no one wants be that person who wasted an Ivy League education and got a GPA that would have been much higher at a different place. beause of grade deflation. I am of course referring to Cornell. However, perhaps Duke would be a better fit. I was wondering, because you guys didnt mention, what about Hopkins, its grade deflation, lifestyle. Do you think Hopkins is worse than Cornell in terms of pre-med grading and life or vice versa. </p>

<p>What I have understood though far enough is that Duke is clearly the best choice.</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

25

<p>I would go to Cornell over Johns Hopkins. Even though Cornell have more in common grade wise with JHU than Duke:</p>

<p>-Cornell has a better social life than JHU
-JHU’s campus is not in an endearing location. If I had gone, I swear I thought I would have to pack a bulletproof vest.
-Cornell is fairly close to NYC.
-Cornell has a pretty campus</p>

26

<p>JHU has a gorgeous campus as well. These schools have billions of dollars in endowments to spend sheerly on aesthetics (with the exception of Columbia. ewwwww :))</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/images/visiting/img_locationmain.jpg[/url]”>http://www.hopkinschildrens.org/images/visiting/img_locationmain.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p><a href=“http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/jhop/non-sport/school-bio/jhop-gillam-hall.jpg[/url]”>http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/jhop/non-sport/school-bio/jhop-gillam-hall.jpg&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>Moreover, I am not sure I would say Cornell is better socially than JHU because Baltimore is a very vivacious city. Just make sure to pack your sawed off shotgun and you’ll have a blast at JHU. If you love icecream, Cornell is for you.</p>

27

<p>I think you have painted a picture for me. I have talked with so many people about these three schools and its gonna come down to an Early Decision this fall to one of them. Please take some time to evaluate where you think I may best fit reading my profile below:</p>

<p>-Profile:-</p>

<p>-Asian Indian from New Jersey</p>

<p>Stats:
SAT I- 1480/ Math IC - 760, Math IIC - 800, Bio- 790, Physics- 790, Latin- 750, Writing- 640/</p>

<p>8 APs: Biology, AB Calc, BC Calc, Latin: Vergil, Chemistry, Physics B, English Language, Statistics
-Mostly 5’s and 4’s</p>

<p>Grades:
Freshman year, I had attended a prep school in which I received a 98.5 average with the highest GPA of a 4.2/4.2 with the most difficult courses and perhaps ranked in the top three students academically.</p>

<p>(Sophmore-Senior)
I attend an elite boarding school, Deerfield Academy, where about 33% of the seniors attend the Ivy Leagues. At this difficult place, I, personally, have an 88 average. The school, however, does not rank. The kids who get accepted to Harvard, Princeton, or Yale get around a 90-93 average. Thus, this school is very competetive and a feeder to the top universities. I am on target for perhaps the lower end of the Ivies and other great institutions.</p>

<p>I actually just graduated and I enrolled at Vandy but I am taking a year off. I did not get into Cornell RD and got waitlisted at JHU. My current plans are to attend a biomedical science college in India, do research, do many community service in the neighboring areas and in hospitals, and come back with a solid foundation entering pre-med in college. I hope this is a good idea to benefit myself as an individual and also for colleges to look upon.</p>

<p>As I mentioned, I graduated from Deerfield. This past year, I didnt apply ED which could have been a mistake. 7 out of 7 who applied ED to Penn got accepted though most are crew recruits. I, however, have no connections. Cornell - 4 out 4 ED (3 ED) and Duke (2 out of 2), however, no one applied to JHU. I really want to attend either Duke, Cornell, or JHU but my inclination is towards Duke. I feel like I can put up a great chance ED to Cornell or JHU but I wonder if it is risky in the competetive nature of applying to Penn or Duke ED? Also, Cornells ED rate is about 42%. Also, another question, as I take a year off, will colleges consider and lean towards primarily on my senior year grades and what I do the year off?</p>

<p>P.S.- Those sat IIs and 4 additional Ap courses are new and after the deadline that I am adding for my re-applying process this year so I dont want you guys to consider that the same results would proceed again this year.
Also, I realize the 640 SAT II writing is bad, but I heard that they may not consider writing so my 1480 is pretty legit as one component.</p>

<p>I have a great list of extra-curriculars which I have not compiled yet but will do so. But I have had many leadership obligations and awards with a well-rounded base that ranges from amazing,

  • excellent community service from all kinds with many hours and extends to an international scope.
    -Dance for 5 years and choreographer and leader of various genres. We have an excellent program
    -Vbaseball 2 years - went to new england championship. Varsity Soccer and swimming for 1 year.
    -Debate with a few awards. Math team with many awards and great scores & percentiles nationally.
    -President of several significant clubs that have made impact on the community and to myself. -Dance, Yoga, Black student Association, Vocal percussion-
    -Piano for 7 years- taking lessons, performing in recitals and bands. Some accapella (vocal percussionist).
    -Big Brother/Math Tutor/Buddy system/Head Tour Guide/Technology Proctor/Website Editor/Hospital Volunteering</p>

<h2>I have additional great activites plus awards whcih I have not listed. But most ly, I hope what I have done in such an environment and caliber of my school is what will be impressive to colleges.</h2>

<p>Reccs: 7 reccs (too much probably, but I know the will read it as they will provide different perspectives on myself)
-2 history, 1 Latin, 2 Science Reccs from (India), 1 Advisor, 1 Dance Teacher</p>

<p>There is just one thing that boggles my mind and that is the mere fact of acceptance rates. I know Cornell has a 43% ED rate, JHU has a 50% ED rate, and well Duke - 32 or 31% ED rate. So, I know I shouldnt focus on these numbers and talk rather on my passion. However, for me, I personally would be the happiest at Duke and also really happy at the other two.</p>

28

<p><em>Bump</em></p>

<p>lol</p>

29

<p>isn’t it clear that we all say you have a fair chance now pick the school you like best, apply ed and apply to the other ones too?</p>

30

<p>Cornell is the easiest of the 3 to eliminate. JHU probably has the best pre-med program but the competition there is likely to hurt your grades which, in turn, might hurt your chances for Med school. Duke has an excellent pre-med program and decent grade inflation so it would seem an excellent option.</p>

31

<p>since when is grade inflation a good thing? Grade inflation applies to every student there, so your inflated grades don’t set you above the other students at the school you are applying from. And, med schools know about the existance and extent of grade inflation at certain schools, so that wouldn’t help you either. You want to go for the college with the best pre-med rep. (that you can do well at) rather than the highest average GPA. I’m not saying duke cornell or hopkins is a good/bad/better choice, i’m just saying this as my opinion on the situation in general.</p>

32

<p>but if chose one, which one? is jhu better than cornell and duke?</p>

33

<p>they’re all great, you’ll have a darn good chance @ all of them. pick the one you like best in my opinion.</p>

34

<p>you would be a FOOL to go to JHU, everytime you walk outside you run the risk of getting shot. It’s not safe, hence, don’t go there!! JHU’s acceptance rate jumped up to 35 percent, b/c they admitted so many more students after a few students were shot dead (they feared their yield would be shot as well).</p>

35

<p>i kind of agree, I dont feel like getting shot and have someone bust a cap in my a$$, collegekid. Yet at the same time, as a pre-med I dont want to get hit with brutal curves especially since most of the science classes have about 5-10% with A’s and the rest with B’s. Those students of course are people who are national science geniuses on the paths to cure cancer. Plus grade deflation is worse than JHU I hear. What is your outlook on the better pre-med. ?</p>

36

<p>I’m not sure where you got the figure that there are only 5-10% A’s given out. The worst curved class you’ll encounter as a premed is intro bio (where the mean is curved to a B-) in which around 17% of the people will receive an A- or above. Every other science class you’ll take will be curved to a B or B+ or sometimes an A- as in the case of physics.</p>

37

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</p>

<p>Yeah, but it does set you apart from students who go to other schools where grades are deflated. It’s better to be set above some students, then to be set above no students. Grade inflation doesn’t solve all your problems, but it’s better to have it than to not have it. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Well, from what I’ve seen, either they don’t know about the grade inflation, or they don’t care. The bottom line is that med-schools do seem to give preference to those students who ‘coincidentally’ come from schools that practice grade inflation over schools that don’t.</p>

<p>Let me give you an example. I think we can all agree that HYPSM all have similar student bodies and all have roughly equally good premed programs. Yet, the fact is, the MIT premed placement rate has always been consistently lower than that at HYPS. Every year, about 75% of all MIT premeds who apply to med-school will get admitted somewhere (hence 25% get rejected from every med-school they apply to), yet every year, about 90% of all HYPS premeds who apply to med-school will get admitted somewhere. That’s not just for one year, but has been true for many years. It’s consistent. Why is that? I could understand that maybe in one year, something unlucky happened to the MIT applicants. But why does it consistently happen every year? It seems to me that the explanatory factor is that MIT gives out lower grades than do HYPS, and the med-schools don’t care that MIT gives out lower grades. {Which leads to the corollary that if you want to maximize your chances of getting into med-school, you should probably go to HYPS and not MIT}. The point is that it looks like med-schools don’t know about grade inflation, or don’t WANT to know about it.</p>

38

<p>bump</p>

<p>oooo yeah keep da thread alive</p>

39

<p>My roommate went to Hopkins and he laughs at all the people who go to Hopkins for its pre-med. The top do very well, but TONS of students get weeded out. Avoid JHU in my opinion, its competitve reputation is for real.</p>

<p>I think Duke is by far the best fit, but I think your GPA will likely get in the way of an acceptance. You also need to raise the writing SAT score. I got a 560, studied hardcore, and got it up to a 740. Its by far the easiest SAT2 to study for in my opinion. Getting it above a 700 will go far in helping you get into schools.</p>

<p>I think Cornell ED is a better bet than Duke but I think Duke is the best fit. </p>

<p>Actually Northwestern might also be a good balance between the two and I think you are very strong ED candidate.</p>

40

<p>Slipper1234,
Well Northwestern has a rejection or acceptance so I would rather prefer a defference. I think Cornell is just like JHU so I may not prefer to go there. As for SAT II writing, unless I take the entire NEW SAT, I can’t retake the writing as a separate SAT II unit since it has been eliminated. But I heard that some schools may not really look at writing since the NEW SAT is just under way and that it is 2/3 english based and may not be fair for minorities. MIT is an example that won’y really care. Also, do you think that my other SAT IIs can be more prioritized than my writing score?
As far as GPA, I did go to a really hard boarding school and I mentioned that kids with 92 averages get into Harvard. Freshman year, I had a 98.5 average with a 4.2 GPA and it was at a Jesuit high school. So I hope you can consider my 88 average in the context of my school.
But as far as Duke goes, do you think I have a good shot with my year abroad. I will still apply as a new student. I will also submit a dance tape with a dance recc. and also a science research report that I will do in India. And I will be sure of writing excellent essays. And I really want to get into Duke.</p>