Washu (55k) vs. Cornell (75 k + Rawlings Presidential Research Scholar) For premed

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Cornell is a very difficult campus, 3 students committed suicide before Thanksgiving break this year. I have a family member there who was valedictorian of their high school but failed classes their first 2 years at Cornell due to the grading system there and the professors being very difficult.

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22

^Three tragedies happened at Cornell this year, one of them a suicide. It does sound like a stressful place but fortunately there weren’t three suicides. :pleading_face::disappointed_face:

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23

One was a suicide and the other was as accident. Unfortunately, suicides happen on almost every campus in America.

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24

Both are wonderful options. My only advice is don’t let fear be the reason for any decision. Fear shouldn’t guide what you do. If you knew you couldn’t fail, which would you choose?

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Cornell, i’m more excited for the research scholars and campus life. I think im choosing there

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26

Go Big Red!

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27

Both schools are excellent. Both campuses are pretty. They both are competitive for premed. Maybe more to do in St. Louis than Ithaca. Weather generally not great in either location during the winter. Maybe Cornell has a slightly better reputation overall. Maybe Cornell has slightly more grade deflation, but I do know WashU is no cakewalk. Overall, although Cornell may have a little bit better name recognition being an Ivy, both are respected and both underrated. I would select WashU since I don’t think Cornell would be worth the price.

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28

Yep. Not sure about the veracity of all the stories of students jumping into the fjords on Cornell’s campus.

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Came across this article:

Also, I saw that Cornell wasn’t in the top 10 of most “depressed” students. Surprised a little by that. I always was under the impression that certain schools did have a higher number of depressed students due to difficulty, competitive environment, weather, etc. It’s not saying students aren’t stressed out at Cornell or WashU or Berkeley or Hopkins, just that there may be another school that according to someone’s metrics is even more depressing.

This article has WashU as being more stressful than Cornell. Likely due to their possibly being more premed students? Again, everything taken with a grain of salt.

Funny how Brown is the happiest Ivy yet the top 20 most stressed out students even with their open curriculum!

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That looks like it almost parallels the USNews list!

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31

Well Berkeley should be much much higher! Go Bears.

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Congrats on choosing Cornell. If you’ve visited and felt a connection that you’ll be happier there, want to be in a new area, can afford it, and have the research scholars program then I think you’ll do great and don’t need to worry.

The ones that are more at risk are kids that chose prestige and the school wasn’t a fit. All the best to you, time to celebrate!

ETA: Ironically since posting this I got a reminder email for my youngest at a UK American school for a zoom about college mental health programs and wellness initiatives to support students. It’s 5 colleges, Cornell, Swarthmore, McGill and two UK schools. “This session is designed to help parents understand the resources their child can access and how universities are prioritizing student mental health”.

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Visited Cornell this spring with my DD and we really enjoyed it. I think you made a good decision!