2012-2013 Cornell University (Weill) Application Thread

Applying to Med School? Get In Or Your Money Back
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Let me know if you guys have any questions about the school.
 
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Does anyone know when waitlist movement starts for this school? Thanks!
 
edfig99 said:
like most schools, there likely won't be significant wait list movement until after applicants commit to one school (after May 15).

good luck.
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i withdrew from cornell. got into another school i preferred. good luck everyone
 
nazz said:
i withdrew from cornell. got into another school i preferred. good luck everyone
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From those of us sitting on the waitlist, thanks for the update. Best of luck to you!
 
Also withdrew my app. from the WL. This was my last school and now all of my eggs are in one basket. Good luck to the rest of you and hopefully you will be able to attend where you guys want to.
 
Other than the FAFSA, needaccess.org, and tax and W2 forms from both me and my parents, what does Cornell require for financial aid? The school information on needaccess was really weird and told me to send the materials to Boston University Medical Campus... Very shady!
 
shirahyuki said:
Other than the FAFSA, needaccess.org, and tax and W2 forms from both me and my parents, what does Cornell require for financial aid? The school information on needaccess was really weird and told me to send the materials to Boston University Medical Campus... Very shady!
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http://weill.cornell.edu/education/admissions/app_fin_aid.html

There's another form and a copy of your CV - if you follow the links on the right side of that page, it will take you through it.
 
I am currently on the wait-list. Now let's say I get in off the wait-list. How much time would I have to decide in case that happens after May 15th? is it the same day since I can only be registered at one school after May 15th or they will give me some time to decide?

Any help would be appreciated.
 
Hi! I would appreciate it if current or past cornell med students could answer a few questions for me

What is the local (on-campus) clinical facilities like (MKSCC, HSS, NYP)? Did you get to do a lot of stuff during your rotations and such or were clinical teaching more limited to observership? What clerkships are required to be completed at these locations?

As far as the off-campus hospital affiliates (Queens, Bronx), how were these in comparison? How is the commute to these locations?

Overall, how was the mentorship and teaching abilities of the clinical faculty? Also, how are most the of the clinical faculty personality wise?

Currently, I am considering Cornell and NYU. I feel like the have similar prestige and location. I'm looking for a medical school to provide me with great clinical training so your thoughts and opinions would really help. Thanks!
 
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I must admit, Cornell does a pretty damn fine job of selling their school to prospective students. Anyone else just get the accepted students weekend email? I wasn't able to go, and they basically sent an entire directory of their current first year class so that we can ask them questions!!!
 
Congratulations to everyone that got in. I'm thinking about applying and have a question. If anyone could help me out it would be appreciated. The website stated that they want LOR's from a supervisor at 'significant experiences'. What does this exactly mean? Did you send them more LOR's than other schools? So far I have 3 professors, 1 work, 1 clinical, and a research (totaling 6). Would I still need others from experiences (for example I volunteered, non-medical, for about 90 hours)?
 
bigdawg said:
Congratulations to everyone that got in. I'm thinking about applying and have a question. If anyone could help me out it would be appreciated. The website stated that they want LOR's from a supervisor at 'significant experiences'. What does this exactly mean? Did you send them more LOR's than other schools? So far I have 3 professors, 1 work, 1 clinical, and a research (totaling 6). Would I still need others from experiences (for example I volunteered, non-medical, for about 90 hours)?
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I think 6 is ok. I only sent 5, and one was just a character reference from a physician.
 
Anybody else really upset with their financial aid?
 
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tungsten184 said:
Anybody else really upset with their financial aid?
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Would you please give us an idea of what the FA looks like. I mean I looked at last year's thread and saw many people upset with the FA. I just do not understand why. How bad is it?
 
bk9iq said:
Would you please give us an idea of what the FA looks like. I mean I looked at last year's thread and saw many people upset with the FA. I just do not understand why. How bad is it?
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With my aid it looks like I would graduate with more than 200k in debt which is weird cause their website said that around %75 of the 2012 graduates graduated with an average of 147k in debt. My parents make less than 100k a year so I thought I would be closer to that average. Also that example financial budget aid that they give on their website was not accurate based off what I got.
 
tungsten184 said:
With my aid it looks like I would graduate with more than 200k in debt which is weird cause their website said that around %75 of the 2012 graduates graduated with an average of 147k in debt. My parents make less than 100k a year so I thought I would be closer to that average. Also that example financial budget aid that they give on their website was not accurate based off what I got.
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Oh ok thanks so much for the details. I also thought that the example on their website is accurate but obviously it is not. Really weird. Thanks again.
 
Anyone else get their offers? I haven't gotten mine, seems like they would release them at the same time for people who got stuff in already...
 
pv515 said:
Anyone else get their offers? I haven't gotten mine, seems like they would release them at the same time for people who got stuff in already...
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Scratch that, just got my offer. It's almost as bad as possible, with EFC (just another word for loans for 95% of people it seems) up at 50k, and then more loans for the rest. All in all up at 76k for COA for first year, all of which will be loans. Even Vanderbilt gave me a little need based money, I would've thought Cornell had more money than they did :(
 
pv515 said:
Scratch that, just got my offer. It's almost as bad as possible, with EFC (just another word for loans for 95% of people it seems) up at 50k, and then more loans for the rest. All in all up at 76k for COA for first year, all of which will be loans. Even Vanderbilt gave me a little need based money, I would've thought Cornell had more money than they did :(
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What kind of loans are they? Direct loans from the federal government that are unsubsidized? Or subsidized loans from the school itself? Thanks
 
Twinnering said:
What kind of loans are they? Direct loans from the federal government that are unsubsidized? Or subsidized loans from the school itself? Thanks
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Negligible amount are Perkins loans and Cornell school loans. About 4k of each, though the interest rate is exorbitant on Cornell loans (9%) despite being deferred
 
it seems like their FA is kinda bad - do you think this will many accepted students to go elsewhere?
 
med17 said:
it seems like their FA is kinda bad - do you think this will many accepted students to go elsewhere?
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almost 2 of every 3 of their accepted students go elsewhere, probably not just due to bad FA
 
med17 said:
what are the other [implied] reasons?
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it's probably the usual reasons why anyone would choose one school over another...like better fit somewhere else, better apartment or cost of living (NYC is not cheap), better financial aid, culture, community (proportion of gunners). If you are undecided about schools, I'd say go with gut feeling, the intangibles
 
med17 said:
what are the other [implied] reasons?
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I withdrew last week. Part of my decision was financial aid (no need based aid, I don't think anyone gets any, lol), but a lot more of it had to do with how I felt the faculty kind of take a hands off approach to education. For me personally, I could succeed in an environment where independence is encouraged and the norm, but I figured it would be more fun and I would stay more sane in a place where the faculty seemed more focused on the students.

Cornell has an awesome student body though, they were soooo helpful telling me the need to know facts about the school! If you're looking for a great student experience with lots of class solidarity (kind of an us against NYC mentality? Very fun and supportive!) then Cornell is a tremendous place for you!
 
Very confused that Cornell gave me more financial aid grant aid than my other supposedly more generous schools. I found this entire application process to be such a crapshoot.
 
Does the "required" unit loan mean it's impossible for any Cornell med student to graduate with anything less than ~$138,260 debt?

This doesn't seem right to me. Anyone care to explain?
 
MDPhDJourney said:
Does the "required" unit loan mean it's impossible for any Cornell med student to graduate with anything less than ~$138,260 debt?

This doesn't seem right to me. Anyone care to explain?
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the unit loan is the amount that has to be borrowed before any internal grants can be applied to your financial aid award and is a mix between federal loans and institutional loans. It's determined yearly, and it's a different amount per class year. You can bring down the amount you have to borrow by obtaining external scholarships or grants. Some students graduate with that amount of debt, some more, some less - it's all very individualized.
 
just got an email asking if I wanted to remain on the waitlist.

Hopefully theres some movement starting next week:thumbup:
 
tungsten184 said:
With my aid it looks like I would graduate with more than 200k in debt which is weird cause their website said that around %75 of the 2012 graduates graduated with an average of 147k in debt. My parents make less than 100k a year so I thought I would be closer to that average. Also that example financial budget aid that they give on their website was not accurate based off what I got.
Click to expand...

Up until this past year (2012-2013), Cornell had been very generous with FA, often giving people up to 50% pure grants, etc. Then, due to several factors including Obama's graduate student loan legislations (in which he basically screwed all of us over), Cornell this year basically stopped giving out any grants at all, and all previously subsidized loans were canceled, meaning the interest is a bitch.
 
pv515 said:
I withdrew last week. Part of my decision was financial aid (no need based aid, I don't think anyone gets any, lol), but a lot more of it had to do with how I felt the faculty kind of take a hands off approach to education. For me personally, I could succeed in an environment where independence is encouraged and the norm, but I figured it would be more fun and I would stay more sane in a place where the faculty seemed more focused on the students.
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Here is a cornell MS3's 2 cents - you're correct that the school does take a hands-off approach, but only in the form of giving you independence where it counts. For example, 4th year here is basically completely free, meaning you can schedule whatever it takes to bolster your application in your specialty (away rotations at your top residency choice, electives in your hopeful sub-specialty, electives under a mentor you want a letter of rec from, etc). Many other schools force you to take a regimented schedule which does not give you these options.

Another example is the fact that we have lecture until 1pm every day during the first two years - something unheard of at 99% of schools out there. I and many of my classmates took this afternoon time to do research or ECs that greatly helped my residency application, or took the time tailoring studying to our learning style (not many people I know learn best by sitting through 8 hours of lecture).

At no point did I ever feel the faculty had anything but the utmost care for the students, as they were always immediately available by email or phone, came to social functions, stayed until nighttime during all anatomy days, etc.

Hope this helps!
 
WilsonFan said:
Up until this past year (2012-2013), Cornell had been very generous with FA, often giving people up to 50% pure grants, etc. Then, due to several factors including Obama's graduate student loan legislations (in which he basically screwed all of us over), Cornell this year basically stopped giving out any grants at all, and all previously subsidized loans were canceled, meaning the interest is a bitch.
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does that mean need-based scholarships are not given?
 
WilsonFan said:
Here is a cornell MS3's 2 cents - you're correct that the school does take a hands-off approach, but only in the form of giving you independence where it counts. For example, 4th year here is basically completely free, meaning you can schedule whatever it takes to bolster your application in your specialty (away rotations at your top residency choice, electives in your hopeful sub-specialty, electives under a mentor you want a letter of rec from, etc). Many other schools force you to take a regimented schedule which does not give you these options.

Another example is the fact that we have lecture until 1pm every day during the first two years - something unheard of at 99% of schools out there. I and many of my classmates took this afternoon time to do research or ECs that greatly helped my residency application, or took the time tailoring studying to our learning style (not many people I know learn best by sitting through 8 hours of lecture).

At no point did I ever feel the faculty had anything but the utmost care for the students, as they were always immediately available by email or phone, came to social functions, stayed until nighttime during all anatomy days, etc.

Hope this helps!
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Fortunately, the school I chose (Vanderbilt) has a very open ended, customizable 3rd/4th year curriculum due to having 2nd year rotations. I also liked the idea of having them all at the home medical center, rather than being required to commute in NYC. I really liked everything Cornell had to offer, but in the end it was 50,000 more over 4 years (and my FA there might actually improve as my parents retire, unlike at Cornell), and I felt better about my prospects matching at Vanderbilt's home programs than at NYPH. Unfounded or not, I just got a better feel from Vandy as a school.

That said, had COA and financial aid been equal, it would have been much harder to turn down NYC, but I'm glad that someone else who really really wants it will get my spot and I'm glad that everything is working out for you there, it seemed like a great place!!! :)
 
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twentythousand said:
does that mean need-based scholarships are not given?
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They are, just much less than previous years. I was explaining the discrepancy between "2012 graduating average debt" stats and people's impression this year.
 
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