2020-2021 Weill Cornell

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Their FAQs say that two LORs are required, if not submitting committee letter. Does anyone know if they accept additional letters?
 
Prerequisite deadline is January 31. Anyone know if there's flexibility with this? Taking my last writing course in the spring so I wouldn't be able to meet that until the following semester so not sure it would even be worth applying
 
premiepremie said:
Prerequisite deadline is January 31. Anyone know if there's flexibility with this? Taking my last writing course in the spring so I wouldn't be able to meet that until the following semester so not sure it would even be worth applying
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The best person to ask is admissions. Call them or email them.
 
Secondary received. Here are the prompts (all have a 1500 character limit):

Please write a brief statement giving your reasons for applying to Weill Cornell Medical College.

Please describe a challenge you faced and how you addressed it.

If applicable, please tell us about any special circumstances related to COVID-19 that could help us understand you better. (Optional)

If you are not attending college during the upcoming (2020-2021) academic year, what are your plans? (Optional)
 
"help us understand you better" is pretty broad. Do you think it would be okay to talk about ways I have stepped up during the pandemic, or are they looking more for extenuating circumstances?
 
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Bada Bing said:
"help us understand you better" is pretty broad. Do you think it would be okay to talk about ways I have stepped up during the pandemic, or are they looking more for extenuating circumstances?
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Replying to myself, but on further thought I think ways we've stepped up are better addressed in the 4th question
 
When I follow the link in the secondary email, it takes me to an AAMC login, and then I get forwarded to the Buffalo secondary instead.... anyone else having this issue?

EDIT: Fixed! If anyone is on a Mac, switching to chrome resolved this for me.
 
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Bada Bing said:
"help us understand you better" is pretty broad. Do you think it would be okay to talk about ways I have stepped up during the pandemic, or are they looking more for extenuating circumstances?
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Yea Im not sure if I should use this space to say besides having my activities cancelled, my publication has also been delayed but I've been able to submit an online poster presentation instead. Would this count for this question or should I leave it blank?
 
Acera said:
Yea Im not sure if I should use this space to say besides having my activities cancelled, my publication has also been delayed but I've been able to submit an online poster presentation instead. Would this count for this question or should I leave it blank?
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I think it could work because it shows how you adapted? I'm doing this for the covid prompts too, trying to highlighted how I creatively volunteered. I'm not doing this for covid prompts that specifically say "adverse effects" of the pandemic.
 
Are people only submitting three letters as per their secondary instructions? " Enter only letters from the three most relevant sources."

From their website I was under the impression that they needed a minimum of two letters but no max.
 
Bada Bing said:
"help us understand you better" is pretty broad. Do you think it would be okay to talk about ways I have stepped up during the pandemic, or are they looking more for extenuating circumstances?
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I personally did a bit of both. Such as: here are the ways I have been affected and here's what I've done in spite of this
 
The-Medical-Mamba said:
incoming M1, happy to answer any questions you guys have.

Unreal how it’s the next application cycle already lol.
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Thank you. I have a question more geared towards the secondary, not sure if you'd be comfortable answering. I was wondering how you approached the "Please describe a challenge you faced and how you addressed it." Did you interpret this question as something along the lines of a professional challenge, like in lab or volunteering, or as a personal/adversity type?
 
The-Medical-Mamba said:
ngl debt-free was the game changer to me. I was struggling hard to make a decision between Cornell and my 2nd choice, but the grant I got sealed the deal for me.

Other things that I loved about Cornell:
-ivy league name. Probably played a role to some small degree in matches.
-1.5 preclinical, with essentially 6 mos of protected research time through AOC
-focus on research. Can’t find research you like within Cornell? No worries. MSK, Rockefeller, HSS are powerhouses, all within walking distance. As someone who is thinking ortho, HSS is a big time draw
-small class size. I think its around 106 students w/ ~20 MD/PhDs. I mean, look at the all opportunities for such a relatively small class. Felt that this would naturally lead to less competition and cut-throat culture (but obviously I have yet to experience this first hand)
-NYP is a big time hospital. Ranked in the top 5 I’m pretty sure on USNWR.
-upper east side is nice af. this was important to me bc I don't think I'm a NYC kind of guy, but UES appeared to be tolerable lol... plenty of stuff to do outside of school.
-true p/f .. preclinical grades aren't kept track of... except for you award given at graduation for the student who had the highest preclinical grades (won't be me lol)
-diversity of patient population. it's NYC! but also, there so many awesome clinics that you can get involved with ... and those themselves will give you so much exposure (uninsured, low-income, human rights, lgbtq)
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yeah this is dope as hell. thanks and congrats fam I wish you luck!
 
@The-Medical-Mamba Do you think it would be wise to talk about some of the laboratories that stand out to me as a regular MD applicant? Focus on research is part of why I am applying to Cornell and there are certain labs that focus on similar topics as my undergraduate research that appeal to me.
 
Does this secondary allow for an optional text box for IAs or allow for updates after submission? To make a long story short, I have pre-written all my secondaries but still waiting for my primary to be reviewed (hopefully in a few more days!), but when I submitted my primary I indicated I had no IAs because what I thought were not violations actually were. After talking to a few admissions departments I have learned my best bet is to 1)email the admissions office and dean of admissions, 2) explain in the optional text box why I did not report it on my primary, and 3)update my application with the details if allowed.

Therefore, does this secondary have an optional text box or allow for resubmission where I would have the opportunity to explain this situation?
 
mpmp3233 said:
Does this secondary allow for an optional text box for IAs or allow for updates after submission? To make a long story short, I have pre-written all my secondaries but still waiting for my primary to be reviewed (hopefully in a few more days!), but when I submitted my primary I indicated I had no IAs because what I thought were not violations actually were. After talking to a few admissions departments I have learned my best bet is to 1)email the admissions office and dean of admissions, 2) explain in the optional text box why I did not report it on my primary, and 3)update my application with the details if allowed.

Therefore, does this secondary have an optional text box or allow for resubmission where I would have the opportunity to explain this situation?
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The secondaries do not have a specific box for iPad but you could probably squeeze it into the challenge essay
 
is there a letter of rec maximum? My school doesn't have committee letters and I only see a minimum of 2 on Cornell's website. But then on the secondary it says list up to three letter sources? Sorry if this is a dumb q lmao.
 
Bada Bing said:
Replying to myself, but on further thought I think ways we've stepped up are better addressed in the 4th question
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I had this same question...what if I responded to COVID while I was still in undergrad? Would it be appropriate to mention it under the 3rd question instead of the 4th, which is asking more about gap year?
 
Did anyone leave the COVID prompt blank? Normally I've been including a short little blurb on how my plans were affected (jobs, volunteering, shadowing, etc) but I don't think it fits the prompt? Or maybe it does? I'm a little confused about what they are looking for with this question.
 
Also, it says to limit your responses to 1500 characters... but it gives you 1525 in the character count?
 
I was also wondering about the character count limit situation too - does anyone from the previous cycle have any idea?
 
On the prompt: "If you are not attending college during the upcoming (2020-2021) academic year, what are your plans? Optional" If I am attending a graduate program, does that count as "college"? Usually I've seen the wording "If you're not a full-time student..." on these types of questions.
 
Current student here 🙂 If the website allows you to use extra characters I would say it's fine to use them but also totally fine if you don't.
 
Maybedoc1 said:
Did anyone leave the COVID prompt blank? Normally I've been including a short little blurb on how my plans were affected (jobs, volunteering, shadowing, etc) but I don't think it fits the prompt? Or maybe it does? I'm a little confused about what they are looking for with this question.
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I left it blank for the exact same reason. There's nothing that the pandemic can tell them about me that the rest of my application doesn't. I kinda took the same approach as we're supposed to take with LORs. Cover all things, but redundancy usually doesn't add anything and can sometimes be viewed a bit negatively.
 
How closely does Weill Cornell work with Rockefeller and Memorial Sloan Kettering (Tri-Institutional Collaboration Network)? Can any current students or knowledgable about the school comment on how collaborative the three institutions actually are? Do medical students at Cornell conduct research at or work with faculty at the other two schools?
 
An MD-PhD student is better able to answer this but they are all extremely well connected. I know of a few MD students who do research at Sloan Kettering
 
Gentle_Scientist said:
I left it blank for the exact same reason. There's nothing that the pandemic can tell them about me that the rest of my application doesn't. I kinda took the same approach as we're supposed to take with LORs. Cover all things, but redundancy usually doesn't add anything and can sometimes be viewed a bit negatively.
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Same
 
Did anyone who had their AMCAS verified recently not receive their secondary invite? Mine went through a few days ago and I got almost all the schools the next morning except Cornell and a handful of others
 
I submitted my secondary a few days ago and got this email "Your Weill Cornell application is incomplete - letters missing". My letters have been marked as received by AMCAS since 7/24 so I'm not sure why they've said I have letters missing.

Has anyone else experienced the same thing?
 
biscuits18 said:
I submitted my secondary a few days ago and got this email "Your Weill Cornell application is incomplete - letters missing". My letters have been marked as received by AMCAS since 7/24 so I'm not sure why they've said I have letters missing.

Has anyone else experienced the same thing?
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Yeah I've received the same notification. The three letters I marked on the secondary app are all noted as received in AMCAS.
 
biscuits18 said:
Do you mind me asking when you submitted your secondary and if there's been any update since then?
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I submitted on 7/29 and besides the initial email telling me that my recommendations haven't been received, I haven't heard anything else from them. Logging back in to the secondary app, it says "Finished" but I'm not sure if that means they've received the letters? I might call them on Monday and see.
 
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