I'm a Cornell med student, so here's my input:
1. Facilities--Very nice. We have plenty of space in the Education Center, with enough computers for everyone to use (although they're Macs, which is a pain). Printing is free, as are transcripts for lecture notes. Also, all lecture slides are posted on the web.
2. Administration's treatment of students--Not bad, although there isn't a formal mentoring program which can be frustrating. You can figure out what you need to know, but you need to be assertive in making appointments with deans, finding people to be mentors, and get used to pumping students ahead of you for critical info. Generally, however, people are receptive to students and I've had very rewarding interactions with faculty members.
3. Students being supportive of/competitive with each other--For the past two years, my class has been very non-competetive and pretty supportive. It's changed a tad lately, because people are getting worked up about Step 1 of the boards, but it's still a relatively laid back environment. (A note about P/F--Cornell is P/F/H, and you are ranked at the end of your first two years.)
4. Money available to lavish students with perks
--The school has tons of money (another $150 million from Weill and Greenberg this year), but the students see NONE of it. (With the exception of the Education Center, which resulted from Weill's first large grant).
5. Residency placements--Very good. Almost all students place within top 3 choices, and they typically choose very competetive programs. Cornell students also have a good reputation for their clinical knowledge (I talked to MDs in the residency program at University of Washington, the top primary care school in the nation, and they said that Cornell residents were well-trained coming out of medical school).
6. USMLE performance (on all parts)--Don't know, although nobody's failed in past years.
7. Lifelong skills earned (ie., presenting patients, diagnosis)--can't really tell you, although we are learning physicial diagnosis in our second year, prior to starting clinical rotations. And we've already spent a lot of time doing neurological exams and psychiatric interviews with patients at various hospitals throughout NYC.
8. International opportunities & school money available to pay for you--THIS is where Cornell gets BIG praise. In your fourth year, you can go overseas and the school pays for almost all of it.
9. Financial aid--Good if your family income is under $85K. Lousy if you're paying for school on your own, but your parents make more than the cutoff. Even if you get aid, you're required to take out $18K in loans per year.
10. Prestige factor (I know this is an unfortunate but very real element that we grapple with when we make our school decisions, so I'm including it despite my idealistic side.)--Yes, the prestige factor exists, although I don't really like it. I came from a non-Ivy League undergrad, and prestige wasn't my focus in choosing Cornell (believe it or not, I didn't even know it was Ivy League until I interviewed. That tells you I'm a West-Coaster!). HOWEVER, having said that, my applications stats were better than the means at Harvard and Yale, and nary an interview letter found its way to me. Thus, institution name DOES have an impact, although this should never be the sole reason for choosing a school.
A few more comments in reply to other posts:
1) Cornell isn't all PBL. It's a mixture (1/3 PBL, 2/3 lecture and small group sessions). And to be a successful student, you can't rely solely on what you cover in PBL. PBL serves as a foundation for learning, and it is really helpful in learning to understand clinical scenarios, but you still need to read as much as you can. (Cornell students say PBL was a very helpful format for learning, thoough, as it mirrors the boards).
2) It is true that the Upper East Side clientele can limit exposure at New York Hospital. However, I am currently working at Coler/Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island once a week (physicial diagnosis), and the population is generally lower socioeconomic class and very low health literacy. Students don't spend all of their time at the Cornell hospital--you do rotations at many hospitals, including Columbia if you want to (the Cornell and Columbia hospitals merged).
3) Medical school in general requires you to be a self-learner. No program is going to be perfect--you have to work hard anywhere you go. At Cornell, it is admittedly easy to pass without learning tons. HOWEVER, if you are a self-learner and use the curriculum as a spring-board for your own reading and interest, you get a lot out of it.
Sorry for the length of this post, but I wanted to answer your questions in depth.
good luck!
