Cornell anyone? What about PBL?

[wishes]

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Hi there. I have not posted before, but I thought now that decision time is fast approaching maybe some of you could offer advice. I have been accepted to multiple schools and I have basically settled on Cornell although I have a few concerns with this choice.
It is super important to me to go somewhere with nice people (classmates and faculty) and I am worried that I may not find that at Cornell as the school is so prestigious. I am concerned too that faculty could be so engrossed in research and image that they may not be very accessible to students. It also seems to be the case the veterinary school takes alot of Cornell undergraduates.
I liked Ithaca, although it seems like they would have a bit of a caseload insufficiency due to location, especially with Pennsylvania competing with them (to where I was also accepted). Do you think that lack of caseload really impacts learning all that much? I am interested in large animal, particularily equine, so I am also curious as to if Cornell will be strong in this area.
Lastly, I am intrigued by the problem based learning system. I believe that I may learn better in this setting, however it concerns me somewhat that few other schools are using PBL and some of the ones that have (Mississippi) no longer do so. It seems as though it would be difficult to supplement a curriculum heavily with PBL without sacrificing some (important) information covered in a purely didactic lecture setting.
Any comments you can offer would be greatly appreciated. I'll note where else I have been accepted in case somebody want to try to talk me out of Cornell and into another program.
Accepted: Cornell, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Oregon, Tufts
Alternate: Wisconsin, Colorado, North Carolina, Washington

 

[Quaggi]

hi wishes

first of all congrats on all your acceptances! I just graduated from cornell undergrad in december, so I do know a lot about the vet school and the people there etc. I think that you will find a lot of nice people, but i also think that because they do not interview, they end up letting in a lot of people that really lack in interpersonal skills, common sense, etc. I worked with a lot of vet students at the wildlife clinic over the past few years, and was pretty shocked and disappointed last fall when a third year asked me how to use an insulin syringe and how to properly give a pill to a chicken (I'm not sure he really knew he was asking an undergrad). I also encountered a lot of first/second years who knew nothing about how to use medical equipment and were just plain scared to death of the wild animals in the clinic...is there really something so scary about a house sparrow? i hadn't thought so before... but then again there were some other students who were really great and really nice, so I guess it seemed pretty split. The faculty seem pretty nice that I worked with as well, but I haven't met most of them by any means. As far as your concern about equine caseload, I think that is a totally valid concern and they even admit that they have nowhere near the caseload of Penn. They try to justify that by saying that by having less patients, each prof can spend more time teaching. but i think its kind of bull****, you will learn more in clinics if there are more cases. And about Ithaca, I absolutely fell in love with this town, but I am ready to leave now. It's a really cool place to live, there are tons of hippies and locally grown food and stuff like that, so I thought it was great. But there are not a lot of things to do so don't expect exciting nightlife or anything like that. there are like 5 bars in collegetown, so it does get pretty old. Personally, if i were you (and I'm not, so I dont know the feeling you got at both schools) I would choose Penn if you're into equine.

let me knwo if you have any other questions about ithaca and cornell, id be happy to help 🙂

 

[PsychoLulu]

Hey Wishes,
Did you get a chance to go to the orientation sessions they held for incoming students? I’m also going to Cornell next year, and the orientation session really helped me decide that it was the place for me.

After sitting through a mock tutorial session, I really liked the PBL based learning, and like you feel it is the best learning method for me. I think it’s a personal preference (I doubt the system itself is flawed since just about all human medical schools in the US have adapted the method), and the glitches some veterinary schools have had with it I feel are just a result of changing to a new system. This is just pure speculation on my part (PLEASE don’t read this as an insult to any system or school because it’s not!!), but perhaps the schools that tried and then gave up on the PBL system saw an initial drop in feedback to the new system (as I’m sure 2nd, 3rd, and 4th year students previously accustomed to the lecture setting were not happy about a change in teaching method half way through their education), and decided to cut their loses and go back to the lecture setting before they could give the PBL a chance to really develop at their school?

Caseload, I’m interested in small animal medicine, so I’m probably not the best person to ask about equine meds, but I think Cornell gets a fair amount of equine cases, especially given the Equine Park and Equine Research Annex. Personally, I think you will get more clinical experience PERIOD with PBL, so that balances out a large case load at other hospitals. What’s the point of the large case load if you a) never get to see animals until you’re in clinical and b) you’re in classes from 9-5 daily and won’t have extra time to work at the hospital outside of classes. On the flip side, I do know that Cornell has absolutely no pigs on campus, and I was even told by a Cornell Vet Professor that if you expressed any interest in working with swines, they probably would not have accepted you since you would not get an education in that area from Cornell. So, if you did have plans to work with swines, another school may be a better choice.

My only concern with Cornell was Ithaca (I’m a city girl......need.....my....shopping.....), but everyone I speak to that went to Cornell ended up loving it there, so I’m slowly getting very excited about moving there and trying out a rural environment for a change!

As far as the personality of the people at Cornell are concerned, most of the individuals I meet seem very nice and happy to be at Cornell. I think I liked all but maybe 2 of the accepted students I meet at the orientation weekend, and um, I’ve been told I’m a friendly person, and I’m going there, so.... 😛

P.S. I'm in NYC, and I may be meeting up with another potential Cornell Vet student sometime to discuss Pro/Cons of diff schools (she's still deciding too), so if you're in the area and would like to join us, send me a pm!