cornell or hopkins??

[hopefulsigh]

Hi guys! I am new to the forum and found it extremely comforting these past couple of weeks while waiting for admission decisions. (You all seem like a great group of kids and I hope you all get into your top choice med school!). Just wondering if the choice was up to you, which would you pick and why? Cornell or JHU. I think they are both great schools and I am having the most difficult time deciding. Anyone have any interesting insight, experience or suggestions at/about these schools?

Thanks and goodluck to you all!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GTea]

Hopkins. But the location sucks, and I hear people are competitive as hell. If location and the A-F grading system is not an issue, go to Hopkins. But you cannot go wrong with either. Congrats!

 

[crazy250]

this one is a no brainer. hopkins all the way!

 

[DrJ2B]

Hey hopefulsigh!

I would choose Hopkins because the clinical experience you would get there is unparalleled. The grading is not A-F, but is rather Honors/HighPass/Pass/Fail. Most people get Pass which is awesome. I think 80% or so get pass which is perfectly fine because it is very respectable at a school like Hopkins. They have great research and connections for international rotations. They have an awesome MPH program. The students are phenomenal and are not as competitive as imagined. That competitive nature is actually attributed to the undergrad and is not true of the med school. Honestly, choose the school that best fits you, the way you learn, location, and all. Good luck and congrats on your acceptances!

 

[VCMM414]

Honors/High Pass/Pass/Fail = A/B/C/F

Ok, so it's not A-F technically... but no one in their right minds would call Hopkin's grading system pass/fail

I agree that rumors of competitiveness is probably just that, rumors. IMO, grading systems should not deter anyone from ANY school.

If anything, P/F can also foster its own type of competitiveness. Because there are no grades, many student feel compelled to go above and beyond, such as doing research, shadowing as soon as first semester of med school begins, volunteer at a ton of places. While these are all good things for any med student to do, I do feel that some students do them to become more competitive, and it seems to be more common at purely P/F schools. Several students that I know at these P/F (and seemingly stress-free) schools often complain about people padding resumes and just being generally too competitive in a non-academic way.

How do other current Yale and Stanford med students feel about this?

 

[bigbaubdi]

Personally, I would pick Hopkins over Cornell but I met a few students at my Cornell interview a few weeks ago who picked Cornell over Hopkins.

Basically, they said that they preferred Cornell's location in NYC over Baltimore. Also PBL and the research opportunities associated with Rockefeller and Sloan-Kettering were major factors.

I don't think you will lose either way - congrats on your acceptances!

 

[Habari]

this is a lifestyle/other factors choice. hopkins is a better med school, objectively. if that is the bottom line - don't kid yourself, goto hopkins. it would not be unreasonable, however, to choose cornell over it for financial aid/nyc/random/atmosphere other factors - like many of my classmates did [a surprising number of them had the choice].

i came here for the md/phd program [and affiliation with rockefeller/sloan] - though i had choices of 7 med schools 'ranked higher' [mdphd programs don't always correlate to the med school rankings, too many other factors]. i've been pleasantly surprised for the most part [comfortable atmosphere, hospital, most classmates], though there are some things that can't compete [overall rep in the medicine world versus places like hopkins/sf/harvard, lack of a public health school - though they claim to be starting one 'soon', whatever that means]. though there are good days and bad days, i haven't regretted my decision at all.

 

[BaseballFan]

I agree with Habari 100%.

If you're dead-set on reputation as the most important thing, then make the choice for Hopkins, for sure.

I'm in a similar position, as you not with JH since I have no interest in being in Baltimore, but with other schools also in the top 10 that I'm turning down to go to Cornell. Living in NYC, PBL curriculum, great affiliations, affordable housing, international ops, etc. are all drawing me to Cornell instead of to other schools.

Ultimately, doing well at any of these top schools will not keep me from achieving any of my goals, so these "other" factors carry more importance in my mind than a ranking.

Good luck with your decision.

 

[doepug]

Congrats!

Hopkins is fabulous!

Please PM me with any questions you might have -- I'm happy to do what I can to help.

Cheers,
doepug (MS IV, Hopkins)

 

[bongsen]

you have to think PBL at Cornell vs. much more lecture at Hopkins, as well.