Are there any students here who were deciding between Cornell and UC Davis and picked one over the other? If so, can you speak to why you chose what you did and whether you are happy with that choice? I'm having a tough time deciding. I'm a CA resident but the overall cost is pretty much equivalent (more expensive to live in Davis than Ithaca).
Hi! I'm relatively new to SDN but I'd like to help anyone who is choosing between Davis and Cornell. I am from California, interested in small animal/exotics/wildlife/birds.
Here's my history:
When I applied to vet schools, I thought Davis was definitely my thing. I visited the vet school during the interview, and I thought the MMIs went pretty well. I was excited. And then out of nowhere comes my acceptance into Cornell - my dad got super excited because he graduated with a MS in Engineering from there. He really pushed me to go there because of its "reputation" and its "international connections." In fact, he wanted me to go to Cornell so much that he offered to pay the difference between OOS Cornell tuition and IS Davis tuition - just so money wasn't a factor in my choosing. (I am very fortunate to have parents that can support my living expenses and part of my school tuition).
Then comes a month of self-doubt, questions, and fear. What if I really missed out on international opportunities because I went to Davis? What if I missed out on the ivy league prestige? Does this all matter? I looked on SDN and saw a lot of people saying to just go to the cheapest option and to do whatever made me physically, mentally, and emotionally happy. Well, I can adapt easily so both places seem fine. Weather seemed like a moot point because I'm going to be studying indoors most of the time anyways.
I visited Cornell during one of its acceptance days and I made sure I talked to everybody I could possibly talk to. I came in with an open mind. I was slowly getting more pumped for Cornell because they would be opening a brand new facility next year (Aug 2017) and the mock PBL was great and fun. It also seemed like they encourage people to go out of state/country to go find interesting opportunities all over the world, and that the placement rate for those programs was really high. I also liked the fact that everybody at Cornell had chill vibes and were less competitive than Davis students).
But then I thought about these facts:
Connections:
Nobody ever emphasized how important it was to have connections!!! One guy from California who currently attends Cornell said that all the conferences that he went to hosted mostly Northeast people from the East Coast/Ohio/New York people. That would be great if you are planning to work in the east coast. But he, like I, want to work on the West Coast when I graduate. He would ask professors if they know of anyone on the west coast, and they would say Yea I know them, but he wouldn't actually get to meet them before they applied to positions. My Californian friend at Ohio State echoed a similar sentiment, and added that she was not able to qualify for 80% of scholarships during her first year because they were for ohio residents only.
Cost: Why pay more for literally the same program? They are both fantastic schools. I talked to a Cornell professor who got his DVM at Davis. He said that they are both excellent programs, and you will be fine with either choice. I asked him if it mattered that Cornell had a "ooOOOoo ivy league" reputation and he assured me that it really doesn't matter, and that both schools offer a variety of opportunities, and that Davis' program is very good. He also said the wildlife programs are comparable and that Davis' wildlife is pretty good.
PBL: I haven't heard much complaining from the Davis students yet for PBL, probably because they are still experimenting with the curriculum and I didn't get to talk to the students much about the PBL. At Cornell, it SEEMED like 50% of students hated it and almost dropped out/started doubting their interests in vet med because of it. Also a lot of them would get frustrated that they had to do a bunch of work to guess what the animal was going through, when the lectures would give them the answer the next day. I understand that it's supposed to be challenging, but I'm also the type to learn better when I'm by myself. Cool, group work lets you meet people and hone your team building skills which is absolutely necessary in the future, but I feel like I can learn better by myself and hone my team building skills another way. A perk of Cornell would be that PBL makes you stay on track and not disappoint your peers - at Davis, I feel like I might have to fend for myself and work on my procrastination habits that I developed in undergrad.
Location:
Two completely different areas. I like snow and I'm okay with it. But flying 6+ hours to get to school is 1) more expensive and 2) waste of time when I could drive 2 hours home, or if you live in LA, fly 1.5 hours home. I want to experience seasons and snow, but not for 4 years. I can get an externship or something at Cornell if I want to experience the snowy winters. I also want to stay relatively near my parents because they care about me and I can easily go home if I forget something/get homesick. It's also a lot closer to the city in case you need to escape for a weekend. I was considering biking in both places, and Davis would obviously be better for bikes in the winter vs 10 degree snowy weather. If I really wanted snow, I could use that extra 80k that I'm saving to go travel somewhere cold for a week and then come back.
Smaller factors:
Distance/Transportation:
The fact that most vet students lived 5-10 min driving distance from the vet school, and I wasn't sure if I would have a car. Apparently nobody lived on campus and nobody lived walking distance, and everybody had a car. I just didn't know if I would have my own car, which seemed very necessary during Block 1 and year 4 when people were busiest/on call. I also considered the fact that I wanted to volunteer in wildlife places that were not exactly walking distance from the vet school. Apparently you get a free bus pass your first year, and it is possible to bike. But when you're in Block 1, all the students said it was highly recommended to have a car just so you don't waste time. If you're from CA you should keep transportation in mind.
Relationships
It's easier to do a long distance relationship when you're in the same time zone, but my SO did not want me to base my school off of him - he encouraged me to go to cornell for new experiences.
Pets
If I adopt/bring/own a pet in vet school, it'll be easier to transport it home during breaks. Unless I get a big snake. Then I won't have to feed it for weeks
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Things that were equivalent and didn't matter too much to me:
Friends; I had friends at both schools and making friends seems easy when you're stuck with them for 4 years
Food; Both have okay college towns and restaurants (nothing outstanding); the grocery stores stocked what I wanted (Asian food)
Exercise; Gyms and pools were nearby - although apparently you have to pay extra for a gym pass at Cornell
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Housing; At Cornell, it seems relatively easier to find housing because the upper classmen spam you by email to go live with them. But I'm from CA and I have friends at Davis who can point me in the right direction to go search. Rent is comparable.
I really do think Davis is the Ithaca of the West, except less trees and closer to larger cities.
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I also didn't really pay attention to Davis presentations/I forgot everything because it was in December and I was already brainwashed because I wanted to go there so badly, so unfortunately I didn't ask too many questions. I started questioning my allegiance to Davis when I visited Ohio State and Colorado State - I wanted to go to both of those schools. Their curriculum each seemed amazing and wonderful and the people genuinely seemed happy and welcoming and warm. I would much rather go to Colorado for the wilderness and Ohio for their business minor, but my parents would not help fund me if I did
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I am sad that I will miss out on the more-chill atmosphere at Cornell, their seemingly 100% success rate at placement in foreign opportunities, their solid reputation in everything besides vetmed, and the snow, but the benefits seem to outweigh the costs. I know I'm not a student yet, but these points were more logical for me and helped me build a solid case against my my dad to stop pressuring me to go to Cornell (even though he still does).
TL;DR: I am choosing Davis over Cornell because of (1) the connections that I can make in the West, (2) it's cheaper overall for the same quality, (3) Cornell's PBL seems to run its entire curriculum on PBL while Davis' is primarily lecture-based with a side of PBL, (4) it'll be easier to transport myself to/from/within vet school in CA, (5) and the fact that I know I will be happy in either place.
The only reason I would choose Cornell would be if I found a Cornell-specific special program or because of more opportunity to work on the East Coast or maybe HK (since they're building a school there) or other international places that recognize Cornell's name. But then again...Davis is up there too in the vet community.
These were all based on the opinions of people that I met and all of my experiences at both places, so if anyone has any points against what I said, please say it so others can see a different point of view. Maybe another vet student who had chosen years ago and has more info about their current state now?
