cornell vs ucla

[exeunt]

thoughts?

i'm in state, but $$ is not a make-or-break

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[jturkel]

ucla better ranking.....but...UC schools (and state of CA for that matter) have some serious financial problems. who knows whats going to happen. Cornell is safe and still an excellent school with (I've heard this at several interviews from interviewees) the most amazing facilities. Weather? well thats an obvious one....but NYC is an amazing place and certainly worth colder weather...and if money isn't an option? Cornell is safer (financial problems at UCLA would steer me to Cornell)

congrats on solid acceptances btw

 

[SpaceDementia]

Go with the place you enjoyed more, i.e. location, overall environment, east coast vs. west coast. I would not choose based on rankings; UCLA and Cornell have both traditionally been top-ten in the rankings and they're both regarded highly. It's the same story with a school like UChicago, which has traditionally been around 20 and now is rapidly approaching the top-ten. They're just too fluid to really matter.

 

[topsurgeon2010]

thoughts?

i'm in state, but $$ is not a make-or-break

first of all congrats..both are amazing schools...dont know what you find important but here are my thoughts:

• LOCATION: Los Angeles vs. NYC...both are amazing cities..seems like you will be closer to family also if you are in-state rather than being across the country..this can be a pro or con for you (might want to get away from the family)
• PRESTIGE: Cornell is Ivy so is definitely more prestigious overall as an institution though UCLA is more prestigious in medicine (higher ranked) and I would say as a whole UCLA is one of the most recognizable university names in the world (along with Harvard, Yale, MIT, Stanford, NYU, etc..NOTE: being recognizable to the average person does not necessarily correspond with prestige..am purely talking about the reach and recognizablity of its brand name)
• MONEY: UCLA will be a lot cheaper for you though Cornell may give you good financial aid so definitely wait for that
• CLASS SIZE: Cornell ~100 vs. UCLA's ~150
• CURRICULUM: Cornell is Honors/Pass/Fail which is a major turn-off and is PBL-centered (start early morning and attendance is required for PBL sessions) while UCLA is Pass/Fail for ALL four years..many of the current Cornell students are complaining about their PBL though I personally dont mind PBL
• CLINICAL EXPERIENCE: UCLA's hospital is one of the best in the world...ranked #3 right after Hopkins and Mayo...and higher than Harvard and Cleveland Clinic...Cornell shares its hospital with Columbia which is ranked #6 so its also top-notch..being in Upper East Side means you may be exposed MORE to patients of higher socioeconomic status while at UCLA you will be exposed to EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING..read the current Cornell thread quite a few current medical students were complaining about the clinical experience
• RESEARCH: Cornell's Tri-Institutional program is really cool and unique..definitely will have a lot of research opportunities..
• WEATHER: LA >>>>>>>> NYC
• URBAN CAMPUS VS. UNIVERSITY-BASED CAMPUS: Cornell is not associated with its undergrad or other graduate shcools so its a bit isolated though finding people you're age will not be a problem at all in NYC..but it is purely an urban campus (basically one building with REALLY nice facilities) while UCLA is on-campus along with the rest of the institution
• WHERE DO YOU WANT TO DO RESIDENCY? due to regional bias, if you want to do your residency in the northeast then Cornell would be a good choice but if you want to do residency in CA or in the mid-west then obviously UCLA would be a better choice but clearly you can match at any location if you do well at either school
• NIGHT LIFE: both are equal and AMAZING!!
• SPORTS TEAMS: LA Lakers >>> NY Knicks (unless lebron decides to bounce from cleavland), BUT LA has no NFL team, NY has 2 really good teams, and of course NY Yankees!

basically will come down to your personal preferences..

DISCLAIMER: the last point (and even second to last one) are jokes and obviously shouldnt be used to determine your entire future..they're just added bonuses to think about...haha...

 

[bobsmith]

Would you rather live in NYC or LA for four years? And do you have a preference for eventually being in California for residency or being on the northeast (although you could obviously get to anywhere from either of these schools)?

 

[exeunt]

i genuinely liked LA and the vibe on campus, but i'm actually a huge east coast person (did my undergrad there), don't mind the weather and subsidized housing on the upper east side sounds amazing..

but p/f is also a HUGE draw for me and i'm really not a fan of how cornell has internal rankings.. students seemed really stressed out and when i asked someone during my interview if ppl were cutthroat she went, "well......"

 

[Hifey]

Personally my vote would go to LA based purely on Location, weather and the fact that UCLA is a great school. However, my advice would be to go to the school that makes YOU most comfortable. You really can't go wrong either way...although there may be days next winter when you're thinking about that California sunshine if you're in Cornell

 

[pelliper]

go to LA, its more stress-free on like 4 different levels (unranked P/F, much better weather, in a big city that's NOT named new york, you'll have less debt after 4 years)

i think a big selling point is the unranked P/F all four years...not many schools in the COUNTRY have this anymore, even great schools like yale and stanford have switched to graded clinical years due to nagging from the LCME.

p/f all four years basically means that besides research and the step 1 you will not have to jump through ridiculous hoops for competitive residencies. you will not have to suck up to attending xx just to consistently get honors. you can focus on LEARNING in the clinical setting, as opposed to sneaking out to study for some ridiculous shelf exam where half the material is clinically outdated

 

[medballer2010]

so I am actually deciding between nyu and ucla, but i did interview at cornell. to be honest i thought cornell's facilities were obviously amazing, mskcc and rockefeller are truly special...BUT I really felt like I fit in more with the nyu students. cornell students just came off as book worms to me and ive talked to multiple cornell residents who say that the cornell students are kind of like that. they study alot to look great on paper for competitive residiencies, but they often lack basic clinical skills. plus, on the interview day cornell students told me that cornell does not teach to the boards at all and it will require a lot on your part. meanwhile, UCLA gives its students almost 9-10 wks off before the boards... unheard of. plus i think if you go to UCLA you have more flexibility for residency because cali residency spots are so limited that you would already have an in but you could always go to the east coast if you wanted. also with UCLA's block -style curriculum, you can really enjoy yourself for the first couple weeks and then buckle down. and after every 2/3 days of testing at the end of the block you have the rest of the week off. 4-5 free days in LA every month or so??? amazing. i think you should go to both second looks, but my vote is definitely for UCLA.

 

[Pri84]

I vote for Cornell... mainly b/c I am waitlisted at UCLA and I am dying to go there! give us a chance will ya?!

but kidding aside I think you should choose the school that you can really picture yourself succeeding in. Congratulations on the acceptances!

 

[alibai3ah]

UCLA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Without a doubt. Beats Cornell at everything

1) More well-known (Cornell may be an IVY, but a lot of people place Cornell in the bottom of the IVY pile thus making it equal to UCLA)

2) LA- nicer weather, beaches, great night life, Westwood is awesome

3) UCLA will give you a better chance at a California residency

4) SPORTS!

I'm really jealous of your UCLA acceptance

 

[randombetch]

I would trade anything for a UCLA acceptance

OP - what were your stats?

 

[MiniMoo]

Cornell

(and then hand me your UCLA acceptance instead, kthnx)

 

[SpaceDementia]

The fact that SDN is heavily composed of Californians is showing through.

Frankly, OP, you can't go wrong. Given that the caliber of the two is a wash, just think about where you'd be happiest and where you want to live for four years, and go for it. These kinds of threads come up all the time, but it's such a subjective decision that no one can really account for what's most important to you.

Also, if you feel like you want to have an experience on the east coast, give some thought as to whether you'd rather it be during medical school or residency. If you feel like you want to settle down in California for residency, then medical school might be a time to explore another part of the country until then.

 

[MiniMoo]

i genuinely liked LA and the vibe on campus, but i'm actually a huge east coast person (did my undergrad there), don't mind the weather and subsidized housing on the upper east side sounds amazing..

Okay I'm going to be more serious now.... if I had to choose between location and a P/F system, I'd go with location. For me at least, living in a place I love and feeling like I fit well into my surroundings plays a huge part in my happiness... and being happy = being less stressed overall and more academically successful.

 

[exeunt]

random betch-
guess it doesnt hurt to post my md apps now
http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=17594

haha, i'm from ca and i love it, but im ready for something new.. not a goal for me to either go to med school or do residency here. i always wanted to go to school in nyc, but cornell seemed reallllllllllly (scarily) intense, and i also want a laid back experience in med school. im genuinely torn

 

[edfig99]

random betch-
guess it doesnt hurt to post my md apps now
http://mdapplicants.com/profile.php?id=17594

haha, i'm from ca and i love it, but im ready for something new.. not a goal for me to either go to med school or do residency here. i always wanted to go to school in nyc, but cornell seemed reallllllllllly (scarily) intense, and i also want a laid back experience in med school. im genuinely torn

exeunt: congrats on your acceptances. It's great to have options.
Can you explain a little more what you mean by "reallllllllllly (scarily) intense"?

And can you clarify a little more about "i also want a laid back experience in med school". I mean, the first two years of med school is approximately shoving the content of roughly 20+ courses into a very very compressed calendar. Regardless of grading system, there will always be some level of intensity. (Many premeds forget they are no longer premed when they start med school, and all that premed learned behavior carries over for a little bit).

At the end of the day you have to pick the school that you feel is the best fit in every way -- academically, financially, geographically, socially, spiritually, emotionally, etc...

congrats again.
ed

 

[jla314]

i'd pick ucla. i hate nyc though

 

[echidna]

I'm glad you made this thread- and I hope to have to make this decision too! I'm in at Cornell and haven't heard back from UCLA yet but they're tied for my #1 and always have been. Now that I've seen both schools I'm still torn 50/50. Maybe I'll get lucky and get rejected at LA so I don't have to stress about making the right choice

Just kidding, UCLA... please don't reject me.

 

[exeunt]

yeah, i know med school anywhere is a lot of work, so i'd like to pick the lesser of two evils, so to speak. also i really don't want a competitive/cutthroat environment, bc my undergrad was notorious for that and i'm definitely sick of it. i remember the students at ucla seemed pretty happy and relaxed and said that they had a lot of free time, whereas at cornell everyone cited the grading system/rankings as sources of stress. when i asked one of my interviewers if they were going to change the system, he even said, "differentiation is a great and necessary thing" LOL

 

[topsurgeon2010]

yeah, i know med school anywhere is a lot of work, so i'd like to pick the lesser of two evils, so to speak. also i really don't want a competitive/cutthroat environment, bc my undergrad was notorious for that and i'm definitely sick of it. i remember the students at ucla seemed pretty happy and relaxed and said that they had a lot of free time, whereas at cornell everyone cited the grading system/rankings as sources of stress. when i asked one of my interviewers if they were going to change the system, he even said, "differentiation is a great and necessary thing" LOL

yeah the Dean of Cornell said H/P/F all four years was a good thing because thats what residency directors want..what bullsh*t because almost all medical schools are converting to P/F to lower the stress for their students..

 

[bookfreak89]

yeah the Dean of Cornell said H/P/F all four years was a good thing because thats what residency directors want..what bullsh*t because almost all medical schools are converting to P/F to lower the stress for their students..

Is it really lowering stress? Don't most schools still have internal rankings? Granted, UCLA is true P/F all 4 years, I think. So +1 for UCLA.

 

[topsurgeon2010]

Is it really lowering stress? Don't most schools still have internal rankings? Granted, UCLA is true P/F all 4 years, I think. So +1 for UCLA.

dont know if it actually does but thats what admissions offices cite as the reason (at least the ones I visited)..obviously med school is going to be stressful no matter what though..OP i dont think you can go wrong either way man...go wherever you think you will fit in best..if you cant decide go with gut feeling..

 

[casillas]

Which do you prefer... LA or New York? I think the two cities have a really different vibe. and for most people you love one and hate the other.

I personally would love the opportunity to live in New York. LA being so spread out and having to drive everywhere is a huge turn off.

 

[d1ony5u5]

good choices to make!

I didn't apply to either, but it does sound like UCLA is the more stress-free of the two.

As an aside, I know money is not a big factor for you, but have you heard about the possibility that UC regents may make professional and certain graduate programs charge students equivalent amounts to what private schools charge? Basically making UC's no different than private schools tuition wise... sounds really bad.

Anyway, yes, taking into account your posts, it sounds like you may be happier at UCLA.

 

[bookfreak89]

Which do you prefer... LA or New York? I think the two cities have a really different vibe. and for most people you love one and hate the other.

I personally would love the opportunity to live in New York. LA being so spread out and having to drive everywhere is a huge turn off.

This. Very different vibes. People in LA begin driving when they are 15.5 - 16 years old (I started at 15.5) in NYC, I know some 30-40 year old adults that don't have licenses!

Owning a car is also an important factor. Public transportation (in my opinion) in LA sucks...a lot. If you are not from California (or in particular from the East Coast), getting used to driving everywhere could be troublesome especially with gas prices and the already crazy cost of living in Los Angeles. That being said, LA is awesome and it is worth all of the hassle.

Edit: Realized OP is in-state. Just go where you want to go then.

 

[bobdogsam43]

MS1 @ UCLA... True P/F is the most amazing thing E-V-E-R.

But go where you are most comfortable. Both schools will take you where you wanna go (assuming you do well) and I don't wanna even think what med school would be like IF I didn't like where I was at.

 

[bobdogsam43]

btw....cool perk about anatomy....UCLA is one of the few schools (possibly the only one though) that incorporates unembalmed cadavers into the curriculum. Anatomy at UCLA is very well done....amazing profs and resources made for students. This week, Dr. Carmine Clemente (publisher of the classic anatomy atlas) has been walking around lab asking if anyone needed help/ Q&A!! Anyways, the unembalmed cadavers are used as part of a clinical integration station. This week we took turns learning how to do spinal taps and epidurals under the supervision of anesthesia attendings. We've used them for intubation exercises and other cool clinical things.

 

[d1ony5u5]

btw....cool perk about anatomy....UCLA is one of the few schools (possibly the only one though) that incorporates unembalmed cadavers into the curriculum. Anatomy at UCLA is very well done....amazing profs and resources made for students. This week, Dr. Carmine Clemente (publisher of the classic anatomy atlas) has been walking around lab asking if anyone needed help/ Q&A!! Anyways, the unembalmed cadavers are used as part of a clinical integration station. This week we took turns learning how to do spinal taps and epidurals under the supervision of anesthesia attendings. We've used them for intubation exercises and other cool clinical things.

Wow, that sounds really cool!

 

[exeunt]

I personally would love the opportunity to live in New York. LA being so spread out and having to drive everywhere is a huge turn off.

i totally agree with this. my biggest grip with LA is the TRAFFIC. what a nightmare. i don't know how much that comes into play as a med student though..? maybe for rotations?

 

[mmmcdowe]

yeah the Dean of Cornell said H/P/F all four years was a good thing because thats what residency directors want..what bullsh*t because almost all medical schools are converting to P/F to lower the stress for their students..

 

[casillas]

Just go to both second looks and then decide. All the med students i met while interviewing said that they weren't sure where to go until second look and then they went with the school that just "felt right"

whenever I asked what they meant by that, they said... "oh you'll know"

which always made me want to LOL.

 

[exeunt]

i would if i could! unfortunately they're on the same weekend

 

[veaselhaufen]

MS1 here.

Someone asked about the traffic. Traffic doesn't exist for all intents and purposes because everyone lives RIGHT next to school and Westwood has everything you could ever want. The only time traffic comes into play is going to the beach Hell, as a medical student I'm going surfing 3-4 days a week year-round. Find me a school that can match that for quality of life. SERIOUSLY- COME HERE OR YOULL REGRET IT. Talk to me at second look if you have doubts. Ill be the one who looks like... well... veaselhaufen

 

[BluntSurgeon]

MS1 here.

Someone asked about the traffic. Traffic doesn't exist for all intents and purposes because everyone lives RIGHT next to school and Westwood has everything you could ever want. The only time traffic comes into play is going to the beach Hell, as a medical student I'm going surfing 3-4 days a week year-round. Find me a school that can match that for quality of life. SERIOUSLY- COME HERE OR YOULL REGRET IT. Talk to me at second look if you have doubts. Ill be the one who looks like... well... veaselhaufen

Veaselhaufen, you seem to know so much about LA. How big is the city in square-kilometers? Secondly, if you were to choose, which building in LA is your favorite?