Cornell vs. Yale

[gardenlily]

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I am trying to decide between Cornell and Yale. I would love to hear any comments--advice or impressions--that you all have. Basically, I'm two years out of undergrad, thinking a lot about primary care but possibly interested in a specialty and kind of interested in public health. Having accessible, caring mentors/faculty is very important to me, as is making med school as low stress as possible. Let me know what you think!

 

[jjmack]

I don't know that much about Cornell, but I really love Yale. However, New Haven is no NYC. Coming out of either place will allow you to do what you want to do with your life...which is always a great thing. I think it comes down to two factors location and cirriculium. Best of luck. (don't go to Yale so I can get in off the waitlist.)

 

[scootad.]

both awesome schools, but yale has a more impressive matchlist. also their grading system seems really low stress.

 

[sockandmittens]

Both are great schools (I think Cornell's match list is equally good, just most people who go there in the first place want to be in ny). New York is soo much better than New Haven. NY Presp. is a much better hospital system than Yale. Yale does have a good public health school; however, you can always take time to go to any public health school like Harvard, Hopkins or Emory. I think if you want to do primary care, Yale might not be the best place for you. The majority do research and are headed for academic medicine. I don't really know where Cornell stands on primary care. Clearly, you can't go wrong- congrats on the acceptances.

 

[bidster]

One thing about Cornell is that if you want to do public health, you can do the extra year at Columbia's public health school (anyone else wonder why they named it "Mailman"?! 😛 ), and they have the Macy Scholars program in place to provide scholarships to about 12 NYC students (institution doesn't matter as long as it's in NYC, i believe) for public health study. Something to consider if you might be interested in that.

 

[eag]

Yale because of the grading system. Cornell because it's in NYC. If Cornell has the same grading system, then Cornell all the way.

 

[stargazer88]

I guess it depends on what is important to you. New Haven isn't really the greatest place to enjoy yourself even though you'll have a lot of free time with the no grading policy. (i know this from having lived in in new haven) Although, grades don't matter only the first two years. Also, Yale's ranking has dropped pretty fast from being the top 3 to not even being the top 10 school in a little more than 5 years. I think it's because the med school is so small and they're not really expanding. But other than that, the campus architecture is really pretty. Cornell definitely has a better location and the abundance of NY hospitals give you a better clinical training.

 

[kikkoman]

Yale has a significantly stronger reputation (if you talk to people who are in academics) and a more flexible curriculum. It's also a good place if you want to do research because it attracts like-minded people through the thesis requirement.

I think the only reason to go to Cornell over Yale is if you want to stay in NYC.

 

[Bfriccia1]

Yale has a significantly stronger reputation (if you talk to people who are in academics)...


It depends what specialty you are talking about. Cornell is very strong in cardiology, cardiac surgery, orthopedic surgery, urology and cancer. It is hard to say that Yale has a better reputation in these areas. In other areas though I would agree. It all depends what you are interested in.

 

[alec689]

I'm making a similar decision (Cornell and UMich, where I'm in-state), so I understand the dilemma.

Cornell and Yale are both very strong schools, with excellent training. The doctors I have talked to think very highly of both of them, so I would tend to disagree that Yale has a "better" reputation than Cornell. Both schools have impressive match lists, but Cornell students often *choose* to stay in NYC. Those that don't want to stay in NYC often have good options elsewhere.

I would agree that certain specialties are stronger at each school, but the main differences between the two seem to be location and curriculum.

The questions you might want to consider are: Do you want a thesis? Do you want pass/fail vs. honors/pass/fail? Do you like PBL? Do you prefer NYC to New Haven (some people might not.)?

You can't go wrong either way. Good luck!

 

[tomato]

Again, congratulations to you. Great options, both of them. I would think the differences between Cornell and Yale's academic reputation are negligible. Match list differences are negligible as well. Both schools are sending their graduates to their top 1 or 2 choices. You couldn't make a mistake choosing either of them from that perspective.

Cornell has a decent primary care clerkship and a small public health department that makes the most of its location in New York. However, it doesn't seem that primary care in Manhattan med schools is all that emphasized, mostly because primary care doesn't really exist in any traditional form in New York City. Maybe neither school is all that strong in primary care.

Both schools will probably make certain that you see all kinds of patients during your third and fourth years. Cornell rotates through hospitals all over the 5 boroughs. I would expect Yale students see about as much as New Haven has to offer, and as I recall there is some ethnic diversity there.

As mentioned, the Macys Scholar program exists for those who want dual degrees. Cornell also has a new MD-MBA these days for those interested. I know one thing that makes Cornell stand out from its peer schools is the international program. More than half of all fourth years travel on funded international projects, and a sizeable number of first year students as well. Though perhaps Yale has opportunities as well.

In the end, it may come down to location. New Haven isn't all that bad, but it isn't all that great either.

 

[gardenlily]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I think I'm going to try to go to both revisits in the next few weeks...and I have to decide if I can handle a city as bustling as NYC. One other interesting (and unexpected) thing I learned today: nearly half of yale's class this year matched into a generalist field like internal med, peds, or primary care. hmm...

 

[scootad.]

and the other half went into derm. 😉

 

[Haybrant]

and the other half went into derm. 😉

damn; how can 13 people from one med school go into derm? not to mention 3 into neurosurg

 

[rjgennarelli]

haha. this poll must not have helped you too much 😱

 

[paco]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. I think I'm going to try to go to both revisits in the next few weeks...and I have to decide if I can handle a city as bustling as NYC. One other interesting (and unexpected) thing I learned today: nearly half of yale's class this year matched into a generalist field like internal med, peds, or primary care. hmm...

Don't read too much into one year's match results. With a small class, drift can skew things quite a bit. Look at the previous years' results, too. I think Yale usually turns out a majority of specialists...