Cornell

[huktonfonix]

Has anyone else read the Scutwork reviews of Cornell? There are some extremely wide discrepancies. Now I realize everything there and here must be taken with a grain of salt, but there just seems to be too wide of a gap between positive and negative reviews. Oh well hopefully, I'll get to talk with the residents if I ever get my invite.

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[Yogi Patel]

I interviewed at Cornell last year and think that the scutwork reviews are, on balance, pretty accurate. I think it all depends on the attitude of the reviewer. For example, living in hospital subsidized housing can be seen as a huge bonus because you have zero commute and the rents are very reasonable by Manhattan standards. On the other hand, a pessimistic reviewer would say living so close makes it easy for the attendings to keep you late for add-on cases, which they often do.

I got the feeling that residents there were worked significantly harder than they expected to as interviewees. I did hear some gripes about the assistant program director, as is mentioned in a scutwork review. On the other hand, I would still rank Cornell above the other good NYC programs (Columbia, St Luke-Roosevelt, Mt. Sinai) because of the subsidized housing and strong regional anesthesia experience. The residents were definitely happier than those at Columbia.

 

[gaslady]

At my interview at Cornell one of the faculty members said that they have a joke at Cornell. It's that they think some of their residents go there for the apartment, not the department. Academically it is a very good program, but doesn't have the reputation of the top programs. However it has been more competitive in the match than Columbia which is considered to be a more academic program. I think this is largely due to the location of Cornell within the city compared to Columbia, the hospital being beautiful, but mainly because of the housing. For people unfamiliar with NYC the allure of the housing may not make sense. However, they guarantee you housing in a building very close to the hospital at a very subsidized price. I have been in 3 of the buildings at Cornell and have friends who live in them. My friend's apartment (1 bedroom w doorman & elevator) in the building that supposedly is the oldest was nicer and about 60% the price of my sister-in-laws apartment who lived 15 blocks away and only had a studio (no doorman, walkup). The upper east side is a fabulous part of the city to live in. I think this is why some people consider it to be a top program and rank it as such when it isn't quite as stong academically as the top programs.
I can't comment on the work hours. However my friends in other departments who are there get worked pretty hard. Because of the proximity that they live to the hospital sometimes they do have to go back in the evening.