Icahn SOM at Mount Sinai vs. Weill Cornell Medicine

[Met-Enkephalin]

Mt. Sinai
Pros

• All lectures are recorded & non-mandatory

• Really cares about student wellness; many of the students seemed genuinely happy (as far as medical school wellness goes)
• Protected half-days every Tuesday (nothing scheduled after 12PM) & an examination system that allows students to take their tests on the student portal, anywhere & anytime between Friday-Monday night the weekend the exam is administered
• Mt. Sinai Health System is well-respected, far reaching, and offers a plethora of incredible research opportunities
• Excellent integration of research focus in the curriculum
• Mt. Sinai is only a graduate school (Medical Students & Graduate Students), so students do not have to "compete" with others for research positions/making connections

Cons

• Student housing is in apartments of 4-6, 2 bathrooms per unit (separate rooms per person)
  
• Focus on primary care & global health (these are EXCELLENT career paths, however, I am including them in the cons list as these do not particularly appeal to me)
• Full 2 year pre-clinical curriculum

Cornell
Pros

• All lectures are recorded & non-mandatory
  
• Single room housing for first-year students (only shared bathroom with room adjacent) & beyond if they choose
• The Ivy League name that Cornell carries - graduates many specialized physicians with a "lesser" focus on primary care (this is quite appealing to me)
  
• 1.5 year pre-clinical curriculum, leaving more time for electives & clerkships (USMLE Step 1 taken at the end of 3rd year)
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Hospital for Special Surgery, NY Presbyterian are among the best research centers/hospitals in the nation - an overabundance of incredible opportunities for students
• Recently re-structured curriculum that integrates/encourages research and allows students to focus on an Area of Concentration of their choosing

Cons

• WEEKLY QUIZZES for the majority of first year that land on Mondays! There are other methods of examination (such as in small groups), but this is the primary method of testing, however, students agreed that they were fair
  
• Weill Cornell shares spaces (lecture halls/libraries/anatomy labs etc.) with its affiliated PA school and other graduate programs (not that big of a deal)
• There was a greater sense of "stress" among the students (possibly due to the quizzes? competition among the students? lesser focus on wellness?)

Summary: I would really appreciate any advice/comments/corrections that anyone can offer! I absolutely love Mt. Sinai's wellness & style of testing, I feel as though I can absolutely excel & truly be happy with this method of learning, however, I really want to specialize when applying for residency, and I feel that Cornell's curriculum will set me up for that career even more than Mt. Sinai off the strength of the "Cornell Name" alone. My biggest question is: is going to Mt. Sinai (an incredible school in its own right with a stellar match list every year) for its curriculum & wellness worth passing up the sheer number of opportunities that Weill Cornell can offer at the cost of possibly more stress? Both schools had amazing residency matches, but are the trade-offs worth it? Thank you all so much for your help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Kracin]

Can't go wrong either way. Sounds like Sinai is a better fit.

 

[meronebib]

I would pick Cornell. Cornell has a better reputation than Sinai outside of NYC; inside, they are probably about equal. Also, there are rumors floating that Cornell is planning on becoming tuition-free in the near future... seems like the smarter "investment" to me.

I also would like to comment on that whole "online exam" thing from Sinai. I don't see why this is such an advantage other than having a few extra days to study and being able to take exams in your pajamas. During my interview, I heard students talk about how they were able to fly home during the weekend because they could take their exams online... but I mean, if they'd just taken the exam during the week, they'd get the weekend off to fly home anyway.

Finally, I wouldn't worry about competing with others for research. Cornell's undergrad campus is so far from its medical school that you won't be competing with too many undergrads for research positions (although Columbia students do tend to do research at Cornell).

Congrats on your acceptances!

 

[DrFortiusNatando]

You don't mention money at all.
Does this matter to you or your parents?
Make sure to look at the financial aid packages and COA. Sinai has reputation for not being as generous, but IDK how it would compare to Cornell's in your specific case.
Students from both schools who do well in med school do very well in their residency match. Sky is the limit for both IF you do well in med school.
Sloan Kettering (Cornell) and Hospital for Special Surgery are unique benefits of Cornell!
So likely going to be Cornell for you!

 

[Met-Enkephalin]

Can't go wrong either way. Sounds like Sinai is a better fit.

Thank you for the input!

 

[Met-Enkephalin]

I would pick Cornell. Cornell has a better reputation than Sinai outside of NYC; inside, they are probably about equal. Also, there are rumors floating that Cornell is planning on becoming tuition-free in the near future... seems like the smarter "investment" to me.

I also would like to comment on that whole "online exam" thing from Sinai. I don't see why this is such an advantage other than having a few extra days to study and being able to take exams in your pajamas. During my interview, I heard students talk about how they were able to fly home during the weekend because they could take their exams online... but I mean, if they'd just taken the exam during the week, they'd get the weekend off to fly home anyway.

Finally, I wouldn't worry about competing with others for research. Cornell's undergrad campus is so far from its medical school that you won't be competing with too many undergrads for research positions (although Columbia students do tend to do research at Cornell).

Congrats on your acceptances!

Thank you for your kind words! I appreciate your input on the lack of a competitive nature in finding research opportunities, as this is something I want to definitely be a large part of my medical education. Also, as far as reputation, I ideally would like to stay on the east coast/northeast after medical school. Great input

 

[Met-Enkephalin]

You don't mention money at all.
Does this matter to you or your parents?
Make sure to look at the financial aid packages and COA. Sinai has reputation for not being as generous, but IDK how it would compare to Cornell's in your specific case.
Students from both schools who do well in med school do very well in their residency match. Sky is the limit for both IF you do well in med school.
Sloan Kettering (Cornell) and Hospital for Special Surgery are unique benefits of Cornell!
So likely going to be Cornell for you!

This is a great point! I am awaiting to receive financial aid packages from each school and this will be a very big factor in my choice if one school offers substantially more than the other, as they both have similar COAs (Cornell with higher tuition). I am very pleased to hear that neither school places a "ceiling" over my head regardless of choice, thank you for the advice!

 

[Avada Cadaver]

Heya, I just wanted to comment about the examination system at Cornell. We do have weekly quizzes on Mondays and sometimes Fridays throughout the first semester, and every 2 weeks thereafter. I obviously can't speak to other meds schools exam system but I don't find it that stressful since it's P/F with passing being 65% for the unit; So lets say a genetics unit has 4 quizzes, you'd only need to get an overall score of 65% across all four exams to pass the unit. Say you got 90%, 90%, 50% and 30% for a total of 65% overall thats s pass. A lot of my classmates, myself included, exploited this last semester lol.

Other small things, we don't get tested on PBL, and our anatomy is completely multiple choice (including the practicum). Lectures also regularly end at 12-1pm most days in the second semester.

Happy to answer any other questions you have!

 

[aspiringMD47]

Maybe wait to see if you're accepted at Cornell first and then attend both second looks which may help sway your decision!

 

[C.elegans]

This may seem like a random question, but does anyone know why Weill Cornell surprisingly has much lower NIH research funding than anyone would expect from a institution of its reputation? NIH funding for Weill Cornell comes out to be between $165 million - 155 million which is much lower than Icahn SOM's $330 million. The BRIMR ranking has WCM at #33 which is below Albert Einstein at #32. Columbia, which is also part of NYP hospital is estimated to receive $407 million from the NIH. What do people make of this??

 

[stickflip723]

Go wherever is cheapest.

That said, 2 years preclinical sounds awful. I'm already ~6 months in and counting down the days until I hit the wards.

 

[C.elegans]

Because Cornell has so much money in its Tri-institute research program. They jumped from rank 21 to rank 9 last year when UNSWR included their institution wide research funding available (this is how most schools are ranked)

not really a story - just politics

But is it really fair to include funding that Rockefeller University and MSKCC gets as part of Cornell's funding? That doesn't really make sense. They are research affiliates but they have independent faculty and departments that collaborate for research purposes.

 

[C.elegans]

Does it really make sense to use all of Harvard’s associates (BWH/MGG/BID) to cement their place as #1 for the past decade with no close competition?

This is how the real world is. I wouldn’t be concerned about Cornell’s research funding and it is under reported on NIH due to spreading their funding amongst an institutional agreement between Rockefeller, WCMC, MSK

I see what you are saying but I think there is a difference between Harvard and Cornell. Faculty at BWH, MGH, BID, Dana-Farber etc. are all faculty of HMS. Kind of like how all the surgeons at HSS are faculty on Cornell's Ortho department. But faculty of Rockefeller and MSKCC are independent of Cornell and are just "affiliates" that collaborate on projects aren't they? Thanks for answering my question by the way! Now it makes more sense how the USNWR ranking is calculated.