Need help making a decision (cornell/yale)

[thatslife]

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Hey all, I find myself having trouble making a decision. I am fortuante enough to be admitted by both Cornell and Yale. I wanted your thoughts to make a more informed decision.

Here are some of the criteria I've been looking at to make my decision:
>> I want to keep the door open for competitive residencies
>> My goal is to go into academic medicine (teaching)
>> I think lectures are useless (I learn better on my own)
>> I love nyc. I live here right now and the thought of leaving is painful, but bearable
>> low stress & no competition = happy and successful me

Finally, to throw a kink into all of this I am on the waitlist at UPenn (tier 1, no second look or anything). I enjoyed my interview there and all, but I am not sure that pursuing UPenn is worth protracting this painfull process of waiting.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[mexikian]

Just gonna point out my bias out front and say i'm probably going to Cornell pending a few waitlists, but I think your selection depends on what you want to do.

If you want to do cancer, Cornell has Memorial Sloan Kettering attached to it. They get patients from everywhere and you'll see a lot. Yale's cancer center just isn't gonna be as prestigious. That said, I don't know if you can do a full rotation at MSK as a student, but you can get in there etc.

Cornell's curriculum seems low key like Yale's despite the fact that it's H/P/F. For their exams, you basically turn in a copy of your PBL answer that isn't graded, then go home and talk it over with your peers, then come back the next day and change what you want, then it gets graded and you talk it over with a faculty member. So to me that sounds pretty low stress. Of course, no school is gonna be Yale in terms of being lower stress.

If you go to Yale, you yourself know it's only a short (and relatively cheap) train ride to Manhattan, and since you can choose when to take tests, you'll probably make it down there a fair amount. That's my advice, good luck choosing and let me know if you're going to Cornell 2nd look.

 

[badlydrawnvik]

i'd say push the upenn waitlist, but between yale and cornell, can you really pass up midtown manhattan for new haven? cornell it up!

 

[Risa]

can you really pass up midtown manhattan for new haven? cornell it up!

amen to that!

new haven, imo, is a dump. new york is the greatest city on earth. this is where you're going to be spending the next four years of your life... i'd be at cornell in a heartbeat.

 

[Centinel]

new york is the greatest city on earth.

True. You've gotta love the warm weather, the nice mountain and ocean views, and the lack of overcrowding.

 

[Mutt]

I wouldn't go for UPenn.

Yale is Yale, and New Haven is actually a great place to learn and study. I'd rather be a student in New Haven than Manhattan (Cornell is great, but it's in a fairly homogenous area of Manhattan, relatively speaking).

 

[06applicant]

amen to that!

new haven, imo, is a dump.

😡 New Haven is not a dump. I don't know why so many people say that. I went to Yale undergrad and really got the impression that New Haven's reputation as a dump comes from all the prep-school kids that are not used to living blocks from minority neighborhoods.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Yale

I don't think an all PBL curriculum, as at Cornell, is that great either for the clinical side of medicine, and especially not for research in academic medicine.

I think the no tests option at Yale is great, it certainly would have been for me (had I not been rejected 😡 ).

New Haven is probably somewhat cheaper than NYC. Would purchasing a condo be possible? That's a good investment, and it is definitely impossible in NYC.

New Haven is ~1 hr away from NYC. You can go any weekend, spend a night, or even just for a day trip. Especially with Yale's flexible schedule.

Lastly, ignore comments vis-a-vis cancer research > MSK. You have plenty of time to think of the intricacies of MSK vs. Dana Farber vs. MD Anderson (if it comes to that), when you apply to residencies, look for faculty positions, etc. It's totally irrelevant at this stage. There are tons of superb researchers in cancer and in nearly every other field, I am sure, at Yale.

If you could specify what your research interests are, perhaps I could point to something. I hear immuno, microbio, and biochem are super at Yale.

 

[Rafa]

Yale, hands down. NYC is great, but four of the five points you raised point to the school in New Haven.

 

[thatslife]

Yale

I don't think an all PBL curriculum, as at Cornell, is that great either for the clinical side of medicine, and especially not for research in academic medicine.

I think the no tests option at Yale is great, it certainly would have been for me (had I not been rejected 😡 ).

New Haven is probably somewhat cheaper than NYC. Would purchasing a condo be possible? That's a good investment, and it is definitely impossible in NYC.

New Haven is ~1 hr away from NYC. You can go any weekend, spend a night, or even just for a day trip. Especially with Yale's flexible schedule.

Lastly, ignore comments vis-a-vis cancer research > MSK. You have plenty of time to think of the intricacies of MSK vs. Dana Farber vs. MD Anderson (if it comes to that), when you apply to residencies, look for faculty positions, etc. It's totally irrelevant at this stage. There are tons of superb researchers in cancer and in nearly every other field, I am sure, at Yale.

If you could specify what your research interests are, perhaps I could point to something. I hear immuno, microbio, and biochem are super at Yale.

My research interest are more macrolevel stuff (public health) and as far as academic medicine goes I am interested in teaching and clinical side more than translational research.

My other concern is with testing. At Yale, you have to take finals, but at Cornell you take multiple tests throughout the term. Does anyone know the frequency of these test, I heard something like every 2 weeks (which would be bad). The other concern is that PBL counts for 30% of the ones grade but from what some students have said, the grading is rather subjective. This also concerns me. Can anyone shed light on these two points?

 

[lynn42]

I vote Yale. Hands down. I am a bit biased however (I didn't even apply to Cornell and I don't like NYC). Yale has only 9 hours of lecture a week- 9-12pm 3 days a week. That sounds great to me. I only went to class as an undergrad around 1/2 of the time. It has a really supportive, relaxed, and cooperative atmosphere. If you are a self-motivated student (and it seems that you are from your post) go to Yale. I'll be there- so you should come!!! 🙂 Good luck deciding!!

 

[sen]

My research interest are more macrolevel stuff (public health) and as far as academic medicine goes I am interested in teaching and clinical side more than translational research.

My other concern is with testing. At Yale, you have to take finals, but at Cornell you take multiple tests throughout the term. Does anyone know the frequency of these test, I heard something like every 2 weeks (which would be bad). The other concern is that PBL counts for 30% of the ones grade but from what some students have said, the grading is rather subjective. This also concerns me. Can anyone shed light on these two points?

Yale sounds like the best fit for you

If low stress/competition means happy and successful you, then I'd def. say Yale. But there are other things about you that point to Yale.

The thesis requirement means that you'll have ample time to do research, and Yale you could do an MPH as well, if that interests you.

It also sounds from this post as if your'e not a big fan of PBL...

If you live in NYC now, then you'll know lots of people who will still be in NYC next year, so if you're only a train ride away you'll have lots of places to crash for the weekend 🙂 Granted you're not living in NYC, but you're not that far away

I think Yale and Cornell will give you about equal preperation for competitive residencies or entering academic medicine, so that doesn't point to one or the other.

Lastly, are you on the "top of Tier 1" at Penn or "Tier 1"...if its the latter then I'm sorry to say that fighting probably isn't going to do much

 

[Rebs]

I vote Yale. Hands down. I am a bit biased however (I didn't even apply to Cornell and I don't like NYC). Yale has only 9 hours of lecture a week- 9-12pm 3 days a week. That sounds great to me. I only went to class as an undergrad around 1/2 of the time. It has a really supportive, relaxed, and cooperative atmosphere. If you are a self-motivated student (and it seems that you are from your post) go to Yale. I'll be there- so you should come!!! 🙂 Good luck deciding!!

Hey Lynn, I'm gonna have to agree to disagree with you on this one. While Yale has this "no class, no tests" hippie mentaility, you will still be in Elm City while the lucky Cornell students will be in the "World's Greatest City". However, in all honesty these are facetious remarks, as both Cornell and Yale are two of the greatest medical schools on the earth....its just that when it comes down to it I choose Cornell.

 

[abc(123)]

amen to that!

new haven, imo, is a dump. new york is the greatest city on earth. this is where you're going to be spending the next four years of your life... i'd be at cornell in a heartbeat.

i want to echo everyone on here that new haven is NOT a dump but a great little city. i'm a native new yorker and was so happy doing my undergrad in new haven -- great ethnic food, great parks, manageable scale.

i'd also throw into the mix the fact that at yale med, you'll have all the resources of every professional school and academic department at the university -- not so at cornell. i also didn't get the sense at cornell that there was much of a culture of interest in public health. i think i'll be declining my waitlist spot there and, unless a different second look really blows me away, be seeing you at yale in the fall 🙂

 

[ChocolateKiss]

That's a tough decision. I'd probably go for Cornell. Each of those schools has an amazing reputation in academic medicine and with residency directors, so I don't think that you can go wrong in terms of your future career. Thus, you should choose based on location, and even if New Haven isn't a dump, it sounds like you'd prefer living in NYC.

 

[thatslife]

Yale sounds like the best fit for you

It also sounds from this post as if your'e not a big fan of PBL...

Lastly, are you on the "top of Tier 1" at Penn or "Tier 1"...if its the latter then I'm sorry to say that fighting probably isn't going to do much

I think PBL is a good tool (again the whole learning on your own deal). When I was in high school I did this program for students interested in medicine. They did a mock PBL and to this day I remember the causes and symptoms of Wilson's Disease.

As for UPenn, I am on the vanilla tier 1, no exciting language or second look tab.