I agree, espeically with the last part. Cornell is definitely in a posh part of town, but there are tons of affiliated hospitals, many of which are not in Upper East Side. Really, the clinical training is as good as students want to make it.
I only interviewed at Cornell and Columbia, and I thought Cornell blew Columbia away in terms of an overall package (i.e., location, program, match list, and clinical/research opportunities, both domestic and international). Of course, I am a rising first year, so my perspective may change significantly during the next four years. Despite liking Cornell better, I was really trying to position myself to get into Columbia (I was waitlisted at both) because I thought I interviewed better there, and I didn't want to be heartbroken after romanticizing about attending Cornell. Strangely, I was accepted at Cornell, and subsequently withdrew from every other school. While Columbia may have a better match list (I don't really think so, unless you look specifically at Neuro/Neurosurg/Psych, which Columbia is known for) because students from ALL top schools generally match amazingly in non-specialties and less competitive specialties. Super-competitive specialties are tough to come by regardless of the school you attend (although slightly easier for HMS and JHU students), which means neither Columbia or Cornell matched a ridiculous number of people into derm, etc. But that could also be because neither school had 20 people who wanted to match into those specialities.
There is more to picking a school than comparing match lists, however, so I would just advise considering where you would be happiest spending four years. I would definitely prefer to spend them in Upper East Side Manhattan, surrounded by Sloan-Kettering, HSS, NY Hosptial, and Rockefeller University, and studying medicine via an interactive, collaborative curriculum. Sure, we may have to study harder for Step I, but I would rather be less stressed out during the first two years, and spend the time I would otherwise be in class studying on my own. Anyway, Columbia and Cornell are both phenomenal schools. Pick whichever is best for you. Good luck.
