nyu vs cornell

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cornell is ivy
 
Ummm research it on their websites?
 
Both are great schools.

As a Cornell undergrad, I'm biased towards Cornell...but NYU has a fantastic medical program as well! You really can't go wrong.

PS: Lukkie, why would you choose your medical school based on a sports league?
 
both are in the city, cornell is associated with HSS, the greatest ortho/muscul. hospital in the world. nyu derm is the best in the world. cornell surgery is also well respected. nyu oby/gyn profs make like 1.3+mill a year. nuts.

so pick based on what you want.
 
chad5871 said:
Cornell is heavily PBL and independent studying.

NYU has awesome clinical experience. They also require that you live in a dorm.
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they require it? i sure hope not bc I would get an apt with my boyfriend...
 
thx guys. I seriously was gonna cut NYU becase Columbia I already applied to, and Cornell sounded more impressive. I had never heard of NYU until this summer. But now I think I will apply to both.
 
doomknight said:
thx guys. I seriously was gonna cut NYU becase Columbia I already applied to, and Cornell sounded more impressive. I had never heard of NYU until this summer. But now I think I will apply to both.
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They're both outstanding schools. Anyone would be lucky to attend either one. I think you're making a wise choice applying to both, as they're each incredibly competitive.
 
NYU has Bellevue, which is kind of an amazing hospital to work at- you'll really see everything. Cornell has NY Presbyterian, which is great but much more shee-shee (upper East Side and all that), so you probably won't see as many diverse patients as you would at Bellevue, which is way way downtown. However, Cornell is also affiliated with Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which...I mean...is as badass as you can get, really.
 
LET said:
NYU has Bellevue, which is kind of an amazing hospital to work at- you'll really see everything. Cornell has NY Presbyterian, which is great but much more shee-shee (upper East Side and all that), so you probably won't see as many diverse patients as you would at Bellevue, which is way way downtown. However, Cornell is also affiliated with Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which...I mean...is as badass as you can get, really.
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LOL have you ever even seen bellevue? its a disgrace. its in shambles and looks like its about to fall apart any second.
 
bugalow121 said:
LOL have you ever even seen bellevue? its a disgrace. its in shambles and looks like its about to fall apart any second.
Click to expand...

I worked at Bellevue for 4 months so yes, I'm quite familiar with it. I don't know if you're talking about the old mental institution, but I assure you, the ICU where I was working was hardly in shambles. In fact, it was far more state of the art than Stanford, Columbia, and MGH, all of which I have also worked at. The old mental institution is there as a "historical site" of sorts so it's not being used for patient care.

Which begs the question, have YOU ever been to Bellevue? Doesn't sound like it.
 
LET said:
NYU has Bellevue, which is kind of an amazing hospital to work at- you'll really see everything. Cornell has NY Presbyterian, which is great but much more shee-shee (upper East Side and all that), so you probably won't see as many diverse patients as you would at Bellevue, which is way way downtown. However, Cornell is also affiliated with Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which...I mean...is as badass as you can get, really.
Click to expand...

I know nothing about new york and I wasn't born here.

What does shee shee mean, and what's upper east side ? I'm from the midwest and have never been outside of Michigan, literally, since coming to the states.
 
doomknight said:
I know nothing about new york and I wasn't born here.

What does shee shee mean, and what's upper east side ? I'm from the midwest and have never been outside of Michigan, literally, since coming to the states.
Click to expand...


Haha ok, well, let's see.

So all these schools you applied to (don't remember if you applied to AECOM, but that's definitely a notable exception) are in Manhattan. Manhattan is split up in the East Side and West Side (Central Park is in the middle). There are streets and avenues. The higher number streets are "upper", while lower number are "lower" (may seem obvious, I know). And then there are the Avenues, which are length-wise through Manhattan, so there's way fewer. Ok, that's the basics.

The upper east side (90ish street down to 30ish street, although people might disagree with me on what the real "upper east side" is, I actually haven't spent too much time there) is the most expensive, fanciest, most "old money" area of Manhattan. It's gorgeous, there are a whole bunch of museums and things like that. That's where Weill Cornell is. That's what I mean by "sheeshee". It's as pretty an area as you'll ever see in the city, but it's definitely not terribly diverse, ethnically or socioeconomically. Especially since there are so many great hospitals strewn about the city- people don't usually have to travel to one or the other, so you do get the neighborhood crowd. So while it's quite the safe, lovely place to go to school, you also probably won't see too many crazy interesting patients. Of course, the Hospital for Special Surgery (ortho heaven) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering (oncology heaven) are affiliated with it, and people WILL travel across the world to go there.

NYU is waaaay downtown (don't remember the exact street, but its in the 10th-ish area). That area tends to be more diverse and interesting. It's still not a bad area to live in, not sketchy or anything, but you get a mixed bag of people. Bellevue is also one of the oldest (the oldest maybe? Don't remember) hospitals in the country- and it's affiliated with NYU (incidentally, NYU also has its own medical center which is right next to Bellevue so clinicals are usually split between the two). You really do see a little bit of everything, more the "crazy New York crowd" that one might imagine. It's a really fun place to work.

I know you didn't ask about Columbia, but whether you know this or not, I might as well tell you: Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital is in a pretty shady area. I worked there for a summer and I definitely would not like to be walking around outside of the "campus" late at night. It's an outstanding hospital, a beautiful place to work, and the couple of blocks near it aren't so bad, but as soon as you really get out of the med center bubble, you're smack dab in the middle of Spanish Harlem (168th street, waaaay uptown), an area called Washington Heights. On the other hand, again you see some pretty interesting people and if you're interested in working with the underserved, it's a good place. Most of your patients will be Dominicans, with a smattering of Puerto Ricans in there, so it's particularly helpful to speak Spanish.

Anyways, that's my rather inexpert mini-tour of the city hahaha. Maybe there are some city folk who can add to it or correct whatever mistakes I made?
 
Thanks LET. You have just helped me write my Why NYU? Essay.:meanie:

LET said:
Haha ok, well, let's see.

So all these schools you applied to (don't remember if you applied to AECOM, but that's definitely a notable exception) are in Manhattan. Manhattan is split up in the East Side and West Side (Central Park is in the middle). There are streets and avenues. The higher number streets are "upper", while lower number are "lower" (may seem obvious, I know). And then there are the Avenues, which are length-wise through Manhattan, so there's way fewer. Ok, that's the basics.

The upper east side (90ish street down to 30ish street, although people might disagree with me on what the real "upper east side" is, I actually haven't spent too much time there) is the most expensive, fanciest, most "old money" area of Manhattan. It's gorgeous, there are a whole bunch of museums and things like that. That's where Weill Cornell is. That's what I mean by "sheeshee". It's as pretty an area as you'll ever see in the city, but it's definitely not terribly diverse, ethnically or socioeconomically. Especially since there are so many great hospitals strewn about the city- people don't usually have to travel to one or the other, so you do get the neighborhood crowd. So while it's quite the safe, lovely place to go to school, you also probably won't see too many crazy interesting patients. Of course, the Hospital for Special Surgery (ortho heaven) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering (oncology heaven) are affiliated with it, and people WILL travel across the world to go there.

NYU is waaaay downtown (don't remember the exact street, but its in the 10th-ish area). That area tends to be more diverse and interesting. It's still not a bad area to live in, not sketchy or anything, but you get a mixed bag of people. Bellevue is also one of the oldest (the oldest maybe? Don't remember) hospitals in the country- and it's affiliated with NYU (incidentally, NYU also has its own medical center which is right next to Bellevue so clinicals are usually split between the two). You really do see a little bit of everything, more the "crazy New York crowd" that one might imagine. It's a really fun place to work.

I know you didn't ask about Columbia, but whether you know this or not, I might as well tell you: Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital is in a pretty shady area. I worked there for a summer and I definitely would not like to be walking around outside of the "campus" late at night. It's an outstanding hospital, a beautiful place to work, and the couple of blocks near it aren't so bad, but as soon as you really get out of the med center bubble, you're smack dab in the middle of Spanish Harlem (168th street, waaaay uptown), an area called Washington Heights. On the other hand, again you see some pretty interesting people and if you're interested in working with the underserved, it's a good place. Most of your patients will be Dominicans, with a smattering of Puerto Ricans in there, so it's particularly helpful to speak Spanish.

Anyways, that's my rather inexpert mini-tour of the city hahaha. Maybe there are some city folk who can add to it or correct whatever mistakes I made?
Click to expand...
 
thank you so much. And yes, I didn't know anything about Columbia either, I just received their sec really early and did it early, then started slacking off for the later schools.

The NY schools I'm applying to are Columbia, Cornell, NYU.

The only thing I've known about NYC up to this point, are: 9/11 happened there causing all those I <3 NY tshirts, and that Natalie Portman lives there. I first heard of upper east side from the show Gossip Girl (I'm a guy, and I'm straight, but that Nate guy is hoooooootttt), but I never knew the difference between upper vs lower east side until today, so thanks LET!

Also, speaking of which, what's the "Hamptons" they say that on the show quite a bit too.
 
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doomknight said:
thank you so much. And yes, I didn't know anything about Columbia either, I just received their sec really early and did it early, then started slacking off for the later schools.

The NY schools I'm applying to are Columbia, Cornell, NYU, and Dartmouth. Dartmouth was really easy though, no essays.

The only thing I've known about NYC up to this point, are: 9/11 happened there causing all those I <3 NY tshirts, and that Natalie Portman lives there. I first heard of upper east side from the show Gossip Girl (I'm a guy, and I'm straight, but that Nate guy is hoooooootttt), but I never knew the difference between upper vs lower east side until today, so thanks LET!

Also, speaking of which, what's the "Hamptons" they say that on the show quite a bit too.
Click to expand...

Hahaha I almost mentioned that the upper east side was what Gossip Girl is about, but then I chose not to, figuring it would make me look like a ditz. Glad you were the one to look like a ditz instead 😛. Oh, and Nate is WAY too pretty for my tastes. Looks like a girl.

Oh, Dartmouth is not in NY. It's in the middle of nowhere in Hanover, New Hampshire. It's pretty rural. Might want to look into that hahaha.

The Hamptons are beachy towns in Long Island, which is in New York State, about an hour (I think....) from the city. I don't know if you know about Boston at all, but it basically has the same relationship to New York City as Cape Cod does to Boston. This means that the rich, upper-east-side crowd of New York "summers" in the Hamptons. Houses (especially in East Hampton) can cost upwards of 10mil, I think the average is about 3ish. Basically, when the rich Manhattanites get sick of feeling all cramped in an apartment in the city, they go to the Hamptons where they have big fat mansions.
 
I feel stupid now. I thought Dartmouth was in NY because Dan kept wanting to goto Dartmouth.
 
I have a low undergrad GPA (3.3) but I went to the Georgetown post bacc masters and got a 3.7. My MCAT scores are as follows
Physical 15
Verbal 11
Biological 12

composite: 38

Does anyone think I have a shot of getting an interview???
 
Jericho1057 said:
I have a low undergrad GPA (3.3) but I went to the Georgetown post bacc masters and got a 3.7. My MCAT scores are as follows
Physical 15
Verbal 11
Biological 12

composite: 38

Does anyone think I have a shot of getting an interview???
Click to expand...


No. Give up now.
 
Jericho1057 said:
I have a low undergrad GPA (3.3) but I went to the Georgetown post bacc masters and got a 3.7. My MCAT scores are as follows
Physical 15
Verbal 11
Biological 12

composite: 38

Does anyone think I have a shot of getting an interview???
Click to expand...
You might want to create a new thread to address this in the "What are my chances?" subforum, where it will receive more appropriate attention.

That having been said, it's hard to gauge without knowing more about your background (such as EC's). Assuming that they're solid, however, I don't see why you wouldn't be extended an interview for that fantastic MCAT score and nicely improved GPA.
 
ButImLETired said:
Haha ok, well, let's see.

So all these schools you applied to (don't remember if you applied to AECOM, but that's definitely a notable exception) are in Manhattan. Manhattan is split up in the East Side and West Side (Central Park is in the middle). There are streets and avenues. The higher number streets are "upper", while lower number are "lower" (may seem obvious, I know). And then there are the Avenues, which are length-wise through Manhattan, so there's way fewer. Ok, that's the basics.

The upper east side (90ish street down to 30ish street, although people might disagree with me on what the real "upper east side" is, I actually haven't spent too much time there) is the most expensive, fanciest, most "old money" area of Manhattan. It's gorgeous, there are a whole bunch of museums and things like that. That's where Weill Cornell is. That's what I mean by "sheeshee". It's as pretty an area as you'll ever see in the city, but it's definitely not terribly diverse, ethnically or socioeconomically. Especially since there are so many great hospitals strewn about the city- people don't usually have to travel to one or the other, so you do get the neighborhood crowd. So while it's quite the safe, lovely place to go to school, you also probably won't see too many crazy interesting patients. Of course, the Hospital for Special Surgery (ortho heaven) and Memorial Sloan-Kettering (oncology heaven) are affiliated with it, and people WILL travel across the world to go there.

NYU is waaaay downtown (don't remember the exact street, but its in the 10th-ish area). That area tends to be more diverse and interesting. It's still not a bad area to live in, not sketchy or anything, but you get a mixed bag of people. Bellevue is also one of the oldest (the oldest maybe? Don't remember) hospitals in the country- and it's affiliated with NYU (incidentally, NYU also has its own medical center which is right next to Bellevue so clinicals are usually split between the two). You really do see a little bit of everything, more the "crazy New York crowd" that one might imagine. It's a really fun place to work.

I know you didn't ask about Columbia, but whether you know this or not, I might as well tell you: Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital is in a pretty shady area. I worked there for a summer and I definitely would not like to be walking around outside of the "campus" late at night. It's an outstanding hospital, a beautiful place to work, and the couple of blocks near it aren't so bad, but as soon as you really get out of the med center bubble, you're smack dab in the middle of Spanish Harlem (168th street, waaaay uptown), an area called Washington Heights. On the other hand, again you see some pretty interesting people and if you're interested in working with the underserved, it's a good place. Most of your patients will be Dominicans, with a smattering of Puerto Ricans in there, so it's particularly helpful to speak Spanish.

Anyways, that's my rather inexpert mini-tour of the city hahaha. Maybe there are some city folk who can add to it or correct whatever mistakes I made?
Click to expand...


Washington Heights, the neighborhood where Columbia is, is actually pretty safe at night. Obviously you need to be saavy- wandering around Fort Tryon Park after dark is perhaps not the best idea and there are some areas where you might not want to go. But overall, I think that wandering around Washington Heights in the middle of the night is safer than wandering around parts of the Upper East Side in the middle of the night. The super wealthy parts of the latter don't have a lot of street life late at night.

As for the patient population- I actually think the patient population at a place like Cornell is quite diverse. Sometimes people think that if you're seeing a lot of minorities, you're seeing a diverse population. This is not necessarily true. If 90% of your patients are from the Dominican Republic, this is not diverse.
 
i would probably go for the cheaper one which is *i think* cornell.. but i could be wrong
 
NYU also tends to have a younger student body, does it not? Agree that Bellevue (the parts of it that I've seen) is a beautiful hospital.


Fact of the matter is
The city is as diverse as it gets. The population makeup is going to be different from school to school, but still really diverse. Cornell may be on the UES, but it's also close to East Harlem. Columbia may be in Washington Heights, but didn't Bill Clinton have heart surgery there? And didn't I hear something about Columbia and Cornell hospitals now being shared? Plus, as Columbia, Cornell, and NYU are all excellent schools affiliated with excellent hospitals, you will have the opportunity to see crazy things that people come from around the world to have treated.

Also, if you are lucky enough to have to choose between these schools, think about the kind of night/social life you want and enjoy. Washington Heights is great, sure, but let's be honest, it's as far from the major cultural centers of Manhattan as you can get (but pretty darn close to Yankee Stadium) while still being in Manhattan.

Cornell, like Mount Sinai, is really close to "Museum Mile." NYU is closer to the downtown area, which has a fun, young vibe but is rapidly becoming gentrified and overrun by hipsters and the like.
 
These are all good choices. But if I had this choice, I would go to Columbia. Cornell is too PBL for me, I just am not into PBL. But that is just my personal learning style. And NYC has the subway, so you can get to wherever you want to go easily. But if you can go to med school in the most amazing city in the country, why not. I am jealous. I wish I lived in NYC. Perhaps residency.
 
just figured I would give my two cents. I was born and raised in nyc, so I think i have a good idea. I grew up in washington heigts and had a lota family visit there when we had to go to hospitals, and had major health issues.

Columbia yes is located in washington heights which is pretty much dominican for the most part. Its not the best part of the city but as i have said in other posts. Some of the best hospitals are not in the greatest areas. honestly if u are street smart, and act normal and now how to handle yourself u will be fine. I hate the stigma that comes with nyc, if ur not from here. columbia is gona give u some great clinicals being in washington heights and yes spanish would help huge there.

Cornell was 5 blocks over from my college and yes thats on the upper east side. It is yuppy, and theres madd money that rolls thru there so yes the patient diversity wont be too great but then they have people coming in from all over the world to their world renkown hospitals.

Plus columbia and cornell are afialted as of 96 i believe so u cant complain.

I just interviewed at cornell, and having gone to school a couple of blocks over it is nice. but personally I wanna work and serve in the underserved communities especially since I come from one and can directly relate to these people.

I also lived at 25th and 1st and volunteered at bellvue. My dorm in college was the block over from bellevue and i could see it from my window. you will see everything there. I worked in the E.R. They got inmates from the infamous rikers island, drunk bums, moms, and the like rolling thru there.

Either way u got a great variety of schools and options at ANY OF THESE SCHOOLS, and you would be blessed to go there.
 
True. No matter where you go, you can get anywhere else in the city easily.
 
Correct on that sloan kettering is like mcdonalds for cancer homeboy
 
Just to jump in here for a sec, while Cornell IS on the upper east side (which does mean more caucasian/upper class, etc), we're also affiliated with a number of other hospitals: Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, NYHQ in Flushing, Queens, Brooklyn Hospital, and Methodist. You can do at least part of most of your rotations at these hospitals (all except psych), so you do end up seeing a large variety of patients and pathologies.

Aside from this, on the Cornell vs. NYU debate, one thing to note is that the grading policies for all of the years are different. At Cornell, the first two years are honors/pass/fail, with the top 20% getting honors. At NYU, it's all pass/fail (though apparently they do keep records for AOA). Also, at Cornell, on average our shelf scores during 3rd year clinical rotations count more towards our grades than they do at NYU. So, if you're not a great test taker, you may lean towards NYU as they seem to take the "subjective" factor into account more.

All that being said, both are great schools, and if you put your mind to it, you'll definitely come out ready to go for internship. At the end of the day, who you are and how much you put in matters more than where you go. Good luck!
 
quideam said:
Just to jump in here for a sec, while Cornell IS on the upper east side (which does mean more caucasian/upper class, etc), we're also affiliated with a number of other hospitals: Lincoln Hospital in the Bronx, NYHQ in Flushing, Queens, Brooklyn Hospital, and Methodist. You can do at least part of most of your rotations at these hospitals (all except psych), so you do end up seeing a large variety of patients and pathologies.

Aside from this, on the Cornell vs. NYU debate, one thing to note is that the grading policies for all of the years are different. At Cornell, the first two years are honors/pass/fail, with the top 20% getting honors. At NYU, it's all pass/fail (though apparently they do keep records for AOA). Also, at Cornell, on average our shelf scores during 3rd year clinical rotations count more towards our grades than they do at NYU. So, if you're not a great test taker, you may lean towards NYU as they seem to take the "subjective" factor into account more.

All that being said, both are great schools, and if you put your mind to it, you'll definitely come out ready to go for internship. At the end of the day, who you are and how much you put in matters more than where you go. Good luck!
Click to expand...

This is great info, thanks. I've been looking for info about many schools' grading policies on their websites but haven't found too much that's helpful. Is there a source that anyone knows of where I can research grading policies? Not that it's going to be the #1 deciding factor in where I apply and/or matriculate, but I definitely want to have the information...
 
something that i think should be a very big factor in your decision is whether you like PBL learning.. cornell as im sure you know is very heavy in pbl whereas NYU is not (i believe? i hope? lol).
 
I think NYU students are hip and Cornell students are button up's - but thats just me. You either live in the upper east side, or the lower east side. Truth be told, im all about the lower. NYU FTW.

youll thank me later.
 
rama kandra said:
I think NYU students are hip and Cornell students are button up's - but thats just me. You either live in the upper east side, or the lower east side. Truth be told, im all about the lower. NYU FTW.

youll thank me later.
Click to expand...

NYU med is not on the LES! it's midtown east, basically. only about 35 blocks from cornell.
 
nyu med students generally live in the area south of kips bay, or the lower east side.

also 35 blocks apart is a joke right? there are startling differences between areas that are 3 blocks apart. go walk around stuy town and than go walk around cornell and tell me that its only 35 blocks away and should be the same.
 
okay, i shouldn't have started the nyc neighborhoods argument. sorry.

for the record, 35 blocks isn't THAT much. or maybe i just feel that way because i'm living in brooklyn now and i feel like i'm about 2000 blocks from everything.
 
heh i do too, but i still get the same feeling

walk two blocks and your in bed-stuy and walk the opposite way, your in swanky yuppieville
 
rama kandra said:
heh i do too, but i still get the same feeling

walk two blocks and your in bed-stuy and walk the opposite way, your in swanky yuppieville
Click to expand...

troof. although in my neighborhood, it's more like walk two blocks and you're surrounded by amazing and cheap indian food. walk the opposite way and you're surrounded by amazing and cheap dollar stores. not a lot of swank in my neck of the woods 😳
 
Im starting at NYU in the fall; is it true you have to live at the dorms? I'm married and we're looking for places to stay now; what do you recommend?
 
rama kandra said:
heh i do too, but i still get the same feeling

walk two blocks and your in bed-stuy and walk the opposite way, your in swanky yuppieville
Click to expand...

I'm starting at NYU in the fall. We're looking for places to live; any recommendations for my wife and I?
 
ar2388 said:
something that i think should be a very big factor in your decision is whether you like PBL learning.. cornell as im sure you know is very heavy in pbl whereas NYU is not (i believe? i hope? lol).
Click to expand...

i think cornell meets for pbl maybe 3 times a week for about 1.5 hours per session. i wouldn't really call that PBL heavy, particularly since at the end of the week i'm pretty sure you spend more time in lecture than you do in PBL. at second look they made a point of saying that anything you "need to know" for exams and so forth is covered in lecture. pbl is more about teaching you about a process of investigation and problem solving.
 
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