So I'm wondering if any current students/alums of either school could answer some questions for me as I try to make my decision. I have a school that I'm leaning toward, but I feel like getting input would be beneficial and much appreciated!
1.Teaching style: Your opinion of the didactic (Penn) versus the PBL (Cornell)... are you happy with the teaching in your school or do you wish it was of a different style? Do you feel satisfied with the quality of education?
2. Location: Penn students, do you ever have time to make use of the great cultural resources of Philly? To go to plays, museums, etc? Cornell students, do you feel overly stir-crazy in Ithaca? Or does the large population of students make it somewhat more lively than it seems?
3. Post-school: What percentage of students go into practice vs. academia vs. pursue internship/residencies? Do students in your school have any particular difficulty in finding internship programs as compared with other schools?
4. Student body/quality of life: Characterize student body as a whole: Is it a diverse class? Competitive or collaborative? Are people more independent or school-oriented (aka very involved in school sponsored organizations and on-campus socializing)? Do you generally feel like your class is smart and capable?
Well, since its midnight and I have a final exam in .... 9 hours with a few more lectures to go through, I might as well answer as many of these as I can. NOt sure I can answer all of them and you could really find a lot about Penn already in other threads...we don't seem to see the Cornell kids on here as often as us PennWe's...I take it that means they are dying under the Cornell workload
anywho
1) I definitely appreciate the didactic learning style and I know many others specifically chose Penn over Cornell for didactic learning. But, really it's kind of hard to say which is better. I mean, I wanted didactic because...let's face it...that's what I'm used to and I was really wary about switching everything up and going into a PBL curriculum...I just didn't know how I'd like it/handle it etc. At least with didactic I knew what I was getting into (as much as anyone who hasn't been to vet school knows what they're getting into
).
2) Yes of course! Vet school is not a black hole that eats away your soul all the time! Our class really enjoys going out...I'd say once a week or so someone has won a happy hour at a bar in center city that people go to. I've had friends that took salsa classes, a group of us went to "Mega Bad Movie Night" at the Museum of Natural History, people go on the ghost tours, and lots of people just head into center city and meander around, especially on First Fridays when artists showcase their work. I know people that never go out with the group, people that only occassionally go out (me! I'm a little old lady and like to just veg on my couch most of the time) and people that go out all the time (BlacKat is a PARTY ANIMAL let me tell you
haha jk jk, she's just more of a social butterfly than I am). I also enjoy running along the river that goes by the art museum, I've been to Eastern State Penitentiary, theres a Halloween party at the Mutter museum...so much to do. And theres definitely time to partake in the events of the city. Maybe not the week before an exam but there are plenty of evenings or weekend afternoons to go and explore.
3) I have no personal experience with this and I don't know numbers but they tell us we will have no problems/the numbers are high/good things good things good things. I've no experience with this but I do know that we have events with alumni often who are practicing in the area and they often post job opportunities in the summer and for internships etc. But in terms of specifics, I don't know
4) I am constantly amazed by how supportive our class is. There is absolutely zero competitiveness that I have seen and I'm so happy about that. Everyone is really intelligent and so unique...you think you know someone and then one day they bust out their mad break dancing skills! In terms of diversity...well, there isn't much ethnic diversity...I don't know if thats unique for Penn or a general theme in veterinary medicine. But there is tons of diversity in terms of what people are interested in, where they are from, and the path they took to Penn Vet, whether traditional or non-traditional. I'd say our class is also very into school sponsored events...anytime there is a school sponsored happy hour or party you can bet a good portion of people are going, and our class is very involved in student organizations etc.
So yeah, that's all I can think of for now.
Some negatives: sometimes Philly smells.
there are a lot of cruelty/animal fighting cases as the PSPCA
first semester at Penn is ROUGH.
hmm thats all I can think of for now.
Ok gotta get back to studying!