Stanford vs. Weill Cornell

[Doctor~Detroit]

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This particular med school comparison doesn't come up much. What say you?

 

[peezyweezy]

Here's my own personal opinion.....between the two I would say Cornell.

It is in a better location.....theres more to do in NYC. You don't need a car to be there. The patient population is much more diverse. The area around Stanford and many of its patients are affluent. Cornell has its share of this, but definitely not so much. They are both good schools...and I think Stanford may have a little bit more of a "name factor" and a higher rating, but I think one could probably get a better experience at Cornell.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Stanford Med is on the university's main campus unlike Cornell.

for many other reasons as well, Stanford > Cornell

 

[etf]

yeah, i would have thought that this comparison doesn't come up much because there really is no comparison; stanford >> cornell

 

[BellyDancingDoc]

Check your financial aid packages!

Stanford = 2nd lowest debt load in the US

Cornell = not so much

 

[Husky85]

Check your financial aid packages!

Stanford = 2nd lowest debt load in the US

Cornell = not so much

That's cool, where did you find that stat? I'd be interested to see where other schools fall.

 

[BellyDancingDoc]

That's cool, where did you find that stat? I'd be interested to see where other schools fall.

Stats on avg indebtedness can be found on the US News & World Report site:
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/grad/webextras/brief/sb_med_debt_brief.php

 

[madbay]

I don't think that average debt is any way to compare the finances of different schools. Students who attend schools lower on the list (i.e., Stanford) may have significant financial support from their families.

 

[TSK]

Considering Cornell's main campus is in Ithaca, how is that a con?

Stanford Med is on the university's main campus unlike Cornell.

for many other reasons as well, Stanford > Cornell

 

[byong_soo]

main campus being separate could be a con because having main campus next to med school means more interaction between med school and basic science research.

although i would love to go to cornell i must agree with the majority here that stanford >> cornell

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

quantummechanic, etf, byong_soo, others . . . what are your reasons for "stanford > cornell"? can you list them?

 

[szhao]

close to main campus = research departments not limited to what is in the medical school

 

[Towelie]

Stanford > Cornell

Why?

-Reputation
-Match list
-Wednesdays off
-Research
-Weather
Etc.


They are both amazing schools though, and I would be happy to go to either one.

 

[A Tree]

main campus being separate could be a con because having main campus next to med school means more interaction between med school and basic science research.

although i would love to go to cornell i must agree with the majority here that stanford >> cornell

While this may not be the case in practice, any med student that wants to interact with basic research folk at Cornell has many many many many labs to pick from....York Avenue is crawling with Nobel laureates.

 

[crimsonkid85]

while i, too, agree that stanford>>cornell, i am not sure that research is one of the reasons. cornell does its mstp program with rockefeller and sloan kettering, two top-notch basic-research institutions. if you are a med student interested in doing scientific research, surely rockefeller and sloan-kettering would be an option.

 

[Hurricane95]

If both campuses are together, you get free pick of the litter amongst the undergrad girls 😉

Doesn't stanford have mad crazy financial aid? I don't know for sure, but I've heard that stanford gives you a full ride if you're "poor," and by poor i mean if you earn less than like 100k/year. But that might just be a wild rumor, don't mind me.

 

[Mr. Tee]

Stanford.

4 years pass/fail = I'm there.

 

[mediocriskid]

I'm not entirely sold on the US News and Rankings about the average debt. I interviewed at Duke and the financial aid officer insinuated that unless your family was basically dirt poor, you were not going to get any financial aid from duke. She then showed us a span of debts, from those who were given full rides (need based) to those who had to pay for everything. Obviously the average of a ridiculously low and high number leads to a very reasonable average (and very misleading) of debt. I imagine this same phenomenon happens at Stanford.

But to answer the question... I would go for Stanford- better weather and pass/fail

 

[Towelie]

I'm not entirely sold on the US News and Rankings about the average debt. I interviewed at Duke and the financial aid officer insinuated that unless your family was basically dirt poor, you were not going to get any financial aid from duke. She then showed us a span of debts, from those who were given full rides (need based) to those who had to pay for everything. Obviously the average of a ridiculously low and high number leads to a very reasonable average (and very misleading) of debt. I imagine this same phenomenon happens at Stanford.

But to answer the question... I would go for Stanford- better weather and pass/fail

Stanford gives you a ton of ways to reduce debt, regardless of your family status. If you do research for a quarter, they subtract $12K from your tuition. If you TA for a quarter, it's $15K. These provide ways for everyone to substantially lower their debt. You could probably lower your debt $50-60K over the course of med school this way, if you put in a lot of research/TA time.

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

anyone want to make a case for cornell? i thought peezyweezy brought up some good points.

 

[laost825]

i would say stanford has slightly better name rec (though only slightly; cornell is still "ivy league" which does carry weight for many people)

I think Cornell has better research opportunities - between rockefeller, memorial, HSS, NY hospital, etc., there are significant research opportunities (clinical and bench). Is it more than at Stanford University? I dont know--I would think yes. Rockefeller is a substantial research university. From what I can gather, cornell medical students have very good access to these resources.

Stanford obviously has a weather advantage, and its campus is more attractive. The lifestyle isnt "better" - because it is very different. For some this will be appealing, for others it wont. I would prefer to be in manhattan than palo alto - but fully understand the opposite perspective.

Stanford has better aid, but Cornell is pretty damn good for a private university also - it is 24th on that list, but most of the schools between stanford and cornell are state. Getting 15k in tuition to tutor at stanford is pretty nice, though.

Clinically, in my opinion Cornell has the advantage - besides the immediate hospitals (NY, memorial, HSS) there are several affiliates around NYC, a city with unmatched patient diversity.

Stanford has better sports, and I think being attached to a university has more advantages than research - activities, underclassmen, fellow graduate students, lectures, humanities classes, language classes, etc. But weigh that against all of NYC. Will you actually take advantage of any of this?

Regardless, if you are seriously making this decision you are very fortunate.

🙂

 

[deleted103644]

To everyone reading this post, if you get the choice, definitely choose Stanford over Cornell. Just as a personal favor to me, since I only applied to Cornell. 😛

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

bump

 

[PeripateticMD]

This particular med school comparison doesn't come up much. What say you?

i hate you? that's what i say? haha, kidding, i don't hate you, i don't even know you. but you make me jealous. i'd choose stanford, but that's b/c i'm from CA. both come out with pretty snooty doctors... so either snooty in the bay or snooty in the city. up to you 🙂.

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

i hate you? that's what i say? haha, kidding, i don't hate you, i don't even know you. but you make me jealous. i'd choose stanford, but that's b/c i'm from CA. both come out with pretty snooty doctors... so either snooty in the bay or snooty in the city. up to you 🙂.

for full disclosure, i'm not lucky enough to personally have this choice at this time, but i've interviewed at both and i'm waiting to hear back. so this thread is only potentially useful to me, but should definitely be useful to others searching in the future.

is there anything about cornell or stanford that folks haven't brought up yet? student life?

 

[babyface]

Being a student at Cornell, I have gotta put in a plug for my school. Folks here has brought up some good points...

1) No doubt, the weather in Cali is second to none, so if the outdoor is really really important to you, by all means, live in palo alto. you'll be happier there.

2) Personally, I feel that the attachment of an undergrad campus is overrated. yes, you may have more social interactions with undergrads that way and possibly score couple of dates, but come on! NYC is the capital of yuppie singles! Trust me, in terms of the singles scene, NYC beats palo alto any day. as others have pointed out, the opportunities of basic science research is abundant with the tri-institutional system here.

3) The proximity to other graduate programs though, may be beneficial if you are interested in joint programs (i.e. MBA, MPH, etc.) while we do have a joint MD/MBA program, the business school is 4 hours away and requires uprooting your housing situation for a year...just not as convenient. Stanford has its MPH at Berkeley, roughly an hour away by car. We have a joint MPH with Columbia, also just a short subway ride away. pretty similar in that regards.

4) Student life here is top-notched. First 2 years we are out of school by 1 pm. Problem-based learning prepares your thinking for the clinical years. 3rd year is hard, but definitely more doable than other programs. You'll learn alot here, but will still have time for an outside life.

5) Match list here is also great...I'm still not great at comparing matchlists, so I can comment which school has a better list. But we do have lots of folks going into derm, ortho, radiology, EM, etc...often matching at programs like MGH or UCSF or of course, Cornell. Check it out if you want at our website if you want...rumors have it that we average in the 230's for step 1 (only through words of mouth)

6) Financial aid: in terms of grants, Cornell is actually very generous with financial aid if you have needs. but given that we do not have any institutional merit-based scholarships (everything is need-based), it may look more skewed on usnews than reality.

In short, I'd choose between these 2 schools based on your personal preference. You can't really go wrong either way. What I will say is don't let the lack of an undergrad campus or the usnews financial aid figure impact your decision. Good luck

 

[Doctor~Detroit]

Being a student at Cornell, I have gotta put in a plug for my school. Folks here has brought up some good points...

1) No doubt, the weather in Cali is second to none, so if the outdoor is really really important to you, by all means, live in palo alto. you'll be happier there.

2) Personally, I feel that the attachment of an undergrad campus is overrated. yes, you may have more social interactions with undergrads that way and possibly score couple of dates, but come on! NYC is the capital of yuppie singles! Trust me, in terms of the singles scene, NYC beats palo alto any day. as others have pointed out, the opportunities of basic science research is abundant with the tri-institutional system here.

3) The proximity to other graduate programs though, may be beneficial if you are interested in joint programs (i.e. MBA, MPH, etc.) while we do have a joint MD/MBA program, the business school is 4 hours away and requires uprooting your housing situation for a year...just not as convenient. Stanford has its MPH at Berkeley, roughly an hour away by car. We have a joint MPH with Columbia, also just a short subway ride away. pretty similar in that regards.

4) Student life here is top-notched. First 2 years we are out of school by 1 pm. Problem-based learning prepares your thinking for the clinical years. 3rd year is hard, but definitely more doable than other programs. You'll learn alot here, but will still have time for an outside life.

5) Match list here is also great...I'm still not great at comparing matchlists, so I can comment which school has a better list. But we do have lots of folks going into derm, ortho, radiology, EM, etc...often matching at programs like MGH or UCSF or of course, Cornell. Check it out if you want at our website if you want...rumors have it that we average in the 230's for step 1 (only through words of mouth)

6) Financial aid: in terms of grants, Cornell is actually very generous with financial aid if you have needs. but given that we do not have any institutional merit-based scholarships (everything is need-based), it may look more skewed on usnews than reality.

In short, I'd choose between these 2 schools based on your personal preference. You can't really go wrong either way. What I will say is don't let the lack of an undergrad campus or the usnews financial aid figure impact your decision. Good luck

Great points. Thanks!

As a shallow follow-up: Is NYC really such a great place for dating if you're a poor, male medical student? I can just imagine competing with all the males in finance who can afford the top-notch restaurants. I would think in that situation one's best options are other poor students. Is there much dating or hooking up within the medical school or elsewhere?

Anyone else have something to say about Stanford or Weill Cornell?

 

[docmode]

The true pass/fail non-ranking system of Stanford is what I like the best. It has a great atmosphere both in the classroom and out. With its low-debt graduation statistic for those in need I think it's hard to beat. For those without need, their TA rates and research grants make reducing tuition very doable. I think in the end, you need to figure out if you want to be in New York City or California. The atmospheres are so different, one so relaxed and the other hectic. For me, I like the outdoors so with so little free time and money I like the weather and being able to run, bike or swim outside without much trouble at all. The athletic facilities at Stanford are certainly unmatched! The other awesome opportunity that appeals to me at Stanford is the elective courses offered at the University. I know MANY students take advantage of this. The quality of education of both is so great that I think you'll just have to go to second look weekend at both to see where you feel the best for me it's at Stanford. Good luck you can't go wrong.

 

[epigastric]

Great points. Thanks!

As a shallow follow-up: Is NYC really such a great place for dating if you're a poor, male medical student? I can just imagine competing with all the males in finance who can afford the top-notch restaurants. I would think in that situation one's best options are other poor students. Is there much dating or hooking up within the medical school or elsewhere?

Anyone else have something to say about Stanford or Weill Cornell?

With ten thousand (yeah, approximately) undergraduate and graduate institutions in NYC, you're only going to be losing to the finance guys if you're set on the type of girl who insists on eating at Per Se on Friday nights. You've got choice, and there are plenty of low-cost date activities in the city. Introducing yourself as a medical student still goes over pretty well. Going to Cornell just means you have to leave the medical school buildings to find women who aren't already in the health professions.