Tufts vs Cornell

[Raspberry813]

interested in small animal, out of state for both so cost is basically the same. (I am on the waitlist for Cornell so just thinking *if* I get off what I would do)

I know technically Cornell is ranked higher but in terms of reputation is there really a difference between the two?

Could anyone speak to the culture of either/both schools? I do not want a cutthroat environment if I can avoid it.

also social life? Thinking of tufts and how small grafton seems and the fact it’s removed from main campus?

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[JJ Bittenbinder]

Current students can probably speak better than me about their experiences, but these are some of the things I considered when deciding between them:

Tufts was my IS but the cost ending up being actually more expensive for me to go there. The cost for Tufts is 61k while the out of state cost for Cornell is 56k. Both gave me grants, but Tufts didn’t give me as much as Cornell. (This isn’t including COL of course, but that is high in both areas)

Cornell does problem based learning for the first 2 years whereas Tufts does the more traditional lecture format.

The Tufts hospital has one of the highest caseloads of any veterinary schools, at least that’s what they said on the tour.

The campus and facilities of both schools seemed nice when I visited. Honestly one of my biggest considerations without even thinking about finances was the relative isolation compared to other schools I was considering. There aren’t any other graduate students at Tufts, really. Boston is an hour away but that’s pretty far if you’re a busy vet student. And I wanted to meet people and make friends that weren’t just vet students and participate in larger campus activities that a vet school more integrated into a university would have.

So Cornell is probably more isolated within the state of NY, but it felt less isolated to me because you had the university and facilities right there, and a larger town/city nearby.

These are just a few of the things I considered but of course it is a very personal choice for what you want and feel comfortable with!

I have been told by a lot of people that reputation of the school doesn’t matter, it’s the connections you make. So I wouldn’t worry about that. I have heard students at both schools can be pretty stressed. One of my big concerns about cornell was that I heard people were very competitive. The student I know there told me she hasn’t had any problems and everyone would always share notes and wouldn’t be out to get each other. But I also heard this might be class dependent. You can’t control that though because it depends on your classmates.

 

[futurevet_2025]

Hi all! Just bumping this thread up to see if others can weigh in a bit more. I'm currently deciding primarily between these two schools. I am interested in small animal internal medicine, as well as some clinical comparative research. I think both schools would prepare me well for that, but if others have differing opinions, I would love to hear them! My draw to Tufts is that my family is very close by and it's slightly less in cost (not by much, but will still save some amount in loans as it is my IS), and particularly for me, being close to my family is very important. I think ultimately I would enjoy PBL, but I am also quite used to traditional lectures, so I think I would enjoy either curriculum. While I would enjoy Cornell, Ithaca, and its wonderful opportunities, I imagine that I would be quite homesick in a way that could influence my time there. I am regionally in the New England area, so lately, I have been hearing a lot of other professionals' opinions on the two schools. A common theme I am hearing is that they feel graduates from Tufts often do not feel as confident in their clinical skills, in comparison to graduates from other schools. I am not sure how much weight to put into this or if it's accurate, so I would love to hear people's opinions on this. I just want to make sure that I am setting myself up for as much success as possible, while also keeping in mind my overall happiness with proximity to family. Ultimately, I am hoping people can weigh in on their experiences with the two schools, particularly in developing clinical skills, but I would also love hearing how people overall made their decision between vet schools even if you did not decide between these two. Thank you!

 

[JJ Bittenbinder]

Hi! I am now in my 2nd semester at Cornell and am from MA so I can comment on my personal experiences a little more now. I don’t have as much knowledge about Tufts, of course.

Vet school is going to be hard everywhere, that’s a given. Our block 1 class was very well integrated and I enjoyed PBL, but it could be frustrating depending on what tutor you have. But I loved going through real-life cases in the context of the anatomy, radiology, histology, etc. it wasn’t just PBL, a lot of our stuff was lecture based. But they want PBL to be the center of how you integrate all the info you’re learning.

I have been able to get a lot of hands on animal experience. We started learning PE on dogs/cats, horses, and cows in our first week. We have also had surgical skills labs for knot tying which have been super fun! I work in the animal hospital and I really enjoy it. There are multiple services you can choose from including wildlife, surgery, pharmacy, exotics, ICU, large animal hospital, ER, etc. I’ve also been able to step out of my comfort zone and milk some cows There are also a lot of abroad and research opportunities if you’re into either.

I think you would be well-served going to Cornell if you are interested in internal medicine, but as you probably know your interests may change. I’m not sure what I want to go into yet but have received some great advice from professors.

In terms of location, being away from family is hard. One of my parents has a serious medical condition and it is hard to be away from home. The drive isn’t too bad (I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas) but it wont be practical to visit home for a weekend. If you’re able to live with your family in MA and not pay rent that would also take a huuuge load off your debt, something to consider. I think there is something to be said about being homesick, being more independent, stepping out of the comfort zone, etc but if you believe it would impact your mental health long-term I would do what’s healthiest for you, since vet school is quite stressful and a support system is important. I know people who talk to/FaceTime their parents almost everyday and that helps. I went to undergrad out of state and every summer so I’m sort of used to being away from family.

in terms of practical skills, I think it’s tough, because they have so much to teach you in vet school and it’s also dependent on the student to practice as they can. I feel competent in basic surgical knot ties already which is great. I hear a lot that Cornell students in general may not have as much rote memorization down, but are great at using logic to work through cases since we start doing that day 1 in PBL.

just my 2 cents! Happy to answer any follow up questions. I was in your position last year and I don’t think you can go wrong

 

[futurevet_2025]

Hi! I am now in my 2nd semester at Cornell and am from MA so I can comment on my personal experiences a little more now. I don’t have as much knowledge about Tufts, of course.

Vet school is going to be hard everywhere, that’s a given. Our block 1 class was very well integrated and I enjoyed PBL, but it could be frustrating depending on what tutor you have. But I loved going through real-life cases in the context of the anatomy, radiology, histology, etc. it wasn’t just PBL, a lot of our stuff was lecture based. But they want PBL to be the center of how you integrate all the info you’re learning.

I have been able to get a lot of hands on animal experience. We started learning PE on dogs/cats, horses, and cows in our first week. We have also had surgical skills labs for knot tying which have been super fun! I work in the animal hospital and I really enjoy it. There are multiple services you can choose from including wildlife, surgery, pharmacy, exotics, ICU, large animal hospital, ER, etc. I’ve also been able to step out of my comfort zone and milk some cows There are also a lot of abroad and research opportunities if you’re into either.

I think you would be well-served going to Cornell if you are interested in internal medicine, but as you probably know your interests may change. I’m not sure what I want to go into yet but have received some great advice from professors.

In terms of location, being away from family is hard. One of my parents has a serious medical condition and it is hard to be away from home. The drive isn’t too bad (I went home for Thanksgiving and Christmas) but it wont be practical to visit home for a weekend. If you’re able to live with your family in MA and not pay rent that would also take a huuuge load off your debt, something to consider. I think there is something to be said about being homesick, being more independent, stepping out of the comfort zone, etc but if you believe it would impact your mental health long-term I would do what’s healthiest for you, since vet school is quite stressful and a support system is important. I know people who talk to/FaceTime their parents almost everyday and that helps. I went to undergrad out of state and every summer so I’m sort of used to being away from family.

in terms of practical skills, I think it’s tough, because they have so much to teach you in vet school and it’s also dependent on the student to practice as they can. I feel competent in basic surgical knot ties already which is great. I hear a lot that Cornell students in general may not have as much rote memorization down, but are great at using logic to work through cases since we start doing that day 1 in PBL.

just my 2 cents! Happy to answer any follow up questions. I was in your position last year and I don’t think you can go wrong

Thank you so much for such a helpful response! I definitely have a lot to think about, and I appreciate you highlighting what you like about Cornell and your experience. The PBL curriculum is definitely something to consider too - I did the mock tutor group, and really enjoyed it. Thank you so much again for sharing your thoughts & advice

 

[stealthoscope]

I went to Cornell, can’t speak about Tufts, but I loved it at Cornell. The first two years is mostly PBL with some lectures, end of second year you start the preclinical courses which are heavily lecture based, then third year you finish those courses and start clinical rotations. I really credit PBL for giving me the ability to problem solve through a case and it really solidified a way of thinking that is so ingrained in me now as a clinician.

I never felt Cornell was cutthroat or competitive. We always helped each other out and studied together. If you missed lecture, someone was always willing to give you their notes, etc. I think the the PBL curriculum really solidifies the feeling of “we’re all in the same boat“ and so I never really felt like we were competing but rather just all supporting each other towards the same goal. Personally, a few of my friends and I sometimes talked about grades, but in general it wasn’t common to have everyone go around sharing how they were doing on exams, so overall you didn’t really know who was doing better or worse than you.

The Ithaca area is really nice and I enjoyed living there, I always felt like I had enough to do and I had friends who were in grad school there who would often know of events. It depends on what you like to do in your free time though.

I don’t think that you should take those rankings into account. Tufts is a great school and has a great reputation, I can’t imagine it hindering you

 

[futurevet_2025]

I went to Cornell, can’t speak about Tufts, but I loved it at Cornell. The first two years is mostly PBL with some lectures, end of second year you start the preclinical courses which are heavily lecture based, then third year you finish those courses and start clinical rotations. I really credit PBL for giving me the ability to problem solve through a case and it really solidified a way of thinking that is so ingrained in me now as a clinician.

I never felt Cornell was cutthroat or competitive. We always helped each other out and studied together. If you missed lecture, someone was always willing to give you their notes, etc. I think the the PBL curriculum really solidifies the feeling of “we’re all in the same boat“ and so I never really felt like we were competing but rather just all supporting each other towards the same goal. Personally, a few of my friends and I sometimes talked about grades, but in general it wasn’t common to have everyone go around sharing how they were doing on exams, so overall you didn’t really know who was doing better or worse than you.

The Ithaca area is really nice and I enjoyed living there, I always felt like I had enough to do and I had friends who were in grad school there who would often know of events. It depends on what you like to do in your free time though.

I don’t think that you should take those rankings into account. Tufts is a great school and has a great reputation, I can’t imagine it hindering you

Thank you so much! The development of critical thinking skills through the PBL curriculum is something I heard reiterated during the mock tutor groups—I think that’s great that the curriculum really emphasizes how to think like a vet for future practice. That’s definitely something that’s standing out to me as paramount to Cornell’s program. Thank you again for your thoughts!