Wildlife Medicine: Tufts vs. Cornell

[katshoe87]

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I've been accepted to Tufts and Cornell, and I've visited both campuses and am in love with both. I'm interested in International Wildlife Conservation and both schools have very impressive programs and I'm so torn! I'm from Texas so I'm out-of-state for both. 🙁

Does anyone know how the programs compare? reputation? job security after graduation? research opportunities? living? social scene?

If anyone has struggled with this same choice any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Birdo88]

Not totally sure about wildlife, but recently one of the vets I work with (a Tufts graduate) was super stressed because she had to see a hedgehog, and said "Tufts didn't teach us one thing about exotics. Ever." Since wildlife and exotics often seem to coincide, I'd be concerned and maybe look further into it.

That being said, one of the technicians I now work with used to work at Cornell's wildlife rehab center and she seemed to have learned quite a bit from it and had only wonderful things to say about her experience there.

Sorry if this isn't super helpful, but there's my $0.02.

 

[PendantWorld]

I don't know as much about Tufts, but I'm also interested in international medicine, and Cornell has the Expanding Horizons program, described here from their website:

Expanding Horizons:
Expanding Horizons offers Cornell veterinary students a truly unique opportunity to experience veterinary medicine in a developing country.

The program provides grants to Cornell veterinary students who are interested in veterinary experience in developing nations. Students spend 6-10 weeks in a developing country engaged in either veterinary research or hands on veterinary experience (this ranges from wildlife rehabilitation to working with local farmers to develop artificial insemination techniques for their dairy herds) . Some countries that our students have traveled to through this program are Ghana, Uganda, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam, Honduras, South Africa, Kenya etc. It is the student's responsibility to identify contacts and projects in the country they want to work in. However the faculty and the Office of Student and Academic Services work with students to help them identify contacts.

Students who are interested in Veterinary Medicine in Developing Areas sometimes participate in a course called INTAG (International Agriculture) 402/602. The 602 component of this course which is offered through the College of Agriculture includes a 10 day field trip to India in early January. The trip is subsidized through funds from the College of Agriculture and Life sciences and the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Students can participate in the expanding horizons program anytime during their four years but given the curriculum demands and the academic calendar, most students participate in the program during the summer of the first or second year.

 

[kaydubs]

Hey there! I know Cornell is excellent, but after visiting Tufts today, I was blown out of the water. I'm a bit surprised honestly with the comment made about a Tufts vet. I believe with Tufts it's all about making your own experience (I know I want wildlife, exotics, international med, conservation med, pile it on!) but in comparison to Cornell, I can't really help there.

If you visited both, put some serious thought into where your heart truly lies😉 Think about which school fits you best, not just reputation, cost, etc.... As far as living & social scene, I picked my tour guide's brain today at Tufts and I feel that both are not huge booming metropolises if that's what you're interested in. Maybe Cornell's Ithaca is a bit larger than Tufts? But Tufts is only a short trip to Boston...

Sorry, I'm probably not that helpful.....😕 I know I loved Tufts today when I went and regardless of what happens, I want to go there and will reapply until I can't reapply anymore.....or transfer there if I can!

 

[Angelo84]

The wildlife and exotics programs are very separate entities. For example you have two required weeks of wildlife in your core rotation while there is no exotics on core. So said graduate may not have sought out opportunities to become comfortable with exotics but would likely have been comfortable examining a red tailed hawk. And we do get exotics info its just only in lecture....

I would strongly recommend anyone debating between the two programs to consider the curriculum at each school. The two are set up pretty differently. There is a thread that compares curriculi between a bunch of schools including tufts and cornell you should be able to find in a search.

I would also consider case load. I know the wildlife clinic is still busy with 10+ patients/student (3-4 students on rotation) and this is the slowest time of year.

I also had to choose between Tufts and Cornell. PM if you want further info.

Not totally sure about wildlife, but recently one of the vets I work with (a Tufts graduate) was super stressed because she had to see a hedgehog, and said "Tufts didn't teach us one thing about exotics. Ever." Since wildlife and exotics often seem to coincide, I'd be concerned and maybe look further into it.

That being said, one of the technicians I now work with used to work at Cornell's wildlife rehab center and she seemed to have learned quite a bit from it and had only wonderful things to say about her experience there.

Sorry if this isn't super helpful, but there's my $0.02.

 

[chickenlittle]

If your interest is in Wildlife Conservation, I would be focusing on finances more heavily than program quality. I graduated from vet school in 2006 and, along with many of my classmates, had interests in wildlife, research, etc. The biggest thing that kept all of us from pursuing those fields? Finances... and that's why so many of us are now in small animal medicine instead. If you're taking out loans for vet school, it will be VERY difficult to find a wildlife position that will pay enough allow you to repay those student loans.

You'll likely be better off staying in-state for vet school. You can always create your own wildlife opportunities while in school, but you're very unlikely find a wildlife job that'll allow you to pay off $200k+ in loans (which I think is about the average for Tufts/Cornell, I think?).