How to Succeed as a Cornell Premed
/Everything you need to know about Cornell premed, including premed requirements, the best premed extracurriculars, and the Cornell premed acceptance rate
Learn how to get into medical school as a Cornell premed
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Part 1: Introduction
At Cornell, there is certainly no shortage of students interested in a career in medicine. In fact, Cornell has the highest number of graduates applying to medical school out of the entire Ivy League. And among private colleges as a whole, Cornell produces the second-highest number of medical school applicants, behind only Johns Hopkins.
Beyond simply being a major producer of premeds, Cornell has many advantages to help its students succeed. Known for its rigorous coursework, the university is esteemed both as a member of the Ivy League and for its own merits. Cornell provides numerous opportunities for undergraduate research and unique extracurriculars, allowing premed students to develop a strong application. The university also offers connections to the highly ranked Weill Cornell School of Medicine which, while located downstate in New York City, can supply opportunities to learn from expert clinicians and conduct research during breaks.
Despite these advantages, being a premed at Cornell can also have its own unique challenges. First, as a student at the largest Ivy League school by enrollment, it can feel easy to get lost in the crowd of students, compounding the already difficult course requirements. Second, Cornell’s rural setting in Ithaca can make it harder to find shadowing positions, since there are fewer hospitals to serve the nearby region. And finally, while the connections to Weill Cornell are strong, the significant physical distance between Ithaca and New York City can make utilizing these relationships difficult.
Despite these obstacles, through careful planning you can take advantage of the many benefits of a Cornell education while developing the optimal resume for medical school admissions success. This guide combines insight from current Cornell students and alumni who have successfully navigated this environment, plus patterns gleaned from the admissions data of prior Cornell graduates, in order to help you do just that. We’ll discuss how to navigate your time at Cornell, including specific advice on managing your course schedule, excelling in your classes, developing your passions outside of the classroom, and, ultimately, successfully applying to medical school.
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Part 2: Cornell premed requirements
At a large school full of diverse areas of study from agriculture to engineering to literature, selecting your coursework can be one of the most daunting initial challenges faced by Cornell students. However, as a premed, you will need to complete several specific sequences of courses in order to satisfy the requirements for medical school admission, making your schedule a bit more regimented than some of your classmates.
Despite the requirements to complete courses in certain fields of study as a premed, there is still a degree of flexibility when it comes to the exact order in which you’ll take each of your courses and the exact courses you use within those fields. Cornell’s Career Services provides a list of courses that you can use to complete these requirements here.
While different medical schools may require slightly different academic coursework, you’ll be able to apply to most schools if you follow these guidelines. We’ve also included course numbers here for ease of scheduling.
| Biology: One year with lab | Molecular Biology and Genetics 1350 Biology 1440 or 1445* Biology 1500 |
Molecular Biology and Genetics 4320 Nutritional Sciences 3420 |
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| General chemistry: One year with lab | One of the following sequences: Chemistry 2070 and 2080 Chemistry 2090 and 2080 (engineering students only) |
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| Organic chemistry: One year with lab | One of the following sequences: Chemistry 3570, 3580, and 2510 Chemistry 3590, 3600, and 2510 |
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| Biochemistry: One course | Molecular Biology and Genetics 3310 or 3320 | Nutritional Sciences 3200 | ||||
| Math: One year | One of the following (calculus): Math 1106, 1110, or 1910 One of the following (statistics): Math 2150, 3010, or 1710 |
Psychology 2500 | ||||
| Physics: One year with lab | One of the following sequences: Physics 1101 and 1102 (individualized instruction, not calculus-based) Physics 2207 and 2208 (calculus-based) Physics 1112 and 2208 Physics 1112 and 2213 (engineering students only) |
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| College-level English/writing: One year | First-Year Writing Seminar, plus one additional English, Comparative Literature, or writing-intensive course | |||||
| Courses helpful for MCAT prep: | Psychology 1101 Sociology 1101 |
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As if selecting the necessary courses isn’t already intimidating, deciding on the order in which to take these courses can also be relatively challenging. Some of these decisions are more or less made for you; for example, the requirement to take General Chemistry I prior to taking General Chemistry II. Other decisions, however, such as when to take physics or biochemistry, require more planning as you must take into account your plans for the MCAT, graduation, and major requirements.
It is also important to look at the various tracks offered for the different requirements. For example, engineers have alternative courses for physics and chemistry that better fit into their overall major, making their course requirements look slightly different from students whose majors lie elsewhere.
For example, majoring in English as a premed student would require taking the Chemistry 2070 and 2080 series, while a premed engineering student would pursue Chemistry 2090 and 2080.
Here are some factors to consider when planning your courses:
Requirements to complete your major(s) and minor(s)
Cornell graduation requirements, including unusual items like the Physical Education and Swim Tests
Your individual plan for taking the MCAT to ensure completion of necessary courses or self study
Prerequisites for certain premed courses (check with the course catalog for details for specific courses)
Balancing rigorous classes with less rigorous courses
Maintaining a relatively steady overall number of credits
As an example, here’s a schedule recommended for premed biomedical engineers. Alternatively, we’ve provided an additional potential plan for a non-engineer premed who intends to take the MCAT fall of junior year and apply to medical school as a senior without taking a gap year.
| Freshman Fall | Chemistry 2070 Math 1106 Biology 1350 First-Year Writing Seminar |
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| Freshman Spring | Chemistry 2080 Biology 1440 and 1500 Psychology 1101 |
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| Sophomore Fall | Physics 2207 Chemistry 3570 and 2510 English/writing course |
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| Sophomore Spring | Physics 2208 Chemistry 3580 Math 2150 |
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| Sophomore–Junior Summer | Molecular Biology and Genetics 3310 | |||||
How to maintain a high GPA as a Cornell premed
As a member of the Ivy League, Cornell lives up to the rigor that defines this type of school. Adding to the inherent difficulty of being a premed at a prestigious university, Cornell is not well known for grade inflation, as some of its peers are rumored to be. Between these challenging grading practices and the accomplished undergraduates who make up your classes (Cornell’s undergraduate admissions rate is just 8.7%), it’s no wonder that getting a high GPA can be a challenge for many students.
Nevertheless, many consider Cornell to be among the more friendly schools in the Ivy League. This can create a collaborative environment and help to alleviate some of the competitive stress that comes with being a premed at many other institutions. And, as we will discuss below, Cornell offers numerous opportunities for additional support in your courses, which can help to address any areas you may struggle with.
Here is some advice for maintaining a high GPA and finding general premed success at Cornell:
Take advantage of your resources. On a campus-wide level, the Learning Strategies Center (LSC) is a great first stop to get help for developing your individual study style. For specific courses, there are also many opportunities for additional help. For example, the Department of Biology offers the Student Advisors program to link successful upper-year students with underclassmen. Similarly, engineering offers a Tutors-on-Call program.
Carefully plan your course schedule. Talk to older students or employ online resources like the Cornell subreddit, Rate My Professor, and the data from course evaluations in order to identify challenging courses and professors ahead of time. This will allow you to avoid scheduling too many challenging courses at once or getting a lower grade due to a more challenging professor rather than your own work ethic.
Don’t take an unnecessarily full course load. Even while completing graduation requirements and satisfying premed prerequisites, most students at Cornell graduate in four years. While it can be tempting to pursue additional courses, be cautious and avoid taking too many classes at the same time, which can adversely affect both your GPA and your ability to pursue success in extracurriculars. In general, medical schools care more about how you did in your courses rather than how many classes you completed.
Consider summer classes. One way to avoid having a difficult workload during the semester is to spread out your classes by taking a summer course or two, whether at Cornell or at an institution in your hometown. These courses often, but not always, have the advantage of having an easier curve. However, this strategy does have the downside of providing you less time in the summer to pursue research, extracurriculars, or clinical experience.
Consider pre-studying. If you have a particular course you are concerned about, studying some of the material during summer or winter break prior to the start of the semester can be a great way to come in with extra preparation. Ways to do this include reading up on basic topics using the course textbook, watching videos like Khan Academy, or watching prior semesters’ lectures to get a head start.
Make use of old exams and questions. Professors will often provide older problem sets or exams prior to your tests. These provide the best window into the professor’s style of exam and what topics they think are important, and are therefore some of the most crucial study materials.
Work hard. Make no bones about it—Cornell is not an easy school. However, with hard work and careful preparation, many students have found their courses to be rewarding and a perfect proving ground not only for the MCAT, but also for medical school and beyond.
(Suggested reading: How to Study as a Premed)
What’s the best premed major at Cornell?
Ezra Cornell’s 1868 quotation “I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study” continues to apply to this day. Not only can you major in humanities subjects and biological sciences like at many of Cornell’s peer institutions, but you also have the opportunity to major in strong programs in fields as diverse as engineering, agriculture, human ecology, and hotel management.
Given all these options, it can feel overwhelming to decide which major to pursue if your goal is to attend medical school. Nevertheless, students at Cornell have been successful in applying from nearly every major and, in general, there isn’t one overall best major for premeds.
While students can pursue most any major, medical school applicants nationally tend to cluster in a few specific areas. Most premed students pursue degrees in biological sciences, such as biology or biochemistry. This makes sense given that your interest in medicine likely derives from an interest in understanding human health and disease; thus, studying the basic principles provides a strong foundation for medical school.
At Cornell in particular, many students follow a similar path. Majors in biology, chemistry, and biological engineering are commonplace among premeds. One advantage of these types of majors is that they have significant overlap with your premed requirements, allowing you to complete both your major and your premed courses at the same time, minimizing the overall number of courses needed. However, majoring in the sciences or engineering can involve some challenging courses within the discipline, which can make maintaining a strong GPA more difficult.
One unique Cornell major that often closely fits the goals of many premeds is the biology and society major. This major is designed for students who wish to combine training in biology with perspectives from the social sciences and humanities regarding the social, political, and ethical aspects of modern biology. This blending of perspectives closely mimics the biopsychosocial model of health and disease, used in certain corners of modern medicine. A similar major, health, biology, and human society (HBHS), is also offered through the College of Human Ecology
Ultimately, choosing your major depends on your answers to the following two questions:
Where do your passions lie?
Will you be able to maintain a high GPA?
When should you take the MCAT?
As you progress through your time at Cornell, one of the last major hurdles prior to applying to medical school will be taking the MCAT. Deciding when to take this test is a crucial part of the application process, as you must weigh what courses you’ve completed, your available time for dedicated study, and your individual application timeline. Given that these factors can differ quite a bit between students, the best time to take the MCAT becomes a matter of evaluating your individual circumstances.
While every applicant’s situation is unique, we can still discuss the timing of the MCAT for a Cornell applicant who doesn’t intend to take a gap year and who was able to begin their premed courses during freshman year.
For this applicant, the late fall or early winter of junior year can be an excellent time to take the MCAT. This would allow the student five semesters to complete the recommended courses for the exam and would also offer the option of using winter break as a time for dedicated study. And given that there are still several months prior to the last accepted test dates for application, this timing also allows you to retake the exam if that becomes necessary.
At Cornell, we would recommend completing the following courses prior to taking the MCAT. These courses will cover the majority of the material on the exam, though caution is needed as the overlap between your courses and tested material may not be 100%.
Chemistry 2070 and 2080
Biology 1350, 1440, and 1500
Physics 2207 and 2208
Chemistry 3570, 3580, and 2510
Molecular Biology and Genetics (BIOMG) 3510
(Note: Engineering or other equivalents would also suffice.)
While many premeds may suggest that completing biochemistry (BIOMG 3510) is not required to take the MCAT, biochemistry makes up a significant portion of the exam, with 25 percent of the C/P and B/B sections.
In addition to these required courses, subjects like sociology and psychology are also tested on the MCAT, though to a much lesser degree. You might consider taking introductory classes in sociology or psychology as additional preparation for the MCAT. However, these courses often cover significantly greater levels of depth than are required for the exam while missing some of the basic concepts tested. Instead, many students opt to self-study these topics outside of a formal class.
(Suggested reading: How to Get a Perfect MCAT Score: Strategies From a 528 Scorer)
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Part 3: Cornell premed extracurriculars
In addition to the diverse offerings of courses and majors at Cornell, there is also an incredible array of extracurricular activities available. In total, the Cornell student group database lists nearly 1,700 different organizations for you to choose from.
These opportunities include the more typical volunteer organizations, intramural sports, and music groups, plus some unique groups such as the Fantastic Fungi Fanatics, Falconry Club, or Artistic Beading Club. Given these numerous opportunities, it can feel daunting to identify the right mix of activities to create a resume that will set you up for medical school admissions success.
Below we will identify a few opportunities, divided into several categories, that would be great potential options to join during your time at Cornell. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on this list or in the Cornell student group database, also consider looking for opportunities in the broader community of Ithaca or Central New York. Finally, if you still have something you’d like to pursue, starting your own club, event, or initiative can be a great way to address a need in your community and create a standout element of your medical school application.
As mentioned, we encourage you to get involved in Ithaca and the surrounding central New York region. Students have found numerous opportunities to volunteer in the surrounding community, which faces significant challenges, including a growing public health crisis of opioid addiction. Getting outside of the Cornell community can be a great way to expand your horizons and provide a welcome relief from the often intense environment of an Ivy League school.
(Suggested reading: How to Choose the Right Extracurricular Activities for Medical School)
Cornell premed clinical and community volunteering
The Einhorn Center for Community Engagement is a great resource for finding opportunities for volunteering, both clinical and non-clinical. They maintain a searchable database of potential upcoming opportunities for volunteer work.
In addition, here’s a list of some organizations at Cornell that offer opportunities for volunteering:
Cornell premed shadowing
While Cornell is affiliated with the highly ranked Weill Cornell School of Medicine (currently ranked #14 by U.S. News and World Report), this hospital is located in New York City, over 200 miles away. This can make finding shadowing opportunities a bit more challenging than at universities that have a medical school right on their campus or are located in larger cities with numerous hospitals for potential opportunities.
Nonetheless, there are several ways that students at Cornell can find shadowing opportunities. First, Cornell offers the Community Health Professionals Mentorship Program, which connects premeds with medical providers in the Tompkins County area for two half-day shadowing opportunities. This course is offered in both spring and fall; however, spots are limited and an application is necessary.
Other options include pursuing shadowing opportunities at other hospitals in the region (a list is provided below), or shadowing during breaks at Weill Cornell or at facilities in your hometown. Students have also found success reaching out to private practice physicians in any of these locations.
Here’s a list of hospitals that may have shadowing opportunities near Cornell:
(Suggested reading: How to Ask to Shadow a Doctor)
Cornell premed research
Cornell is a campus full of exciting opportunities for research spread throughout the many different divisions of the university. This is especially important since, again, Cornell does not have an on-campus medical school to provide additional opportunities for in-person research during the semester.
Given this unique feature of Cornell, finding research can look slightly different than at other universities. First, if you’re searching for research during the semester, be willing to look at a variety of different departments for potential opportunities. Students can find productive research outlets in departments that are less traditional for premed research, like human ecology, engineering, and even agriculture. You can still find ways to develop strong relationships, find letters of recommendation, and build your resume through presentations and publications.
Second, if you’d like to pursue research directly applicable to medicine, seek out research at a medical school, whether that be Weill Cornell or another institution during your summers. Alternatively, in the age of COVID-19, remote research is becoming more and more feasible, and thus working with faculty at a medical school may also be possible from a distance.
At Cornell, your first stop for finding research should be the Cornell Office of Undergraduate Research. This office provides numerous resources to help you find research opportunities, both on campus and off. They also provide support for identifying funding sources or opportunities for earning credit.
In addition to the advice that the Office of Undergraduate Research can provide, here are some additional tips for finding a research position:
Talk to other students. Research positions often come from word of mouth rather than formal postings. Talking to friends, especially those that are graduating, can be a great way to find positions that are opening but haven’t been listed.
Talk to your advisors and professors. Similarly, professors and advisors often have the inside scoop on research positions. They may not necessarily place you in their own lab, but even putting in a good word with one of their colleagues can go a long way towards helping you land a position.
Take a dedicated research course or advanced lab class. Many majors offer dedicated research courses that can put you in a lab for a semester to complete a longitudinal project. These courses can be a great way to learn new skills and build relationships that turn this semester experience into something that lasts the duration of your college career.
Send cold emails to faculty. While using connections can be a great way to find research, it’s often challenging to have these relationships early in your college career. In this case, the next step is to begin sending emails to faculty you’d be interested in working with. Make a list of all faculty, across as many divisions as you can, that have research that appeals to you, and begin to send emails indicating your interest in their work and inquiring about openings. Expect to receive a lot of rejection as positions open up infrequently, but with persistence you can likely have success.
(Suggested reading: How to Write a Great Research Assistant Cover Letter)
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Part 4: Getting into medical school from Cornell
One of the great aspects of being a student at Cornell is access to the excellent Cornell Career Services office, particularly the Cornell Health Careers Advising Program. This program offers excellent advice for navigating many of the aspects of creating an excellent medical school application.
In particular, they offer a section on “mythbusting,” which can help to address many of the common misconceptions about the process. They also provide an excellent example of one potential application timeline here.
Once you reach the year in which you’ll submit your application, you will begin to work closely with the Career Services office to prepare your applications. The most important part of this process is the drafting of the committee letter.
This letter will provide a summary of your accomplishments and other letters of recommendation. It is highly recommended to utilize this process, as many medical schools require you to submit a committee letter if your school will provide one.
To receive a committee letter, you must go through the Health Careers Advising Application Preparation Process (HCA-APP). This involves completing several modules, including quizzes, completing an application, providing names of your letter writers, and submitting your personal statement for review. A detailed schedule of the process is available here.
(Suggested reading: The Ideal Medical School Application Timeline)
Cornell premed acceptance rate and admissions statistics
While Cornell clearly has great resources that help its large number of premeds matriculate to medical school, how do applicants fare and where do they ultimately end up?
While Cornell does not publish the official data for its applicants, their premed guide indicates that their admissions rates are 25–30% higher than the national average, likely putting them in the 70–75% accepted range. The most recent individual year for which Cornell provides data indicates that 84% of applicants from the class of 2019 were accepted, compared to 64% of all applicants with Cornell degrees that year and 43% of applicants nationally.
Beyond just getting in, which medical schools do Cornell students tend to enroll in? The most recent data from 2019 suggests that many students opt to stay in New York State for medical school. Eight of the twelve most attended medical schools were located in the Empire State, including public universities like Stony Brook, SUNY Downstate, SUNY Upstate, and SUNY Buffalo, in addition to the private Weill Cornell, Albert Einstein, Icahn, and New York Medical College.
Outside of New York State, the most represented medical schools among Cornell graduates were University of Virginia, Rutgers, Thomas Jefferson, and University of Miami.
Data from prior years can be found here.
(Suggested reading: Medical Schools in New York: How to Get In)
Final thoughts
As the producer of the highest number of premeds in the Ivy League, Cornell can be an excellent place to pursue your dreams of becoming a physician. Premed success at Cornell comes from taking advantage of the tremendous diversity of opportunities, both inside and outside the classroom, while mindfully navigating the circumstances that accompany Cornell’s rural location. By following the suggestions laid out by this guide and the recommendations of your advisor, you too can achieve success as a Cornell premed.
About the Author
Dr. Shirag Shemmassian is the Founder of Shemmassian Academic Consulting and one of the world's foremost experts on medical school admissions. For nearly 20 years, he and his team have helped thousands of students get into medical school using his exclusive approach.
