Run for the hills

[bewarewc]

Do not go to this program, everything bad that you have heard is 100% true. You will NOT be supported by the faculty. Out of a class of about 30 students, several have been kicked out over the years and only about 70% of those who are not forced out pass the boards. This is fact. Class is ALWAYS required, no exceptions, and often lasts from 9-10 hours per day. Students will have 3-4 tests per week, for which this is no time outside of class to study. Ridiculous rules like girls not being permitted to wear shirts with no sleeves to lecture are strictly enforced. If you want to be treated like you are in kindergarten and have about a 30% chance of either failing out or not passing the boards, then go right ahead and enroll at Weill Cornell.

[JCS525]

Do I dare ask how you discovered this information? I only inquire because it was a top choice school of mine I was considering applying to in two years. Thank you!

[andersenpa]

Do not go to this program, everything bad that you have heard is 100% true. You will NOT be supported by the faculty. Out of a class of about 30 students, several have been kicked out over the years and only about 70% of those who are not forced out pass the boards. This is fact. Class is ALWAYS required, no exceptions, and often lasts from 9-10 hours per day. Students will have 3-4 tests per week, for which this is no time outside of class to study. Ridiculous rules like girls not being permitted to wear shirts with no sleeves to lecture are strictly enforced. If you want to be treated like you are in kindergarten and have about a 30% chance of either failing out or not passing the boards, then go right ahead and enroll at Weill Cornell.

 

The facts in bold are typical for PA school. Your responsibility as a student is to budget your time to meet the needs of the program. PA school is academically rigorous, plain and simple.

Every school has its own dress code and is not a reason for disregarding a program. There are many pre-PAs who are eager for that seat and would gladly accept a dress code as a condition of acceptance.

Re PANCE rates they had a bad yr in 2011 but are otherwise OK. from the program web site:

http://www.med.cornell.edu/education/programs/phy_***.html#boardpass

 

Faculty support is the only thing you mention which is impossible to verify outside of personal accounts. Some students have a hard time with faculty support/interaction. It is not necessarily a problem with the program but with that particular student-faculty situation.

[BRBPR]

So let me shine some light on this, from a current cornell student...

 

It seems like bewarewc is "complaining" about details that happen in most, if not all, programs. 9-10hrs a week? Hmm, yea, I am pretty sure you were aware of the 10 month didactic year when you accepted your seat. I am also pretty sure that we get 15 months of rotations, which is not very common among programs, 5 of them being elective. Do you expect to learn all of the medicine required to care for patients attending class 5 hrs a day? Doubtful. And again, I may be wrong, but when you are working as a PA, I am sure you will be putting in 9-10hrs a day, if not more. Its PA school, what did you expect? No time to study? Sounds like a time management problem, since you said yourself, class is only 10hrs a day (sometimes), leaving a whopping 14 hours for your own time. Most students understand that sacrificing their free time for study time will pay off in the end. Its PA school, what did you expect? Forcing students out? Well, rules are rules. If you fail a class once, and than proceed to fail the remediation, you are out. I am not sure about you, but I would not want a PA caring for me that failed a medicine class TWICE. Common sense would say "know the material before you care for patients". Its PA school, what did you expect. 70% pass rate? Well, andersen touched on that one. Cornell had one bad year, and they identified the problems and fixed them, hence the great passing rate the year after. 3/4 tests/wk? Well, we did have 3 tests (never 4) one, maybe two weeks, and they were finals weeks. I can recall 3+ tests a week during my undergrad finals, so really, are they asking that much? As for the non-finals weeks, yea, 2 tests a week is about average, but the faculty has to be sure you understand the material somehow. Its PA school, what did you expect? Mandatory attendance? I am not sure about you, but trying to learn physiology, anatomy, medicine, surgery, etc by myself would be near impossible. Maybe bewarewc is super PA-S, but I'll leave it to the professionals to teach me what I need to know. After all, we are paying for this education. Its PA school, what did you expect? Enforced dress code? Come on, sleeves? That is big enough of a problem for you to come to a public forum and sway people to stay away from cornell? The PA profession is still growing and gaining respect, and one way for us, as students, to do that is to represent the profession as best we can. Im sure if sleeves are that big a deal, you can find a program that will allow you do go without them. Its PA school, what did you expect? Faculty not supportive? The people that care enough to complain about sleeves and being tested, are the ones that will not give the faculty/other students a chance to be supportive. For them, hope may be lost. For me, the faculty, for the most part, is more supportive than you can ask for. Are there one or two professors I do not care for? Sure, but I will not let them shadow over the 90% of the faculty that is amazing. I am sure no matter what program you would wind up at, with the attitude you have towards learning/following rules, you would not get along with most.

 

Is cornell the "perfect" program? No, but I dare you to go out there and find one that is. Each program will have their weak spots, and it is up to us, as professional students, to over come them and succeed. 10 months is a short amount of time to learn all that is necessary for rotations, and cornell does a great job of it. Maybe bewarewc has a hard time with the fast paced first year, or maybe it is the sleeves weighing them down. Either way, in order to become a great practitioner, the time has to be put in. If i could do it all over again, I would pick cornell for sure. Not only for the amazing staff, but for the great affiliations. I mean, come on, it is Cornell, that does open one or two doors out in the real world. Rotating at NYPH, HSS, or MSK is only a dream for some pa students. Cornell students walk right into the doors of any of those facilities and are greeted with open arms. As far as being prepared for 2nd year, I hear we are more prepared than most programs. And that is thanks to the awesome staff we have teaching us medicine/ethics/professionalism, and our awesome surgery professor that makes sure each and every one of us will blow residents out of the water in the OR.

 

Bottom line, if you want to work you a** off for 10 months and reap all the amazing benefits Cornell has to offer, I highly suggest you consider applying to this program. If you want medicine spoon fed to you, and do not want to put in effort/follow rules, well, i suggest you stay far away from the PA profession.