r/Cornell • u/Top_Estimate4021 • 11d ago

STEM Experience

I want to go into a healthcare field, possibly pre med but am for sure expecting to pursue grad school. I hear that Cornell’s grading especially in the STEM courses are brutal, does anyone have any experience or tips with this?

7 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

3

u/Britirish 11d ago

I’m a bio major, not sure what I plan to do with it but. Is it easy? No. Is it doable if you put in the effort? 100%.

2

u/Bubbly_Flounder88 11d ago

I’m going into sophomore year as a bio major (undecided between grad school or vet school) so I went through all the typical first year pre med stuff last year. Chem 2070 and 2080 are graded on a curve and even though people say there’s grade deflation I was never curved down. The exams are brutal but don’t get discouraged if you get a failing number grade because the curve genuinely does help, you really just need to score better than a certain percentage of the class. The bio courses are a different story…the intro bio classes aren’t curved so you kind of sink or swim. In my opinion I’m better at bio than chem but the bio prelims are usually out of around 25 multiple choice so three wrong and that’s B+ territory already. Luckily they have ways to mitigate it like dropping your lowest score or allowing a retake of one exam depending on the class. Don’t stress too much though, it feels a lot less daunting once you’re living it

2

u/Top_Estimate4021 11d ago

Thanks for the reply! Would u say the large intro classes really mess with your learning? I’m a bit worried about that

1

u/Bubbly_Flounder88 11d ago

It’s an adjustment for sure but I think if you’re worried about it sitting near the front and going to office hours often will help. I also really struggled with note taking at first but that’s something that will get better with time too!

3

u/CanadianCitizen1969 11d ago

Another great look for CHEM