An Olympic swimmer. A Barry Goldwater scholar. A U.S. Peace Corps volunteer. The students in Weill Cornell Medical College’s Class of 2018 have a deep-seeded commitment to community service and leadership, and bring with them a wealth of experience that will inform their practice of medicine and pursuit of scientific discoveries.
The 101 students in the Class of 2018 — 50 men and 51 women — attended 59 different undergraduate colleges and universities, and 13 are Cornell University alumni. During their undergraduate studies, 60 students majored in science, 27 earned non-science degrees and 14 double- majored in science and non-science disciplines. Three incoming students will soon or have already earned doctoral degrees, and another eight have master's degrees in science, public health, engineering, music and education.
Three students received scholarships from the Barry Goldwater Scholarship and Excellence in Education Program, which was established by Congress in 1986 to support college students who intend to pursue research careers in science, math and engineering. Nearly all students have participated in research, ranging from biomedical engineering to virology. Their work culminated with the publication of scientific papers in 30 prestigious journals, including the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, The Lancet Oncology, The Journal of Immunology, Movement Disorders Journal, Neuropharmacology, Biophysical Journal and the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
As alumni of the medical college's summer research programs, three students were already acquainted with Weill Cornell even before they started their first year of medical school. Two students attended the Tri-Institutional Gateways to the Laboratory Program, a 10-week research experience for minority and economically disadvantaged college students, and a third participated in the Travelers Summer Research Program, which exposes minority pre-med college students to the world of medicine.
The incoming Weill Cornell students also have a commitment to service, leadership and community engagement. Two students served in Ghana and Tanzania as U.S. Peace Corps volunteers, and another worked to combat poverty in America while working with AVODAH: The Jewish Service Corps. The class also includes three Teach for America alumni, as well as two students who worked with City Year, an AmeriCorps program that partners with public schools in high-poverty communities to provide at-risk students with one-on-one support. Two students from Harvard and Dartmouth were awarded public service fellowships, while another student, a U.S. Army ROTC cadet at Notre Dame, aspires to serve in the U.S. Medical Corps after medical school.
The Class of 2018 boasts several talented athletes, musicians, dancers, writers, photographers and artists. One student swam in the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympic Games, two students were competitive figure skaters, and another is an ice skating judge. One student is a composer, and another was a professional tap dancer.
With just a few weeks into the academic year, the class is already enthused about their new roles as Weill Cornell representatives, Weill Cornell officials said. Nearly half the class has volunteered to be Admissions Ambassadors, acting as points of contact for upcoming interview applicants.
They'll have a unique perspective to share with these applicants as the first medical school class to learn under Weill Cornell's new curriculum. The curriculum, which was implemented earlier this fall, integrates basic science with clinical care, shortens didactics to a year and a half so that students can work in the clinic earlier, and provides a six- to nine-month flexible time period during which students can devote their attention to a specific scholarly concentration.
"These new students are pioneers; they're being challenged alongside the faculty with our new curriculum," said Dr. Charles Bardes, associate dean (admissions) and professor of clinical medicine at Weill Cornell. "They’ve embraced their position with vigor, enthusiasm and collegial eagerness."
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