Become an Interesting Applicant
As you explore, prepare, and apply to a health profession school, keep in mind that the admissions review process is truly holistic. Many candidates will have similar grades, scores, and experiences; however, the insightful and unique things you have to say about what was learned, distinguishes you from others.
It is important to also cultivate qualitative characteristics that help admissions determine you are the right fit for their school/program. The following are some areas to consider:
| Maturity | Resilience | Executive Function |
| Stress Management | Professional Judgement | Situational Awareness |
| Time Management | Conflict Resolution | Adaptability |
| Ability to think on your feet | Intellectual curiosity | Empathy |
Rather than thinking of each area as a “checklist item” to mark complete, we encourage you to think of long-term strengths and areas for growth, along with identifying your core values. This will help you understand how to find the right program/school fit. Admissions is a two-way street: it is important to determine if you can envision attending the school/program based on not just academic rigor or match rates, but also location, distance from family/friends, cost of living, urban/suburban/rural setting, etc. Seek activities that are interesting to you and expose you to different settings or cultures, practice active listening, take a course with Intergroup Dialogue Project, become a peer mentor, travel, learn a new language, and pursue hobbies. Cornell pre-health students/alumni knit, bake, practice mediation, write, paint, make music, design clothes, and more.
To aid in this journey, we have curated a variety of resources below:
Books
Please note, the Cornell library often has access to these books through existing collections, InterLibrary Loan, or Borrow Direct. If the book you’re interested in is not available through any of these channels, you can petition Cornell to purchase the book for its libraries.
| “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi | “Teeth: Beauty, Inequality, and the Struggle for Oral Health in America” by Mary Otto |
| “Being Mortal” by Atul Gawande | “Nursing Against the Odds” by Suzanne Gordon |
| “The Healing of America: A Global Quest for Better, Cheaper and Fairer Health Care” by T.R. Reid | “How Doctors Think” by Jerome Groopman |
| “The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” by Siddhartha Mukherjee | “Classic Cases in Medical Ethics: Accounts of Cases that Have Shaped Medical Ethics with Philosophical, Legal, and Historical Background” by Gregory E. Pence |
| “Complications: a surgeon’s note on an imperfect science” by Atul Gawande | “Becoming a Doctor: From Student to Specialist, Doctor-Writers Share Their Experiences” by Lee Gutkind, Ed. |
| “Anatomy of an Illness as Perceived by the Patient” by Norman Cousins | “Black Man in a White Coat” by Damon Tweedy |
| “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen Covey | “Daring Greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live, love, parent, and lead” by Brene Brown |
| “The Gifts of Imperfection: Let go of who you think you’re supposed to be and embrace who you are” by Brene Brown | “Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem and Other Things That Happened” by Allie Brosh |
| “The Genius in All of Us: Why everything you’ve been told about genetics, talent, and IQ is wrong” by David Shenk | “Atlas of the Heart: Mapping Meaningful Connection and the Language of Human Experience” by Brene Brown |
| “Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals” by Oliver Burkeman | “The Comfort Book” by Matt Haig |
| “You are here: Discovering the Magic of the Present Moment” by Thich Nhat Hanh | “The Boy, the mole, the fox, and the horse” by Charlie Mackesy |
| “Great by Choice: Uncertainty, Chaos, and Luck-Why Some Thrive Despite Them All” by Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen | “Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box” by Arbinger Institute |
| “Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance” by Angela Duckworth | “The boy who was raised as a dog” by |
| “The Ecology of Purposeful Living Across the Lifespan: Developmental, Educational, and Social Perspectives” by Anthony Burrow and Patrick Hill / listen to the podcast here. |
TedTalks
Academic Journals
Medical
The Lancet | |
PLOS Medicine | Teaching and Learning in Medicine |
Journal of Medical Ethics | The American Journal of Medicine |
NIH PubMed |
Dental
| The Journal of the American Dental Association | Journal of Dental Research |
| Journal of Dental Education |
Physician Assistant (PA)
Optometry
| Journal of Optometry | Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics |
| Clinical and Experimental Optometry | Optometry and Vision Science |
Podiatry
| Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association | Foot and Ankle Specialist |
Veterinary
We encourage you to keep a journal or document your progress, lessons learned, questions, and thoughts.
Use the Pre-Health Guide to explore, prepare, and apply.