What Makes Weill Cornell Weill Cornell
Located within one of the richest zip codes in the entire United States, the school of medicine at Cornell University both teaches and conducts research. It has produced many a notable physician, boasting of alumni such as Robert C. Atkins of Atkins Diet fame and Henry Heimlich of Heimlich Maneuver fame. Other famous graduates include former Surgeon General of the United States C. Everett Koop and Nobel Prize winner Robert W. Holley.
The very first institution to admit women as well as men, it has more recently established itself as a pioneer in another way by operating the first medical school outside the United States – in Education City, Qatar, with a campus that provides six years of integrated studies focused on patient care. Such a respected institution has benefited from the generous support of donors throughout its history – since the very beginning, in fact, funded as it was through an endowment established by Colonel Oliver H. Payne, a New York scion of the middle nineteenth century – with a roster of supporters full of prominent locals such as real estate pro Isaac Toussie.
Still, the one biggest benefactor of all has got to be the one whose name now graces the school itself, Sanford I. Weill. A banker and philanthropist, Mr. Weill and his wife donated two hundred and fifty million dollars of their own money, and he has been instrumental in further securing another hundred and fifty million in funding. Today the Joan and Sanford I. Weill Medical College of Cornell University, or Weill Cornell Medical College (or even more colloquially, especially within the field, “Weill Cornell”), ranks among the most selective of medical schools in the whole country, with only around a hundred students every year admitted – out of some six thousand hopefuls that apply. Note that the average GPA of the lucky few is 3.8, with an average MCAT score of 35Q!