Graduate Education at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine

Graduate School is different than undergraduate school. That seems like a rather simplistic statement, but it is a truth that needs to be stated and explored before you chose to spend the time, energy and money that are required to apply to PhD programs. Undergraduate course requirements are more general, undergraduate projects are usually short-lived. Graduate courses are more specific and intense; a thesis is definitely not a short-term project.

There are a lot of other differences that should be explored before making the decision to go to graduate school. There are also many on-line articles dealing with “what it takes” to be a successful graduate student. Three are listed in the table to the right. Although they might not deal specifically with the biological sciences, they have good basic advice for graduate students in any academic area.

There are also a number of books about graduate student life for PhD students in the sciences, three of which are listed to the right.

Advice from Cornellians:
The College of Veterinary Medicine's Office of Graduate Education polled the current graduate faculty and students to find out their answers to three very basic questions; click on each question for a list of the responses we received: