Some of the worst advice you received as a pre-med

[northernlights15]

I find it amusing the advice people receive from other pre-meds, advisors, professors, and so on.


What's some of the worst advice you've received?

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[sliceofbread136]

Go read sdn

 

[northernlights15]

I'll start-

"med schools won't accept Biochem if you took it over the summer" - clueless premed

 

[northernlights15]

another professor claimed we needed 500 shadowing hours for MD and DO...

 

[deleted407021]

Pre-professional committee chairman : "Just take the MCAT now. It doesn't matter if you haven't studied. You know, just to get the feel of it."


M'kay, no.

 

[Planes2Doc]

"Do what you're passionate about." -SDN. If people actually did the things they are genuinely passionate about for getting into medical school, they would never get in. Unfortunately, it's become a dog and pony show where people pretend to be passionate about certain things in order to get into medical school. This is not a fun way to spend your college years.

 

[cherubb3]

"Do what you're passionate about." -SDN. If people actually did the things they are genuinely passionate about for getting into medical school, they would never get in. Unfortunately, it's become a dog and pony show where people pretend to be passionate about certain things in order to get into medical school. This is not a fun way to spend your college years.

Man, I sure hope you actually like medicine when you're all done. If you can't find anything enjoyable about the activities that get you in, I'd be a little worried.

 

[neurotroph]

"It doesn't matter when you submit as long as it's before the October deadline." - a friend who goes to a top 10 med school and wanted me to (unnecessarily) rewrite my PS and delay my submission. She submitted in June but thought it was perfectly fine to advise me to submit in August.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Man, I sure hope you actually like medicine when you're all done. If you can't find anything enjoyable about the activities that get you in, I'd be a little worried.

Oh I love medicine. I'm doing clinical rotations and love being there, and love the patients. Rewind a few years back, I didn't enjoy being in the ED, working for free while being treated like absolute crap.

 

[deleted480308]

"if you don't quit your job and take your sciences here during the day, you'll show you don't want this enough. If you try to do this at community college at night you'll never be a doctor"- university pre-med advisor

 

[DocMcMommy]

"Oh, I don't think you should try for medical school...Maybe nursing. Nursing programs are way easier to get into. My friend got into a nursing program and she had terrible grades."

Way to offend me and nurses everywhere, lady. This was the advice my last chemistry partner gave me during our first lab. She didn't even know anything about me or my GPA or extracurriculars... We had literally just met and she asked me about my school plans. She dropped the lab two classes later.

I've decided to keep my pre-med goals to myself from now on.

 

[Affiche]

"Start studying now (while working 60 hrs/week) and take the MCAT next month. It looks awful if you take a gap year, so don't wait a cycle just to study for the MCAT"
-my MD mentor!! yeaaaaah....no.

 

[Gandyy]

"Ah yea you should stick to trying to get into med school. I'm going into Pharmacy school. Dont do that, you'll have to take the PCAT is horrible, they ask all kinds of hard questions!"

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[butternutsquash]

"Take [orgo/bio/physics/gen chem] with [notoriously difficult professor whose class causes students to cry themselves to sleep and reconsider med school], you'll understand the material MUCH better and you won't even have to study for that section of the MCAT"

 

[Gandyy]

"Take [orgo/bio/physics/gen chem] with [notoriously difficult professor whose class causes students to cry themselves to sleep and reconsider med school], you'll understand the material MUCH better and you won't even have to study for that section of the MCAT"

This is a good one. I've heard this one quite a bit. No, all it does it destroy your gpa or at least tries really hard to.

lol as if the MCAT is a content based knowledge test.

 

[vellez]

Your GPA isn't really competitive for medical school. I guess that's not really advice, but I feel it was a bad comment to make, since I ended up getting into 3 schools.

 

[Fenixak]

Go read sdn

I had no advisers to really help me get into med school. SDN and my hard work got me there. Of course most the people that post here are 40+ MCAT with 10 publications in Nature, but the majority are not.

 

[Vivalarevolution]

Major in Biology.

 

[GrapesofRath]

"Some med schools accept the PCAT instead of the MCAT"-----definitely an all timer.

 

[Gandyy]

"Some med schools accept the PCAT instead of the MCAT"-----definitely an all timer.

Wow.

 

[Holmwood]

"Apply to Touro! You don't need a letter. Heck, apply to PA school, it's easier to get into than a DO school." < from clueless housewife of some rich guy. Proceeded to give me advice about family when she couldn't even make it work with her own parents and proceeded to give me advice on applying to jobs when she couldn't even hold down a job long enough to pay for her own bills.

"Shadowing counts as clinical experience" <clueless premed

"Just squeeze 100 hours of volunteering a month before applications" <clueless premed

Fortunately, my advisers were awesome.

 

[moemoekyun]

"if you don't quit your job and take your sciences here during the day, you'll show you don't want this enough. If you try to do this at community college at night you'll never be a doctor"- university pre-med advisor

Reminds me of when I took two 6 week molec bio/biochem summer classes with this one professor while working ~20 hrs/wk and taking orgo lab. I asked the professor about office hours since I couldn't make any. His words: "Drop both classes now. People struggle with just one class and not working." Proceed to get all As and have him write me a letter.
My premed adviser told me to retake a 35 MCAT. I was also told my study technique for the MCAT was poor by my neighbor who got an 18 (we took our MCAT together)...

Inb4 Caribbean posts: Not advised to me, but several students (even a Masters) I know talk about being accepted and going to a Caribbean school.

 

[Spinach Dip]

"Why are you studying for the MCAT? Let's go get smashed at the party 2 blocks over."

 

[Hospitalized]

"Apply to medical school in the fall." -- My pre-medical advisor.

 

[Gandyy]

"Apply to medical school in the fall." -- My pre-medical advisor.

For MD schools yea.. that is pretty clueless advice.

 

[RTC19]

Deleted.

 

[Mad Jack]

Don't listen to SDN, it's just a bunch of neurotic crazy people.

 

[PleaseCallMeDoc]

You need a letter from a doctor you shadowed to stand a chance
lololol

 

[sonofva]

"Apply to Touro! You don't need a letter. Heck, apply to PA school, it's easier to get into than a DO school." < from clueless housewife of some rich guy. Proceeded to give me advice about family when she couldn't even make it work with her own parents and proceeded to give me advice on applying to jobs when she couldn't even hold down a job long enough to pay for her own bills.

"Shadowing counts as clinical experience" <clueless premed

"Just squeeze 100 hours of volunteering a month before applications" <clueless premed

Fortunately, my advisers were awesome.

How does shadowing not count as clinical experience?

 

[AgentMay]

"Do what you're passionate about." -SDN. If people actually did the things they are genuinely passionate about for getting into medical school, they would never get in. Unfortunately, it's become a dog and pony show where people pretend to be passionate about certain things in order to get into medical school. This is not a fun way to spend your college years.

My pre-health adviser once told me that I need to choose between "doing activity that I enjoy or activity that would get me into medical school." At the time, it was choosing between attending this pre-med event at the school or leading my rock climbing club to an outdoor climbing trip. Of course, I didn't listen to her. I chose the latter and ended up writing my personal statement about that trip and got accept to med school. So I guess "do what you're passionate about" worked out for me

 

[Planes2Doc]

My pre-health adviser once told me that I need to choose between "doing activity that I enjoy or activity that would get me into medical school." At the time, it was choosing between attending this pre-med event at the school or leading my rock climbing club to an outdoor climbing trip. Of course, I didn't listen to her. I chose the latter and ended up writing my personal statement about that trip and got accept to med school. So I guess "do what you're passionate about" worked out for me

Nice! But did you still have shadowing and volunteering?

 

[KevinGnapoor]

Freshman year. Spring semester. My pre-med advisor: "If you don't get an A in every class, you have no chance in getting into med school."

 

[Gandyy]

Freshman year. Spring semester. My pre-med advisor: "If you don't get an A in every class, you have no chance in getting into med school."

That would literally imply you need a 4.0 gpa to get into medical school.

..............

 

[efle]

"You don't need lots of research for selective Med schools, only do it if you love it"

Lol. Thanks for the anti advice. I wish they would just hand us an MSAR

 

[AgentMay]

Nice! But did you still have shadowing and volunteering?

Of course I did. Though it wasn't anything too crazy like some other people did. I volunteered at a hospice for 1 years, about 45 hr total and shadowed a couple of doctors. I guess I did my time haha

 

[Holmwood]

How does shadowing not count as clinical experience?

I guess I need to make this clear. It doesn't replace regular clinical work/volunteering with direct patient interaction... normally. I know some peeps had a more involved shadowing experience where they were assisting the doc in some way. Normally, shadowing is mostly about observations, and simply following around a doctor doesn't fulfill the clinical experience requirement. The key here is direct patient interaction. The premed in question simply shadowed... no other clinical experience.

 

[deleted407021]

"You have to take Calculus."

 

[efle]

"You have to take Calculus."

Many schools require calc don't they

 

[deleted407021]

Many schools require calc don't they

Nope, not too terribly many.

 

[efle]

Nope, not too terribly many.

Nvm it's required of people here because it's a prereq for physics not because MDs require it

 

[Major]

"Schools won't start releasing secondaries until September/October so there is no need to rush your application until then"

 

[deleted407021]

Nvm it's required of people here because it's a prereq for physics not because MDs require it

Calc based physics which is beyond the scope of the MCAT. At that point it's just extra enrichment.

 

[deleted480308]

"Talk to (name redacted) about where they are going to med school. You seem so stressed about the mcat but they got into this carribean place and They leave at the end of the semester and as long as they have higher than 20 they are accepted!" - science prof

 

[deleted577188]

Freshman year. Spring semester. My pre-med advisor: "If you don't get an A in every class, you have no chance in getting into med school."

My sister was told some variation of this.

 

[deleted577188]

Nvm it's required of people here because it's a prereq for physics not because MDs require it

Some schools actually do require calculus.

 

[Psai]

"Be yourself"

 

[Holmwood]

"Be yourself"

It's like dating. You portray a better version of yourself. > _ > "

 

[taco152]

Don't worry about research. Med schools rarely look for that.

 

[Winged Scapula]

"You should go to physical therapy school instead. It's shorter and you'll make good money."

 

[Affiche]

Jk I have another one:
''Take the physics for engineers''

Like a fool, I listened.