admission help

[medscho]

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To anyone that is currently applying to med school:

I am currently a Junior at a state school in Cali and I wanted to get some help with my application process. My MCAT was decent (31) and I have a lot of extracurricular activities but I know it is going to be important to create a really strong application (essay, interview prep, etc.) in order to be competitive for some of the higher ranked medical schools. I have looked into Kaplan, Princeton Review, and some private consulting firms, but I have yet to find any company that is affordable and reliable. I have noticed that many of the Kaplan services are impersonal and the private consulting firms often charge 'an arm and a leg' for helping students. Note that I have looked into my career/pre-med counselors and student groups but I have been disappointed that all those individuals offering advice have either had careers outside medicine or are not yet in medical school. Any advice? Thanks!

 

[GoSpursGo]

So, it's not really clear to me what you're asking. Are you asking for a recommendation of what med school application counseling firm would be helpful? Or are you asking for someone here to personally help you with your application?

If it's the former, you get what you pay for; there's a reason that Kaplan and Princeton are cheaper than the private firms. If it's the latter, some of the threads in this sticky might be helpful to you.

 

[medscho]

Yeah, I am really looking for a recommendation of what med school application counseling firm would be helpful. Thanks for the help.

 

[Legacy87]

You do not need companies to help you make a strong app. Save your money for future secondaries and flight tickets. All the information you need to make a strong app is here on SDN. Just use the search function if you have any questions.

 

[BlueElmo]

You're currently visiting a site that is far superior to any consulting firms, and all for free- Student Doctor Network.

 

[schrizto]

You do not need companies to help you make a strong app. Save your money for future secondaries and flight tickets. All the information you need to make a strong app is here on SDN. Just use the search function if you have any questions.

I agree totally. 👍

 

[GoSpursGo]

You do not need companies to help you make a strong app. Save your money for future secondaries and flight tickets. All the information you need to make a strong app is here on SDN. Just use the search function if you have any questions.

I also agree. While you won't get the personalized help you might get at a consulting firm, all the information you need to turn your application into a good one on your own should be available in that sticky and by using the search function.

 

[medscho]

I totally understand that there is a wealth of information available on this site but I really am looking for something a little more personalized. I saw my friend go through the process with a private consulting firm w similar stats and she was really successful. But she had to pay too much in my opinion.

I just wonder if there are more affordable ways to accomplish the same?

 

[vinniekan]

Based on past experiences, I might have to disagree with the fact the SDN is not personalized help. While you might not get your question immediately answered, you can literally posted any questions/advices you have/need here and it will be answered by SDN junkies and others within minutes. Also, you might get a wide range of responses, but most of them are helpful and are from ex-premeds (med students now) who might have an even better perspective on the application process. At least all my questions were answered this way...

I agree that cost of application process is nothing compared to the cost of 4 years tuition, but sometimes some costs are just not worth it.

So ask your questions away...

 

[Hextra]

I just wonder if there are more affordable ways to accomplish the same?

There is--educate yourself about the process and learn what you need to do to strengthen your application.

There's nothing about the med school application process that can't be found on the forums if you're willing to look. My advice is save the $1k+ that you'd spend for "personalized" help, and take a few hours to learn from hundreds (thousands?) of people who are about to go/are going/have been through the process here on SDN.

 

[chicubsfan]

you should also think about using all of your university's resources before you shell out major cash for one of those firms. i'm sure there is some kind of writing center (ours is through the english department) which is usually free and can help with grammar and revisions of your essays. and you probably have some sort of career center as well - at my school, the advisers there proofread my entire app. i agree with the previous poster, you can get great advice here - and also from the advisers at your school. save your money for applications... they are expensive!!!

 

[aetna]

I'm kinda on the fence in regard to this issue. During the my application process 3 years ago I was able to glean some great info from this site. However, I feel that it also placed undue focus on trivial issues, while under emphasizing the really important ones ( dont get me wrong, i love sdn and have just gotten over boards w/ its help). Even though I was able to eventually get into a great Cali school, I definitely think my application process would have been easier if somebody how already went through this process spent an hour explaining it to me.

As for school career counseling services, if your university is affiliated w/ a medical school - great. If not, your prob out of luck. I went to Berkeley and I think the people who work there were not even qualified to be helping kids get work at McDonalds (they told me to retake my MCATs since I got a 9 on verbal, though my total was 39). Having since served on the admin committe during my MSII year I can honestly say that many kids are very confused on what is needed to be a successful applicant, especially at the interview.

So if it means spending a 200-300 bucks on some advice, I say go for it. I have med school friends who work for Kaplan and they charge I like 150 bucks per hour. Also I think there are a few medstudent run companies you can go through, like novareviews and some other similar ones. Anyways, prob the best thing you can do is talk to a current med student, as well as, take everything you hear from applicants around you with a grain of salt. Many of them are just as confused and nervous as you are.

 

[TopSecret]

To anyone that is currently applying to med school:

I am currently a Junior at a state school in Cali and I wanted to get some help with my application process. My MCAT was decent (31) and I have a lot of extracurricular activities but I know it is going to be important to create a really strong application (essay, interview prep, etc.) in order to be competitive for some of the higher ranked medical schools. I have looked into Kaplan, Princeton Review, and some private consulting firms, but I have yet to find any company that is affordable and reliable. I have noticed that many of the Kaplan services are impersonal and the private consulting firms often charge 'an arm and a leg' for helping students. Note that I have looked into my career/pre-med counselors and student groups but I have been disappointed that all those individuals offering advice have either had careers outside medicine or are not yet in medical school. Any advice? Thanks!

I reckon a lot of private consulting firms charge over $100 per hour especially if they are physicians because they could be making $140-200 per hour seeing patients. Or if they are working as an expert witness for a lawyer they could be paid > $500 per hour.

 

[calmedman]

I reckon a lot of private consulting firms charge over $100 per hour especially if they are physicians because they could be making $140-200 per hour seeing patients. Or if they are working as an expert witness for a lawyer they could be paid > $500 per hour.

Medscho,

I know a few companies that are pretty good but it depends what you are looking for and what you want. I used NOVAREVIEWS(website: novareviews.com), it is a company run by current UCLA medical students many of whom were on the admissions committee. I used them to help me with my personal statement and had a mock interview with them. They really helped my with my PS as they knew what admission committees were looking for and gave me some good advice. Once I got some interviews I did a mock interview with them and it was really helpful, much different then the one I did at my school. They gave me verbal and written feedback that helped me alot and had tons of good questions. It all depends on what you are looking for but these guys were pretty good. some of my other friends have used them and also got good results.

 

[medscho]

Thanks so much for the useful info! I am definitely considering using novareviews.com for help with the interview. I had not even thought of practicing my interviews with other medical students. It would be amazing to get honest feedback from medical students that have served on top medical school admission committees prior to the interviews that actually count. I mean for the price of an application to medical school I can get some personalized feedback. In the end it makes sense to me to apply to one fewer school and have a stronger application based on important suggestions from people that understand at a high level how this application process really works.

Anyone else have experience with this service? Thanks again for all the useful advice. Maybe this will give me an advantage over other students that do not take the time to do this. Thanks!