Are admissions advisors at schools knowledgable?

[greenroses]

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Hi! A lot of schools I call direct me to an "admissions advisor," not an adcomm but someone who is able to answer questions about applications.

I've heard of people receiving strange advice ("yes def send a LOI") from people like secretaries so I was just wondering if admissions advisors know what they are talking about?

 

[deleted480308]

at your undergrad....hell no
at the medical school....usually yes

 

[LChristmas]

Hi! A lot of schools I call direct me to an "admissions advisor," not an adcomm but someone who is able to answer questions about applications.

I've heard of people receiving strange advice ("yes def send a LOI") from people like secretary so I was just wondering if admissions advisors know what they are talking about.

So I guess I was wondering if these admissions advisors know what they are talking about?

Yes, they know what they're talking about.

 

[greenroses]

at your undergrad....hell no
at the medical school....usually yes

yeah, I'm not referring to premed advisors. a lot of med school admissions offices have "admissions advisors"

 

[mimelim]

For specific questions about a given school, they should be pretty reliable. For anything outside of the standard questions or anything unusual, they will be a poor source of information and certainly anything about other schools/the process in general, they should not be asked.

There isn't anything strange about, "Yes definitely send a Letter of Intent". If anything it helps a school.

 

[Mad Jack]

Oh, premed advisors lol. They're generally terrible unless you're at a really good school (Top 20). I've never worked with one that wasn't clueless in regard to much of the process.

 

[FutureOncologist]

I had 2 premed advisers and both were great. However they only really focused on the current school I attend. And they were very knowledgeable in regards to that school. But when I told them of the schools I was applying to, they seemed clueless.

Admissions officers at the schools you're applying to are usually great if they can give you more information than what slideshow/pamphlet they have uploaded on their front page of admissions. One school I was interested in gave me some standard "our school is unique in that.... You should apply here if.... Our average GPA [out of state] is...." This stuff I could find within 2 minutes of searching the school on Google. I didn't apply there because that, to me, reflected how admissions as a whole ran at that school and I wasn't going to try to work with that during the admissions cycle.

If you want some great advice, be sure to be specific with your questions. Instead of "what great opportunities do you provide at your school," try "I was wondering about the opportunities outside of the classroom were, such as research/volunteering/early exposure of clinical care as an M1/M2."

 

[Alejandro]

I think they aren't the best people to talk to. (euphemism for outright horrid.)

The problem is that they often don't know what an admissions committee is looking for, and sometimes (depending on the school) are very nitpicky about grades, which is a very 1-dimensional analysis of an applicant. They are particularly bothersome in a premed committee thing as well. I dunno, if you can get on their good graces, good for you, but most i feel are horrible.

To be honest, some of the best 'advisors' are just MS1s and MS2s who have recently gone through what you will be/are going through now. They can give it to you 'straight'.

lol, you ask a premed advisor, upon which most have never even applied to med school, or even finished training to give you advice. Strange. 😛

 

[ChrisMack390]

The premed advisor at my top ****ing 10 school doesn't know the first thing about medical school apps. It's as if she googled "how to get into med school" and memorized one of those lists of tips you can find and all she can do now is regurgitate them.

Meanwhile the premed advisor at my undergrad institution doesn't do anything except tell everyone not to apply to med school. I know people with 4.0 GPAs and 34+ MCATs that were told not to apply. God forbid the school's success rate dips below 99%....

 

[mimelim]

OP didn't ask about pre-med advisers. Not sure why everyone keeps talking about how bad theirs were.

 

[emraldragon]

OP didn't ask about pre-med advisers. Not sure why everyone keeps talking about how bad theirs were.

A--Because people do not always read for comprehension.

B--Because it is a chance to complain on the internet.

 

[Mad Jack]

OP didn't ask about pre-med advisers. Not sure why everyone keeps talking about how bad theirs were.

This is what happens when I don't get my morning coffee.

So OP, here's the deal- the admissions staff at a given school are as varied as the institutions themselves. My school's admission staff was great, and must of my interactions were with a woman that has been working there for decades that really knew the process in and out. A couple of my experiences with newer schools left me wondering if anyone there knew what the hell was going on. In general, trust the admission staff unless something seems blatantly off our they come off as completely clueless, and treat them with a great deal of respect in your interactions- many a demanding it neurotic student has had their file shelved care of mistreating the admission staff. At least around here, they take notes, both good and bad, based on their interactions with you, so make sure those interactions come off as positive and not neurotic, demanding, or irritating.