Decidede to give adviser a shot

[JeetKuneDo]

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So, after almost two years of not seeing a pre med adviser, I finally decided to give them another chance. Had a nice talk with one, and I brought up the idea of DO schools. She thought it was a nice idea, and that gave reasons for how osteopathic schools are different. No mention of OMM, but we did go through how osteopaths don't do rotations at real hospitals during the 3rd and 4th year like real MD's and how osteopaths are more hollistic and not real "problem solvers" like the gung ho MD's.


I propose with the budget cuts that are occuring at my school, they should just pay me work study or something to be an adviser instead of these full time employees.

 

[slim78]

I never actually spoke to a premed adviser. I tried about 3 times but mine wouldn't give me the time of day.

I heart interfolio

 

[bioman2006]

.

 

[Optimator]

You should forward these links to your ***** advisor...

James Weinstein, DO again

Michael Jaff, DO

Francesco Mangano, DO

 

[JeetKuneDo]

You should forward these links to your ***** advisor...

James Weinstein, DO again

Michael Jaff, DO

Francesco Mangano, DO

Lol, Oyeah, I forgot to tell you all the part where she explained to me how DO's don't specialize.

 

[rddoms]

So, after almost two years of not seeing a pre med adviser, I finally decided to give them another chance. Had a nice talk with one, and I brought up the idea of DO schools. She thought it was a nice idea, and that gave reasons for how osteopathic schools are different. No mention of OMM, but we did go through how osteopaths don't do rotations at real hospitals during the 3rd and 4th year like real MD's and how osteopaths are more hollistic and not real "problem solvers" like the gung ho MD's.


I propose with the budget cuts that are occuring at my school, they should just pay me work study or something to be an adviser instead of these full time employees.

It blows my mind how these people are allowed to advise students. D-bag, 'nuff said.

 

[ShyRem]

Just remember: these people "advising" all the pre-med students are people who have never gotten into medical school. And in most cases, have never even tried. Their information is... um... in many cases about as good as the celebrity slut magazines you see at the grocery store checkout.

 

[csmittyB]

The advisors at my former school are useless. I've spoken to them twice and the shocked, blank stare I get from them would only be complete if there was drool coming from the corner of their mouth. To top things off, there is no pre-med/health comittee letter offered and the advisors won't write a letter for you either. I guess this is a situation where you get what you pay for...free advising=no help.

 

[MSmentor018]

sorry you're getting all that wrong advice. all my "pre med advisors" were useless, actually more negative than useless...which is worse. I think I have a few postings on my experience with advisors, esp non trad issues.

spit her out like a used piece of gum and walk away, I'd hate think what she'll tell you next.....optometrist doing pelvic exams?

 

[pietachok]

spit her out like a used piece of gum and walk away, I'd hate think what she'll tell you next.....

I don't agree with this. I think you should complain to your OMSBUDS committee and to her superior. It is inappropriate at any school for the advice to be this poor. And, no, my advisers weren't good, either...but the fact is that even if you think of the advice as "Free" this advice is being paid for by the school. I didn't sit back and take it when my adviser offered bad advice, and I think less pre-meds should. B/c we are done with our advisers after school and move on, we tend to say "good riddance" and move on...but that just means the next generation of applicants continues to get screwed--why is a population of people so committed to "helping people" so complacent about not helping those following in their footsteps.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I don't agree with this. I think you should complain to your OMSBUDS committee and to her superior. It is inappropriate at any school for the advice to be this poor. And, no, my advisers weren't good, either...but the fact is that even if you think of the advice as "Free" this advice is being paid for by the school. I didn't sit back and take it when my adviser offered bad advice, and I think less pre-meds should. B/c we are done with our advisers after school and move on, we tend to say "good riddance" and move on...but that just means the next generation of applicants continues to get screwed--why is a population of people so committed to "helping people" so complacent about not helping those following in their footsteps.

I appreciate your concern over the poor advice given to us by the many bad advisers. One of the reasons I went today was actually to compare their advice with the advice I see here on our beloved SDN. Although we have terrible advisers here at my university, I do know that they do encourage us on the website to visit SDN for information. I'd say best advice we can get comes from the people on this forum.

 

[binko]

Just remember: these people "advising" all the pre-med students are people who have never gotten into medical school. And in most cases, have never even tried. Their information is... um... in many cases about as good as the celebrity slut magazines you see at the grocery store checkout.

You mean those tabloids aren't a reliable source of info? 😱

And I've been relying on them to learn about med school!

 

[engineeredout]

Thats an absolutely disgusting story but sadly not unique. I didn't get any outright lies from the advisor I saw, just when I had any questions she handed me a copy of the MSAR. When I asked her about DO schools she looked at me blankly and suggested I go on the internet.



Then there was the guy that interviewed me for my committee letter who asked me why I bothered applying this session at all, and said I had no chance of getting an acceptance anywhere without having completed all the prerequisites prior to applying.



I think Chocolate Bear should print up business cards and just send them to various colleges. They can put them in the advising office and BAM, suddenly the school saves itself 45k/year on worthless advisors.

 

[KStateDoc]

"No mention of OMM, but we did go through how osteopaths don't do rotations at real hospitals during the 3rd and 4th year"

Umm....what the heck does she think that we do? Wow...

 

[slim78]

"No mention of OMM, but we did go through how osteopaths don't do rotations at real hospitals during the 3rd and 4th year"

Umm....what the heck does she think that we do? Wow...

Virtual hospitals through the magic of the interweb.

 

[Semicolon]

Everyone knows that DOs only see patients through webcam.

I don't agree with this. I think you should complain to your OMSBUDS committee and to her superior. It is inappropriate at any school for the advice to be this poor. And, no, my advisers weren't good, either...but the fact is that even if you think of the advice as "Free" this advice is being paid for by the school. I didn't sit back and take it when my adviser offered bad advice, and I think less pre-meds should. B/c we are done with our advisers after school and move on, we tend to say "good riddance" and move on...but that just means the next generation of applicants continues to get screwed--why is a population of people so committed to "helping people" so complacent about not helping those following in their footsteps.

I wholeheartedly agree. When I realized that my pre-med advisor was horrible (which I found out by doing my own research), I began warning every pre-med I ran across and even attempted recruiting for SDN, lol. It's a shame, but a lot of people are given gross misinformation that causes them to give up when they could have been successful after all. What to do, though? Can you NOT have pre-med advisors? I doubt any person in the medical field would opt for an advisor position unless they were retired...

 

[goosedander]

Everyone knows that DOs only see patients through webcam.



I wholeheartedly agree. When I realized that my pre-med advisor was horrible (which I found out by doing my own research), I began warning every pre-med I ran across and even attempted recruiting for SDN, lol. It's a shame, but a lot of people are given gross misinformation that causes them to give up when they could have been successful after all. What to do, though? Can you NOT have pre-med advisors? I doubt any person in the medical field would opt for an advisor position unless they were retired...

Anyone who isn't resourceful enough to find the answers themselves probably isn't the best candidate to begin with. Becoming a doctor is a long process of hoops and weeding out. This is just another junction where some get weeded out. C'est la vie.

 

[chudat]

Hey Semicolon,

Just out of curiosity, what undergrad you go to?

 

[binko]

Can you NOT have pre-med advisors?

The schools could save money if instead of an advisor they just had an "advising office" staffed by actual med students being paid minimum wage working like 1.5-hour shifts every third day. The same format as homework help sessions, etc.

 

[engineeredout]

The schools could save money if instead of an advisor they just had an "advising office" staffed by actual med students being paid minimum wage working like 1.5-hour shifts every third day. The same format as homework help sessions, etc.

Only problem is those damn premed committee letters that schools want.

 

[binko]

Only problem is those damn premed committee letters that schools want.

My school doesn't even do committee letters.

 

[plausible]

I've been to several diff. colleges, and there never seems to be a pre-med advisor. I've always gone to pre-health advisors. I feel bad for them because pre-health can be anything from pre-podiatry to pre-optometry and the pre-health advisor needs to know it all, but there's no way they can, so they know very superficial details of each health profession and thus dish out bad advice and blatantly false info...

It's a good think there's SDN. No question about it! 😍

 

[MSmentor018]

My school doesn't even do committee letters.

I didn't use one. just sent my LOR's in and wrote a letter on why I didn't.

it's ok for the advisor to say "I don't know, but let me look it up and get back to you" or at least point you in the right direction. they should do some leg work as well since they're getting paid. I am sure this isn't the first time someone asked about DO. if the advice was truly free then I wouldn't expect anything but.....everyone's got a boss, go find hers

 

[Bacchus]

My advisor encouraged me to apply to DO schools. Sorry for your bad experience. She may be more knowledgeable because we have an affiliation agreement with a DO school.

 

[Semicolon]

Hey Semicolon,

Just out of curiosity, what undergrad you go to?

I'll PM you. 😉

 

[Jamers]

So, after almost two years of not seeing a pre med adviser, I finally decided to give them another chance. Had a nice talk with one, and I brought up the idea of DO schools. She thought it was a nice idea, and that gave reasons for how osteopathic schools are different. No mention of OMM, but we did go through how osteopaths don't do rotations at real hospitals during the 3rd and 4th year like real MD's and how osteopaths are more hollistic and not real "problem solvers" like the gung ho MD's.


I propose with the budget cuts that are occuring at my school, they should just pay me work study or something to be an adviser instead of these full time employees.

Someone should tell the owners of the 900+ bed I just did my surgery rotation in that it isn't a real hospital. Busiest ED in the state? Must be fake.

You will meet idiots like this no matter where you go. What's worse is when they claim to be updated and educated on what is going on.

 

[jfellings]

I have seen both sides of the advisor scale. When I began at my undergrad, we had an "advisor" that had recently graduated from a carribean medical school and was there because he needed a job while he found a residency program in the states. He was pretty discouraging to most students and i felt like he did a disservice to many people who came to his office.

Now we have an amazing advisor. Before coming to our undergrad, she worked on the admissions committee at a major MD program. She knows a lot of the inside information as to what the committees look for and brings a lot of practical experience. She has been a great help to me this past year as I have prepared to apply. So I guess it is pretty hit or miss as far as advisors go.

 

[pietachok]

Anyone who isn't resourceful enough to find the answers themselves probably isn't the best candidate to begin with. Becoming a doctor is a long process of hoops and weeding out. This is just another junction where some get weeded out. C'est la vie.

I don't believe C'est La Vie is the appropriate attitude regarding people who don't know about SDN. I was an engineering major as an undergrad and then decided to apply to med school AFTER graduating. When you are in such a position, you don't have peers applying simultaneously to tell you about SDN or give you advice.

I applied 3 years in a row before getting into med school, largely b/c I trusted my adviser...which was the worst thing I could have done for myself.

 

[Semicolon]

I have seen both sides of the advisor scale. When I began at my undergrad, we had an "advisor" that had recently graduated from a carribean medical school and was there because he needed a job while he found a residency program in the states. He was pretty discouraging to most students and i felt like he did a disservice to many people who came to his office.

Now we have an amazing advisor. Before coming to our undergrad, she worked on the admissions committee at a major MD program. She knows a lot of the inside information as to what the committees look for and brings a lot of practical experience. She has been a great help to me this past year as I have prepared to apply. So I guess it is pretty hit or miss as far as advisors go.

Yeah, the best advisors are those that have a background in medicine and don't hold grudges. However, many advisors have absolutely no background in anything medically-related, and thus have no place telling pre-meds what to do as far as I'm concerned.

 

[amakhosidlo]

Lol, Oyeah, I forgot to tell you all the part where she explained to me how DO's don't specialize.

I think I have a pretty good idea who you're talking about.
Last time I dropped in she started raving about her brother, the D.O, and the amazing new D.O school in Yakima...that...doesn't even have clinicals lined up yet.

OP, I'm assuming you already got the email sent out on the pre-med listservs, but if not a few of the med students are putting together a 1-on-1 mentoring/advising program for pre-meds, pm me if you want their info

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I think I have a pretty good idea who you're talking about.
Last time I dropped in she started raving about her brother, the D.O, and the amazing new D.O school in Yakima...that...doesn't even have clinicals lined up yet.

OP, I'm assuming you already got the email sent out on the pre-med listservs, but if not a few of the med students are putting together a 1-on-1 mentoring/advising program for pre-meds, pm me if you want their info

We're talking about this old white woman with short white hair right? Yeah, in fact she did talk about that school in Yakima, though she didn't tell me about her DO brother. Having a DO in the family she'd be a better informed. I'll send you a pm.

 

[amakhosidlo]

Oh, heh. Guess not.
The one I saw was this flippant black woman who didn't seem keen on giving me the time of day, let alone answering my questions...until I brought up the select few programs she actually knew something about. Even then I was correcting every other thing that came out of her mouth. 🙄

Guess they're all pretty bad...

Anyway. SDN >> pre-med advisors

 

[jason3278]

SDN was my advisor.

Does that mean I should have gotten an LOR from here? 😱

 

[MossPoh]

Just as above SDN and personal research were my advisers. I also read A LOT. My dad is a doctor and frankly, his opinion means much more to me than any random person. He didn't have problems with DO, so I didn't.

I have multiple friends that came back to me crying because of what an adviser said to them. Their job shouldn't be to put students down and give their opinion of a degree (which means jack).

The job of an adviser is to map out what needs to be done during the 4 years, to guide them along and tell them about getting recommendation letters, how to write a strong personal statement, give ideas/suggestions for healthcare exposure and if that student doesn't get in, to guide them along the path and build a plan to get in the next cycle. Their job is NOT to be another gate keeper or give their opinions. Positive figures during this process are few and far between. Every step of the way I felt like someone was trying to trip me up and put me down. I'm a tough love kind of guy but much of this isn't even tough love...its just being petty.

 

[digitlnoize]

I adhere strictly to the belief that you shouldn't take advice from people that you don't want to be like.

If they have such good advice to give, then why are they a college advisor?

I learned this lesson when I saw my first college advisor working night shifts as a mall security guard.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I adhere strictly to the belief that you shouldn't take advice from people that you don't want to be like.

If they have such good advice to give, then why are they a college advisor?

I learned this lesson when I saw my first college advisor working night shifts as a mall security guard.

Haha, nice.

 

[Richie Truxillo]

Same experience, I find that pre-med advisors at university's have NO CLUE about the medical school admissions process other than "Keep your grades high" and "do all sorts of volunteer activities."

Develop good working relationships with your professors and get letters of recommendation from there.

-Richie

 

[The Poet Sings]

i don't know what could possess someone to see their advisor after reading the stuff on here haha.

there are 2 premed advisors at my school. 1 is really nice and maybe a bit of a sugarcoater, but didn't know much about do schools. the other is the complete opposite, personality wise. so (needless to say) i kept meeting with the nice one. when i had to meet with a regular advisor about taking courses at another school this summer, he suggested i try to meet up with advisor meanie because they tell it like it is and is very knowledgeable (which is probably true, considering they dropped out of med school [because they didn't like it, they say]).
a lady in the office even told me that if i needed a shoulder to cry on after talking to advisor meanie, that i should come to her. that right there should tell you something. that's how common it was that people would come out of that advisor's office with their dreams crushed, bawling. no thanks.

 

[slick27]

If i would of done it over again. This is what you have to do,

1. Conduct research every summer at a medical school.
2. take a year off to work a clinical job and focus on taking the mcat
3. major in something you can get a high gpa in