discouraging academic advisors

[SN3]

At my university I feel like the academic advisers are extra discouraging. I have a friend whose adviser said she would not let her apply to med school without a 3.8 gpa (you couldn't get in somewhere with a 3.7 and an awesome MCAT?) I also talked to a current MD who went to my school for undergraduate. He said his grades were so low that the school would not allow him to sign up for the MCAT. He signed up somewhere else and got into medical school. My university is affiliated with a medical school and we get a ton of pre-health students. Our pre-health website says that 70% of the students who apply MD, DO, DPM, vet, optometry get in on the first try and over 80% get in on the second try. Do you think the university would be intentionally discouraging to weed out the weaker candidates and therefore make the school's stats better (since only the most likely to be accepted would apply)? I want to go to podiatry school and I am tired of hearing in a patronizing voice how I don't stand a chance when my cgpa is average for pod school and my sgpa is .4 below the average but I still have 12 hours of pre-reqs left plus the MCAT. I just don't get why every adviser says my grades are "very low for any program" when I don't ask them if they think I would get in (i just have to go to sign up for classes). I mean, whats it to them if I waste my time and my money? So, is this a common thing as a pre-health student to be discouraged by your advisers? Is this something some universities do in order to say ""X" of our student get in to medical school"? Has anyone experienced something similar?
Thanks!!

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[DrMushroomFoot]

Allow him to take the MCAT? ANYONE can sign up and take the MCAT, there is no school or program that has the power to prevent you from taking the test.

As far as your grades... since you still have few more classes to take to boost your sgpa, put in the time and effort, ace those classes. Also, as do well on the MCAT and you should be fine. Go for it

 

[SN3]

Allow him to take the MCAT? ANYONE can sign up and take the MCAT, there is no school or program that has the power to prevent you from taking the test.

I don't know how they signed up for the MCAT "back in the day" (probably not online) but the school would not let him sign up through them. He had to do it on his own. I dont know if he was exaggerating (maybe they wouldnt let him take an mcat prep class?) but he seemed to hate the school more than I do, which is a lot of hate

 

[Felt Racing]

...

 

[DrMushroomFoot]

What school do you go to btw?

 

[SN3]

Kaplan wants your money.

I dont know if my school did it back then, but now if you are in the pre-health club you can take a class through them that's a fraction of the cost of Kaplan

The schools have no say whether or not a person can take the MCAT

Im thinkin' that whenever this guy was in school you couldn't sign up online and you had to fill out something and mail it in, maybe the school wouldn't give him the paperwork? I dont know. The point is though, that the school couldn't really stop him from taking it as he managed to sign up on his own and take the MCAT. They just made it difficult for him. I don't really think anyone can stop you from taking the MCAT. I was just trying to see if anyone else had negative experiences with counselors.

 

[ucd]

Hey SN3,

Take everyone's advice with a grain of salt (including mine). Stop worrying about what your friend's advisor says or what your school's advisor says. Only you are able to asses whether you truly want to enter a profession and whether you're willing to put in the grueling work to make it happen. If you are serious then follow the following recipe:

1)Ignore negativity(friends, advisors, etc)
2)Try to get the best grade possible in your science pre-req classes
3)Shadow the profession you are interested
4)Take the appropriate exam( no school can prevent you from taking a standardized exam like the MCAT, DAT,PCAT,etc)
5)Apply to schools
6)Wait and see

Plenty of people re-apply to professional school every year....do not get discouraged. As long as YOU don't give up, you have a shot in whatever you pursue. good luck

 

[Bearsfosho]

If what you said is true, then man that is one horrible school to discourage students from doing something just so they can keep a stat at a certain level.

My school was however very different. I applied to a few state MD schools then hated it all and the way they ran things. I went back to my pre-health adviser and told him what happened and he said just wait and see if you get in and then decide. He said maybe you can overcome some of the things you disliked and just focus on your education. I did get into a couple (1 MD 1 DO) but I didnt want to go to either school at all. I went back and he turned me to world of podiatry. I shadowed and the rest is history. Right now I am in the class of 2014 at Barry.

I am not sure how a school can keep you from taking the MCAT but dude you gotta do what you want to do. If your school is not allowing you to do something then just do it without them. Take your mcat and get your GPA up and you will get into whatever pod school you want to get into. Dont let your school tell you what to do. You pay them to teach you and not control your life. You have control of your own life and do what you please with it, hopefully positive.

 

[pacpod]

I had (have) the same type of advisor. Just gotta push through. (Accepting a spot to the class of 2014 because I didn't listen)

I do know how you feel, it isn't fun.

 

[zmkelchn]

not the same, but my advisor told me podiatry school was a waste of time. He said "they think they’re really doing surgery." He also told me there is no money in pod, and that anything I should not think about anything else other than MD. Said pod, dental, and DO school was for people who never got into MD school. Very nice, made me feel great ha. I am planning on applying to pod school this summer

 

[DrMushroomFoot]

not the same, but my advisor told me podiatry school was a waste of time. He said "they think they’re really doing surgery." He also told me there is no money in pod, and that anything I should not think about anything else other than MD. Said pod, dental, and DO school was for people who never got into MD school. Very nice, made me feel great ha. I am planning on applying to pod school this summer

Wow.. you should punch your adviser in the face, tell him its from drmushroom foot, he'll know what its for.

 

[SN3]

He said "they think they’re really doing surgery."

lmao...I bet this guy thinks that he's really a competent counselor

 

[zmkelchn]

haha and the interesting part is, he's a great guy otherwise. I have endocrinology with him and I am working on a cancer research project, but if I really need advising, I don't go to him. He's nice but he truly thinks he's giving me good advice. I just nod, say ok, and talk to the other faculty who are very supportive. He just really does not know what he's talking about, he only dealt with MDs in his career because he was director of a MD med school and has worked with Harvard Med.

 

[zmkelchn]

Wow.. you should punch your adviser in the face, tell him its from drmushroom foot, he'll know what its for.

its on my to do list

 

[pacpod]

I know (for the most part) the academic advisors are just trying to be (brutally) honest to guide you on the correct path, but sometimes the emphasis seems to be a bit more on the "brutally" than the honest.

I do greatly appreciate all the help mine has offered up, even if they have been really discouraging sometimes.

 

[pipetman]

i went to a top school for undergrad (whatever that means) and i can tell you they want the stats. they will discourage anyone who they think (historically) won't get in anywhere, so as not to mess up the "80 percent of our graduates get into school x" be it law, dental, pod, whatever. and yes, podiatry was considered a plan B option , not something a student would actually want as a career. why? no idea. the APMA needs to address this.

i know i had to fight for a committee letter, lets hope this is not your case..

 

[SN3]

i went to a top school for undergrad (whatever that means) and i can tell you they want the stats. they will discourage anyone who they think (historically) won't get in anywhere, so as not to mess up the "80 percent of our graduates get into school x"

its good to hear I'm not crazy

 

[zmkelchn]

i went to a top school for undergrad (whatever that means) and i can tell you they want the stats. they will discourage anyone who they think (historically) won't get in anywhere, so as not to mess up the "80 percent of our graduates get into school x" be it law, dental, pod, whatever. and yes, podiatry was considered a plan B option , not something a student would actually want as a career. why? no idea. the APMA needs to address this.

i know i had to fight for a committee letter, lets hope this is not your case..

How do you like pod school so far?

 

[PADPM]

i went to a top school for undergrad (whatever that means) and i can tell you they want the stats. they will discourage anyone who they think (historically) won't get in anywhere, so as not to mess up the "80 percent of our graduates get into school x" be it law, dental, pod, whatever. and yes, podiatry was considered a plan B option , not something a student would actually want as a career. why? no idea. the APMA needs to address this.

i know i had to fight for a committee letter, lets hope this is not your case..

pipetman hit the nail right on the head. My daughter (it was not a pre-med major) went to one of the highest "ranked" schools in the country according to US News and World Report.

Several of her friends were pre-med/pre-dental majors, and after their second year were strongly "advised" not to continue in the program due to their GPA's (although their GPA's were actually very respectable). The school has a reputation for an extremely high placement in all professional schools, including the medical professions and law school.

As a result, many of these kids freaked out and actually dropped out of the program and switched majors. The program was brutal, and the real tragedy is that these same kids probably would have thrived at a less competitive school and would have eventually gained acceptance into a professional program.

Apparently my daughter's school's system is working for them, because one of her roommates was accepted to a top medical school and her other roommate is headed for Harvard law school.

But programs do attempt to weed out some of the students in an attempt to keep their "numbers" high for bragging rights. Once you make it through their program, the acceptance rate into professional school obviously becomes higher which is why the school maintains it's higher ranking. This also results in higher alumni donations, which also comes into play when schools obtain their rankings.

 

[pipetman]

How do you like pod school so far?

podiatric medical school is tough. I'm by no means a stellar student, and I am impressed at the intelligence level of my classmates which is akin to what I saw at undergrad, times 2000. I have no doubt the majority of my class would have succeeded anywhere, but they chose pod. I also didn't expect the sheer competition, either.

the exciting thing is that the profession is changing. the frustrating thing is that the profession is constantly in flux, meaning, we as students have to dive in and trust that we'll swim, not sink. the emphasis is constantly on conservative mgmt, taking a good history, and becoming a physician that treats the lower extremity, not just the foot. I didn't expect that, and now I understand why we take so many classes on general medicine, neuro, etc. outside of podiatry. we need to learn the lingo and mechanisms if we are to be apart of a healthcare team.

"liking" school-I'm not sure everyone loves it now after 2 years (lol) but there are moments, though, when things click or you get that one patient that puts it all together for you. There will seem to be more bad days than good, but if you enjoy working with patients and medicine is your passion, and you are prepared to work your tukkus off, you can go as high as you want in this field-or as low. get as much information as you can, shadow a podiatrist, get a feel for what it all means. And if this is what you want to do, do not let anyone discourage you. You may just be that superstar pod who elevates the profession. good luck.

 

[zmkelchn]

podiatric medical school is tough. I'm by no means a stellar student, and I am impressed at the intelligence level of my classmates which is akin to what I saw at undergrad, times 2000. I have no doubt the majority of my class would have succeeded anywhere, but they chose pod. I also didn't expect the sheer competition, either.

the exciting thing is that the profession is changing. the frustrating thing is that the profession is constantly in flux, meaning, we as students have to dive in and trust that we'll swim, not sink. the emphasis is constantly on conservative mgmt, taking a good history, and becoming a physician that treats the lower extremity, not just the foot. I didn't expect that, and now I understand why we take so many classes on general medicine, neuro, etc. outside of podiatry. we need to learn the lingo and mechanisms if we are to be apart of a healthcare team.

"liking" school-I'm not sure everyone loves it now after 2 years (lol) but there are moments, though, when things click or you get that one patient that puts it all together for you. There will seem to be more bad days than good, but if you enjoy working with patients and medicine is your passion, and you are prepared to work your tukkus off, you can go as high as you want in this field-or as low. get as much information as you can, shadow a podiatrist, get a feel for what it all means. And if this is what you want to do, do not let anyone discourage you. You may just be that superstar pod who elevates the profession. good luck.

Thanks a lot for this post, this is really helpful .

It's always great to hear from someone in the field or in Pod school, I'm sick of people attempting to tell me how podiatry is with false assumptions and skewed ideas of what the profession. For example, one of my professors told me it was a waste of time, and pods don’t to real surgery (although they think they do). This was right after i complex bunionectomy and reconstructive foot surgery lasting a total of four hours. Ha, so I just smiled, nodded my head, and said OK. The general public and even professors who have PhDs and MDs have no idea about podiatry. I have shadowed podiatrist who work in a large group, and really like the work. I have also worked in a gastroenterology center for 3 years (gastro is not for me) and volunteered and shadowed in the ER (trauma surgeon). This was really interesting, but I'm not sure if I could do that every day. Podiatry would allow for some flexibility in hours AND in subspecialty area of interest (surgery, wound care, trauma, primary care, etc). Furthermore, I run NCAA track and XC, and love to ski, so I could get into the sports medicine aspect of the field. Although there are higher paying specialties, I'd take $150,000 doing varied work on a semi-flexible schedule with limited call time vs. $300,000 while being on call all the time with no time for personal life. If you work hard however, reaching higher salaries seems very possible.

As for the school part, yeah I'm sure many people would say the hate school most of the time during exams and increased pressure, but it's all worth it in the end, adn im sure 95% of people would agree. Glad to see you are doing well. What areas of podiatry would you like to specialize in?

What did you mean by this statement though: "the frustrating thing is that the profession is constantly in flux, meaning, we as students have to dive in and trust that we'll swim, not sink."

Did you say you were at TUSPM?

Thanks again for your insight!

 

[air bud]

I have no doubt the majority of my class would have succeeded anywhere, but they chose pod.

While I absolutely agree with this statement, there is no denying there is a minority that is causing issues at all levels of the profession. Attendings on this forum have seconded this belief. Its kind of like the restaurant business: A person with a bad dining experience will tell 10 people, while a person with a good dining experience will tell 1 person.