getting to know your premedical advisor

[bella_dottoressa]

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Hi guys! Here's my question.

Between 5 or so books on premedical success, becoming a physician, and the medical school application process, most of which I read long before I even began college, a class of 2007 med boyfriend and last but certainly not least SDN I feel like I'm fairly knowledgeable as to this entire process. I'm just finishing my first year of college, have all my future course work planned, know what I'm doing, where I'm headed, everything. I have no real questions for a premed advisor at all...which is why I have yet to meet with one. I feel like if I make an appointment with one I will have absolutely nothing to ask them and will just be talking at them the whole time about everything I've done and planned to do...I guess what I'm wondering is if I should just make an appointment ASAP nevertheless, hold off and make one early next school year maybe, or what? How neccessary is contact with one's premed advisor? Does everyone have their premed advisor write them a LOR?

Thanks so much. 🙂

 

[Street Philosopher]

if you need an LOR from this person, then it obviously is in your interest to develop repoire. not so much to get answers to premed questions, but to let him/her/them get to know you as an applicant. just go in there and tell them what you know, and if there is anything else you should be doing. or something like that. and they often have cool stats, like the gpa/mcat of people who were accepted from your school, etc.

 

[avhart]

I would say that it could be helpful for school-specific reasons...you would get information on pre-med information specific to your undergrad (courses, recommendation file procedures, etc.)...and, depending on your advisor, he/she might also be able to tell you how previous applicants from your school did at various schools. There might also be a place with resources like med school viewbooks, catalogues, etc. that you might not have seen yet. So you don't necessarily need to develop a really close relationship with the person (and certainly don't need to get an LOR from them unless that's how your school handles things)...but don't sell the person short, it could be a useful experience.

It kind of concerns me that you already have your whole life figured out. Not saying that you don't do this, but make sure you are taking some time to reflect on what you're doing and whether you are doing it because it's your "life plan" or because you are actually enjoying doing it. Make sure you do things that fall into your lap because you think they might be interesting and don't pass opportunities by because you didn't plan for them. I know it doesn't seem like it, but remember that you are what...19? You don't need to have your whole life figured out...you don't even need to be sure what classes you're going to take...what if you suddenly have an urge to take Art History or French Poetry or Social Inequality? Sure, they're not about cells and proteins...but they help you become a good doctor, too...

sorry for the long post, it's just my little soapbox. I'm impressed that you are starting to be so focused so early, just make sure you have other things in your life, too. 🙂

 

[DrLady]

If you feel that you have all the information you got from other resources, you really don't need to go to your premed advisor. However, you will need to go to her to talk about letter or reccs. For example, after couple meetings with my premed advisor in my freshmen year of college, I realized that i was better off on my own rather than ask for her god-awful advice which was hardly helpful. However, I needed to see a premed advisor in order to open up a pre-med file so that I can get the letter or recc forms to send to the professors.

I am not going to have a LOR from my premed advisor and I really don't think it is necessary unless a med school specifically asks for it in its secondary.

ps. If you have a bf who is entering med school this fall ( or if he went to the same undergrad as you), you could ask his advice too, since he has already gone through the process.

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Thanks so much. What great replies. 🙂 I think I will make an appointment, if not so much for advice to at least introduce myself and set up a file, as I know we have a letter service here.

Avhart...yeah, you make excellent points. I totally agree with everything you said. I guess that I'm sort of unlucky in a way, that I've known now for a couple years that I wanted to pursue a career in medicine. Towards the end of high school I found SDN and a bunch of books on the subject and just immersed myself in both. It's positive in that I do feel so ahead of the game and prepared and knowledgeable about what's to come. On the other hand, knowing all that we all know about this process so early on in college has made the year sort of awful for me. I really haven't gotten a chance to enjoy anything about college like all my friends are. I study all the time and I admit that alot if not all of the extracurricular/volunteer activities I have gotten involved in have been with admission to med in mind...which is NOT to say that getting into a medical school is my only reason for doing anything I do, but I'm sure you all understand what I'm saying. I know this all sounds so awful and typical of the worst, most annoying premed you can imagine. I just know what I want right now and I'm focused on achieving that. I do have lots of other things in my life, friends and family and other interests. Right now my major focus is med though. I am very open to other possibilities and I know that as much as I believe it to be right now medicine might NOT be right for me. But yes, all to say that it is such a double edged sword being hardcore premed from the get go and finding SDN and all so early...I definately am focused on what I'm trying to do here, although it is so early in the game for me...but I am trying to maintain an outside life and interests too. 🙂 Thanks again for the great advice.

 

[IndyZX]

my advisors tell me nothing i dont know, nor do they write a rec for me (they just photocopy and mail recs).

if i ever have a question about specifics, ill call them to see what they say, but if its serious, i would just call the med school and ask them

 

[Biodude]

crystal18mc - I see that you're pretty much in my shoes at this point 😛 I am also done with my first year of college and enjoying the summer before second year starts. I also picked up pretty much everything I need in terms of pre-reqs, MCAT, and applying from SDN 😀

And well, I have all my courses planned out, all the way up to the MCAT year, assuming that they don't fill up before I apply into them 😡

Well, the general consensus of pre-med advisors here seems to be that they don't know anything or they are very discouraging. I guess that's the typical pre-med advisor...then I guess that mine ain't typical. For one thing, he doesn't discourage (unless you're ready to apply and have a straight 2.0 GPA hoping to get into only top 10 schools, that is). I agree with most of the answers so far. That's what I've done, and I think that I've developed good repoire with mine. Okay, well look at this...

I've got a 2.5 GPA so far...I let my advisor know, and unlike most advisors I've been hearing about, he just said, "Oh, that's normal for college students. You're still adjusting to college. If you work hard, then your GPA should stabilize by the time you apply." As in 3.5 or higher 🙂

I guess some of my suggestions have been made before, but here goes...

I think that the pre-med advisor is a good place to go to when you want to look at acceptance rates for people from your undergrad. They even have pictures of the people who got accepted at my undergrad. Also, the pre-med advisor has got study materials (Kaplan) for the MCAT and the like, and I think that even though you know pretty much what to do, you can sort of check in with your pre-med advisor for specifics. Like for example, I wasn't sure when would be a good time to begin helping the PhD's in research, so I went to ask mine (at my school, most science majors can begin doing this at the beginning/middle of their second year, assuming that they complete all pre-reqs the first year). I guess I will begin the summer of next year, since the type of research experience I'm interested in getting requires a few more classes.

If you know about what to do like me, then you don't need to ask mundane pre-med-esque questions like "What classes do I need?" and "What is the MCAT?" (you'd be surprised to see how many pre-med students don't know what the MCAT is). In fact, if it's your first meeting and your advisor starts yapping about this, then you could skip it and explain that you know all that and really get into the heart of the matter.

I mostly just use my pre-med advisor as a "check-up" to see that I'm on track...sort of like a "physical" with your primary care physician to be a check-up on your health. So, assuming that your pre-med advisor is NOT one of those that everyone here keeps complaining about, I think that you can use him/her for checking to see that you're taking the right classes at the right times.

And finally...

You don't need a letter of rec from the pre-med advisor if there is no need at your school. 2 letters from science profs, 1 from a non-science prof, and maybe 1-2 more from outside places (like work and volunteering) should be sufficient, I think.

 

[bella_dottoressa]

Biodude...thanks! It's nice to know someone else is out there my age who knows what's going on. Enjoy your summer!! I know I will, taking physics but other than that I know I'm in store for a great couple months. Don't worry about the GPA, mine sucks, but we have sooo much time and opportunities to make up for it!