Hate your pre-med advisor?

[omgwtfbbq?]

Hey, does anyone else out there have a nasty, mean, (insert adjective here) pre-med advisor? I mean an advisor that actually works against you?
My advisor refused to call a school that would give me an extension on a rec. letter deadline if the advisor called, and she knew that if she didn't I'd miss the secondary deadline, because my teacher just mailed the letter from out of town that day! and they were due to be postmarked the next day! I asked her, do you know what you're doing to me? and she nodded yes!!!!!!! EVIL! This process is hard enough without someone working against you, and I'm at a school where all the rec. letters get sent out from the pre-med office. At least they sent my other ones out! Thank goodness for online status checks. Anyone else with similar situations?
I think she's nuts.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[WhatUpDoc!]

Mine definitely has a few screws loose... when I was preparing for the MCAT... she had to tell me on at least 10 different occassions that I should dish out the money for Kaplan. After repeatedly letting her know that I didn't have the funds to do so, she continued to mention it to me as if we never talked about the issue before So it's like 2 weeks before the MCAT and I stop by to ask her a question, and guess what the freak she says!?!? "You should look into that Kaplan course, the students swear by it!!!" I think I looked at her in awe, failed to reply and just left her office. Yes, this is TWO weeks before the test. I've yet to figure her out, but at least she sent out my committee packet with lighting fast speed

 

[DropkickMurphy]

One of the major reasons I am glad I am changing schools is to get away from our premed advisor. She's a fat lazy slob who does absolutely nothing and knows next to nothing. I swear if you stand behind her when it's really quiet you can hear her telling herself "Breathe, exhale, breathe, exhale...." It's frightening.

 

[Doc.Troy]

My advisor told me 2 days before my interview that I basically had no chance of getting into Indiana because I'm out of state. I'm really hoping I get accepted just so I can rub it in her face.

 

[doctorFred]

my pre-med advisor told me not to bother applying to medical school. then, he saw my MCAT scores a few months later, and decided that it was a great idea.

 

[RayhanS1282]

My advisor is pretty nice actually. I had really bad grades starting off and usually the school recommends that you see the advisor during your sophmore year but after hearing horror stories of what the advisor said or yelled to students in my position, I held off on going to him until the last semester of my junior year. He was pretty honest, he said my C+ in orgo will be a sticking point, he said I should leave my options open for DO and Carribean schools after seeing my initial MCAT score. He even made time to review my entire AMCAS application print-out before I submitted it and provided constructive criticism. He had a surgery recently but I had no idea about it and when I e-mailed him about setting up an appointment, he gave me his home phone no. and even told me to fax over any stuff I want him to look over. I am really surprised to hear how bad some of your advisors are, I guess I am lucky in that respect.

 

[sscooterguy]

Yeah, premed advisors can be pretty bad. They are in a tough spot though. They need to make sure there aren't a bunch of people wasting a lot of money and education if they aren't going to get into medical school. I think its almost a right of passage to still persevere despite a "premed" advisor telling you not to apply.
I had a pretty bad experience. Mine told me that I should look into other professions. When I asked her about prereq's, mcat, interviews, what tier certain schools were considered, etc...she said it was all available online. I asked her what her job was and never got an answer. I never talked to her again. I didn't even have any desire to go back and "rub" it back in her face, as she would probably just mark me down as another statistic saying that she was my advisior and got me into med school. I just told other students to stay away from her.

sscooterguy

 

[ShyRem]

My advisor was pretty awful. No help at all. Told one person she would have "her pick of schools" with an MCAT of 24. She asked about DO schools, and he said she "wouldn't need to" and she'd "get into a bunch of allopathic schools" with that score. BTW: She's about as non-URM as you can get.

I took two classes with from my pre-med advisor (yes, not even a dedicated pre-med advisor, but a prof who did it 'on the side'). So I go into his office to let him know how the application season was going and he said to me "what are you talking about?" "I don't know anything about those schools". Now, one of these schools is our only state school - and he doesn't know anything about it.

Yeah, our pre-med advisor is really great. Just great. :sarcasm:

 

[Telemachus]

I never even spoke to a premed advisor at my university. I figured if they spent all day talking to pre-meds, they weren't the kind of person I wanted to have anything to do with.

 

[jbone]

My pre-med advisor was always swamped. Little time for anybody. However, he just passed away so I can't be too mean.
He was a great guy.

 

[veridisquo]

The one at my school is awful. Simply awful.

She told this girl I know that it's okay to take the MCAT after not having taken organic and physics.

...

What's even worse was that this girl had actually been deluded to the point where she believed everything would be okay. Despite people warning her, she claimed everything would be okay because her premed advisor said everything would be "just fine."

Another thing she tells people (with generally good stats) is to apply directly to osteopathic schools as well as Caribbean schools, and not to bother with allopathic schools. Her reasoning is that with good scores, you'll definitely get into an osteopathic school or a Caribbean school so why even "bother" with an allopathic school that is harder to get into, even if your stats are well above average?

I'm not going to bother wasting my time to see this woman. I've learned far more hanging around SDN.

 

[jackets5]

Im so glad my school did not have a pre-med advisor/comittee. I have heard such bad stories about them. Id much rather do things by myself. Get all my own letters of rec, send them to Interfolio and send out all my own applications. Its good to know that it gets done when its suppose to get done, not when some advisor has the time. Most advisors are *****s anyway so i would rather do something that is so important myself so i know it gets done

 

[lexy10]

On the high note, my pre-med advisor really got things out on time. I never talked to him until I was about a month from graduating...never saw the point as I knew what I needed to take and that I needed to do well in class and on the exam...

on the otherhand he did say something that AMAZED me...he told me that he didn't think he would ever go to a female doctor (by the way I am female)...about 2 months later I randomly met a doctor who went to my same undergrad and had the same pre-med advisor who said he didn't think women should be doctors!

I'm doing better in getting interviews and what-not than I thought, so he obviously didn't say anything bad about me in his review of me...just odd...

 

[USArmyDoc]

My premed advisor rocks! She has to be the nicest most compassionate lady ever. I love her.

 

[Will Ferrell]

OP - After you get accepted, you should notify your advisor's superiors at the university (dean?). She went againt the whole mission of prehealth offices (to help get their students into professional school). She doesn't know what her job is.

 

[FutureDocDO]

Hey, does anyone else out there have a nasty, mean, (insert adjective here) pre-med advisor? I mean an advisor that actually works against you?
My advisor refused to call a school that would give me an extension on a rec. letter deadline if the advisor called, and she knew that if she didn't I'd miss the secondary deadline, because my teacher just mailed the letter from out of town that day! and they were due to be postmarked the next day! I asked her, do you know what you're doing to me? and she nodded yes!!!!!!! EVIL! This process is hard enough without someone working against you, and I'm at a school where all the rec. letters get sent out from the pre-med office. At least they sent my other ones out! Thank goodness for online status checks. Anyone else with similar situations?
I think she's nuts.

I would contact the dean of your college and inform him/her of what's going on. Advisors are suppose to "help" you succeed, after all you're paying them. It's their job.

 

[Shredder]

premed advisors are all good for nothing. maybe theyre bitter bc they were once unsuccessful premeds, you never know. or for whatever reason they had their dreams crushed. premeds are better off with private advisors

 

[Shredder]

I never even spoke to a premed advisor at my university. I figured if they spent all day talking to pre-meds, they weren't the kind of person I wanted to have anything to do with.

 

[glp]

i have been impressed with the level of interest exhibited by the premed advising office at ou. during my lor interview with ou professors my advisor was the voice of reason and an advocate while the profs were grilling me. since then, she has kept in touch via email to see how the process has been going. she has been supportive and i can tell she genuinely gets excited to see us accepted and go on to medical careers. its pretty cool.

 

[SuzieQ3417]

premed advisors are all good for nothing. maybe theyre bitter bc they were once unsuccessful premeds, you never know. or for whatever reason they had their dreams crushed. premeds are better off with private advisors

I disagree...my pre-med advisor is amazing! She is really nice, and definitely knows a lot about the process (and if she can't answer a question she will direct you to the appropriate place). After reading a lot of people's posts about their own advisors during this process I feel downright lucky. The pre-health office holds meetings a year before the application process where they give you tons of info on how it all works (which was awesome for me since I am not a science major and thus not around the pre-med crowd)...they give you detailed timelines on when stuff needs to be submitted. I was able to schedule my committee interview shortly after all of my LOR were submitted, and they had them all sent out a week later with my cover letter. It's amazing how much of a difference there is between advisors at each school, and especially amazing when you see what a difference a good advisor can have vs a bad one.

 

[FACS]

Hey, does anyone else out there have a nasty, mean, (insert adjective here) pre-med advisor? I mean an advisor that actually works against you?
My advisor refused to call a school that would give me an extension on a rec. letter deadline if the advisor called, and she knew that if she didn't I'd miss the secondary deadline, because my teacher just mailed the letter from out of town that day! and they were due to be postmarked the next day! I asked her, do you know what you're doing to me? and she nodded yes!!!!!!! EVIL! This process is hard enough without someone working against you, and I'm at a school where all the rec. letters get sent out from the pre-med office. At least they sent my other ones out! Thank goodness for online status checks. Anyone else with similar situations?
I think she's nuts.

Yes, premed advisors tend to be fu<kheads. This is generally true of most failed academics. Hell, successful ones might even be worse.

A word of warning - if you hate your premed advisors you're likely to hate your medschool deans too. Tread cautiously. They ain't harmless.

 

[Pontifex Maximus]

Mine was awful. Nice guy, but way too spacy. He retired though, and the new one is pretty good.

 

[SeventhSon]

in a loosely related note, do our schools/pre-med advisory offices get any information about where we get interviews/acceptances unless we tell them?

 

[crazy_cavalier]

Wowowow

Reading through this makes me appreciate my advisor all the more. She's the best!!

Any high schoolers reading this, UVa has a kickass premed advisor!

 

[Flopotomist]

I swear if you stand behind her when it's really quiet you can hear her telling herself "Breathe, exhale, breathe, exhale...." It's frightening.

OK.. I know that you are an RT, and know far more than I do about this, but isn't the action after "exhale" "inhale?" I mean.. doesn't breathing encompass both the inhale AND the exhale?

(oh, and to everybody bitching about an advisor... do what I did, just apply without one)

 

[shantster]

Mine was awful. Nice guy, but way too spacy.

Mine's like that too! You can tell that he really really cares that his students do well, but sometimes, he's not all there. You have to tell him things multiple times before he gets what you are saying. It's sad though, because we get one for each graduating class and the current seniors have a really good one. She did research at the University of Chicago Medical School, and came to our school to teach Physiology so she knows more about this process than anyone else.

 

[UCLA2000]

Hey, does anyone else out there have a nasty, mean, (insert adjective here) pre-med advisor? I mean an advisor that actually works against you?
My advisor refused to call a school that would give me an extension on a rec. letter deadline if the advisor called, and she knew that if she didn't I'd miss the secondary deadline, because my teacher just mailed the letter from out of town that day! and they were due to be postmarked the next day! I asked her, do you know what you're doing to me? and she nodded yes!!!!!!! EVIL! This process is hard enough without someone working against you, and I'm at a school where all the rec. letters get sent out from the pre-med office. At least they sent my other ones out! Thank goodness for online status checks. Anyone else with similar situations?
I think she's nuts.

Unfortunately pre-med advisors have a vested interest in discouraging less competitive applicants from applying to med school. If the less competitive student applies and doesn't get accepted then it screws up their average. I've heard of cases where pre-med advisors advise students not to apply and then "act out" if the student applies anyways. Could this be the case here?

 

[Thundrstorm]

I love my pre-med advisor. I went to a small school that really is not a pre-med mill, so I don't think she has much pressure to weed out applicants. She was also my research supervisor and my regular advisor, so she knew me really well and from what I can tell, wrote me a glowing composite letter. She organized workshops for everyone on essays and interviewing and everything, and she's really available for students. As an MSTP applicant, I had ridiculous LOR requirements (like 2 addresses to mail LORs for each school and different combinations of letters for each), and she took care of everything for me in a timely manner. She's also really supportive, with the right balance of realistic.

 

[stratom]

I really wish my school had a pre-med advisor.

 

[chaeymaey]

I really wish my school had a pre-med advisor.

I'd rather have no premed advisor than a bad one.