Hi folks,
From what I understand, American colleges have official pre-med programs for students pursuing medicine, and in these programs there are pre-med advisers whose duties to a large extent include guiding you through the process of fulfilling the requirements for gaining eligibility to apply to medical school. I assume they provide a level of 'soft' support in addition to academic support. That is, detail your chances of acceptance, alternative career paths, and generally motivate you to continue striving in the face of stress and pressure. Am I right so far?
As a Canadian, myself and my pre-med peers do not have recourse to such a program nor such advisers. A colleague and I are interested in establishing a support network for rejected med applicants in our university. Both he and I have witnessed friends experience perceived alienation and discontentment with medical school after receiving rejections. Some of them become outright depressed (which is only natural). So the question I ask is do your pre-med advisers provide support services for such disaffected students? If so, what services do they offer? How do they aid students in restoring their resolve? My goal is to gain ideas for support services to offer our students by considering what the American model offers.
Thanks for your input folks. I really appreciate it.
From what I understand, American colleges have official pre-med programs for students pursuing medicine, and in these programs there are pre-med advisers whose duties to a large extent include guiding you through the process of fulfilling the requirements for gaining eligibility to apply to medical school. I assume they provide a level of 'soft' support in addition to academic support. That is, detail your chances of acceptance, alternative career paths, and generally motivate you to continue striving in the face of stress and pressure. Am I right so far?
As a Canadian, myself and my pre-med peers do not have recourse to such a program nor such advisers. A colleague and I are interested in establishing a support network for rejected med applicants in our university. Both he and I have witnessed friends experience perceived alienation and discontentment with medical school after receiving rejections. Some of them become outright depressed (which is only natural). So the question I ask is do your pre-med advisers provide support services for such disaffected students? If so, what services do they offer? How do they aid students in restoring their resolve? My goal is to gain ideas for support services to offer our students by considering what the American model offers.
Thanks for your input folks. I really appreciate it.
There are, however, students for whom med school is simply an unrealistic goal (because they've dug themselves too far in a hole). For these individuals it is important to be realistic and coerce them to settle for an alternative path (which is often MUCH easier said than done). Otherwise they will waste precious time and resources chasing an unobtainable goal.
