How good is your pre-med advisor?

[SB100]

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As AMCAS has just come online, I would think that the pre-med advisor would at least send reminder e-mails or provide helpful hints, etc. Mine hasn't done anything and from my friends who are applying in the regular application cycle it seems like they are getting no help either? Do any of you guys have useful pre-med advisors? If so, what sort of stuff do they do for applying students?

 

[MilkmanAl]

My pre-med advisor didn't exist. To be honest, I think I'm glad UNC is bass-ackwards like that because I probably wouldn't have even applied this cycle if I'd had someone in a power position telling me how unbelievably sh*tty my GPA was for four years.

 

[87138]

Not really sure. The first time I met him was for my committee LOR interview.

 

[cgbg]

my premed adviser was spectacular. worked the phones for me at the schools is really loved. met with some admissions deans for me. and with help got into WASH U yesterday. i owe her everything.

 

[BlackSails]

My premed advisor is awesome. My premed advising dept sucks. I always make sure to go to the same person whenever I have a premed question.

 

[deleted74029]

My pre-med advisor didn't exist. To be honest, I think I'm glad UNC is bass-ackwards like that because I probably wouldn't have even applied this cycle if I'd had someone in a power position telling me how unbelievably sh*tty my GPA was for four years.

Exactly, I'd much rather walk this journey alone cause my advisors are pretty much non-existent. My advisor is also the head of the pre-med committee and if I walked in his office today and told him I was an incoming freshmen he would have no reason to think otherwise. My advising sessions last around 2 minutes tops every semester. Another thing, they pretty much only tell you about UAMS (where your going). Its a great school and all but they have absolutely no input on other schools and act like this is the only school in the country. Everything I know I have learned from good ole SDN.

 

[LikeClockWork]

My pre-med adviser was phenomenal. He had a very friendly relationship with people on Adcoms so he was very knowledgeable about the whole process, what they're looking for, etc. He also conducted MCAT review sessions for anyone who wanted to take them. He even studied for and took the MCAT once so he'd have experience with all that. Never would tell us what he scored though.

 

[MichiganEMTInt]

I met my pre medical advisor before I started undergrad. She was also the AED advisor (unfortunately not anymore). Amazing woman, she yells at you if you are nervous during appointments. She is encouraging and honest at the same time - she has known so many successes and failures that her projection of where you'd get an interview is correct 99% of the time.

 

[fireflygirl]

Mine sucked. We never got any kind of AMCAS updates or updates about much. Though I do have a friend at Bryn Mawr's post-bac program and they were wonderful. She would forward me whatever updates the BM advisors were get. And then when I hired a private advisor, she was wonderful and would send us updates about anything she got from AMCAS and anywhere else, including where she used to be the director of admissions for.

 

[flaahless]

My advisors, premed and otherwise, were INCREDIBLE. They networked with schools, deans, adcoms, congressmen etc. and were very instrumental to my success.

 

[bozz]

I think women are better pre-med advisors and are more proactive.

Men are just ..eh.. lazy (no self-sexism)

 

[deleted74029]

I think women are better pre-med advisors and are more proactive.

Men are just ..eh.. lazy (no self-sexism)

Exactly...

 

[ssisterdoc]

As AMCAS has just come online, I would think that the pre-med advisor would at least send reminder e-mails or provide helpful hints, etc. Mine hasn't done anything and from my friends who are applying in the regular application cycle it seems like they are getting no help either? Do any of you guys have useful pre-med advisors? If so, what sort of stuff do they do for applying students?

My pre-med advisor was pretty supportive, but she had a lot of pre-med students to deal with. My undergrad sends out a packet of stuff detailing deadlines and important dates but everything else--keeping track of recommendations, asking for a personal statement read-over, etc., is in your hands. Make appointments with this person to develop a rapport and to keep your name fresh in his/her mind. Ask specific questions that force the advisor to carefully consider your application like, would I be a good fit with X school? What are my chances at Y school? If they've been a pre-med advisor at your school for some time, they can say that Y school usually accepts people with higher MCATs or something like that, so that you have a realistic idea of where you stand amongst previous applicants from your school. Furthermore, if your pre-med advisor is well-established, he/she may be able to advocate on your behalf, if you find yourself on a waitlist/hold list. Finally, even though people will tell you that the pre-med advisor is mean or does not care about you, it is in the school's best interest to get as many pre-meds accepted as possible. This means that you will be one of many, which is something to contend with. You will receive positive and beneficial input if you're an acceptable candidate that the pre-med committee will "recommend".

If you're not an acceptable pre-med applicant--it will always come down to grades/MCAT scores of course--the pre-med committee does not have to tell you so; you'll just realize this in time. This sucks, of course for all the obvious reasons--you put in the time, the energy and the money, only to not get accepted.

 

[frikarika]

As AMCAS has just come online, I would think that the pre-med advisor would at least send reminder e-mails or provide helpful hints, etc. Mine hasn't done anything and from my friends who are applying in the regular application cycle it seems like they are getting no help either? Do any of you guys have useful pre-med advisors? If so, what sort of stuff do they do for applying students?

my pre-med advisors were horrible, they really could give two ****s less about another freshman pre-med rolling through their office. I found med students or recently accepted students to provide the most helpful advice, pre-med advisors just gave you the basics, ie "you need a good mcat, high gpa, community service, and research". But obviously it depends on your school and your advisors, mine were just bad. 👎

 

[chessknt]

My school doesnt even have one.

 

[aaj117]

Dr. Cummings at princeton and the whole HPA there is amazing. They have fairly regular info sessions teaching you about the steps to applying, they really get to know you and write amazing committee letters, have early deadlines to get everything in so you're forced to apply early, they have a great concept of where each candidate does and doesn't have a chance and really work with you on your list of schools, and i couldn't have felt more prepared. I was nervous i wouldn't get in anywhere with my gpa but dr. cummings support helped me to be really successful. he's really insightful.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Sometimes she recognizes my face when I walk into her office.

 

[Bacchus]

My advisor is well known. She's a real gem. She's in good with schools and keeps it real. She's good at what she does.

 

[TheRealMD]

Two months on SDN will prepare you more for this process than 99% of pre-med advisors out there.

 

[deleted74029]

Two months on SDN will prepare you more for this process than 99% of pre-med advisors out there.

This teenager speaks the truth, if not for SDN I'd be taking the MCAT in September and thinking that you apply in december not this summer. Advisors = no help.

 

[beachblonde]

Two months on SDN will prepare you more for this process than 99% of pre-med advisors out there.

Agreed. My advisor was a raging bitch. The same woman told my friend she didn't have a prayer of getting into vet school and needed to consider alternative careers. My friend was subsequently accepted to 5 vet schools (which is like being admitted to 10 med schools).

I certainly don't miss the woman since leaving college.

 

[crazy4clana]

Advisors are really good if your undergrad has a med school and they work with the adcomms at the medical school. My school has been known to sneak in a few students that way.

 

[TheRealMD]

This teenager speaks the truth, if not for SDN I'd be taking the MCAT in September and thinking that you apply in december not this summer. Advisors = no help.

I think I deserve a little more respect than that. 🙄

 

[deleted74029]

I think I deserve a little more respect than that. 🙄

Oh you've got mad respect from me dude, you've been officially accepted to med school and I haven't yet.

 

[ChubbyChaser]

My premed advisor knows nothing about the app proces....however he is a good bio professor.

 

[Artimacia]

My school doesnt even have one.

Neither does mine, its too small and barely any pre-med students so they just don't really care that much

 

[redlight]

I think I deserve a little more respect than that. 🙄

lol.. yikes! we're the same age and you're going off to baylor and im... heading off to my second year of college...

you've got my respect (kinda) 👍

 

[redlight]

yea my adviser is pretty good, i think(?). im pretty sure he's new to the school but so far's hes already done me a huge favor by writing me a lor and he appears to work hard because i get email updates at least once a week-ish on random pre-med stuff and theres always some med school coming to visit.

 

[paranoid_eyes]

what the hell is a premed advisor 😕

 

[SB100]

what the hell is a premed advisor 😕

Someone who knows the ins and outs of the medical school application process. They advise you on anything from courses to take to school selection. They may also be in charge of putting together the composite committee letter some colleges have.

 

[xiaoyi666]

As AMCAS has just come online, I would think that the pre-med advisor would at least send reminder e-mails or provide helpful hints, etc. Mine hasn't done anything and from my friends who are applying in the regular application cycle it seems like they are getting no help either? Do any of you guys have useful pre-med advisors? If so, what sort of stuff do they do for applying students?

my premed advisor packed her stuff up at end of fall semester and disappeared without students knowing...so much for their LORs and apparently shes now at tufts as premed advisor. The same office sent in my virtualevals rec letters a month late and when i checked with them, they said i never requested them sent so i showed them the confirmation email and yea......

the new premed advisor was the pre-law advisor. I walked into her office during the established question and answer session once and the first thing she said to me was "lets make this quick, i'm behind in work." what could you possibly be BEHIND in doing when your job description is what i went in there for?? the same lady suggested that sending in update letters to schools im waitlisted at is bad and i should just sit tight. ah so much pent up anger.

 

[paranoid_eyes]

Someone who knows the ins and outs of the medical school application process. They advise you on anything from courses to take to school selection. They may also be in charge of putting together the composite committee letter some colleges have.

thanks

 

[Red Potato]

My school has a COM, and the pre-health advisor sucks. E-mail him and he won't reply. EVER. Go to his office hours and he's not there. EVER. Hell, our school decided to finally have a HPAC this year, and there was only ONE posted announcement backed in early August of last year about it.

rabble rabble rabble. just worthless.

SDN prepared me more for application cycle for medical school than any advising sessions.

 

[Scean]

outdated would describe my premed advisor.......SDN serves as my pure and noble advisor

 

[moe_4eva]

Mine was terrible. If I had a decent advisor, I probably wouldn't have had to apply a second time given the simple mistakes I made. I know more than one person that's in the same shape.

 

[fluoropHore]

Reviving this thread.
My experience @ my school's pre health office has been pretty bad. i hate going in there personally because i always get this feeling that my gpa/mcat stats are too low and worthless for them to put any effort into helping. they have to write me a committee letter before shipping off my letters and i'm almost worried they're going to write a crappy letter about how i;m Jane Average and Nothing Spectacular to See Here.

Anyone else feel like this?

i wish i didnt need to jump through this extra hoop

 

[fluoropHore]

Welcome to SDN. In time, we will become your pre-med advisor. 😛

Forum etiquette: don't revive a 4 year old thread to vent. 👎

Why is that?
I think reviving an old thread on a relevant topic is more conscientious than making another redundant, blithering post.

My question was "is a premed advisor/committee's possibly non-justified attitude toward a student in any way detrimental to a committee letter?"

 

[tantacles]

Welcome to SDN. In time, we will become your pre-med advisor. 😛

Worse than varsityblue.