How reliable is your advisor?

[amakhosidlo]

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Just wondering, b/c mine sucks.

"I don't know...(pause)...sorry, I'm still in vacation mode"

"I really like to recommend D.O schools, my brother is one and he just loves it!"

Her: "Stay away from the Caribbean at all costs, none of them have any ties here in the US"
Me: "What about that giant contract SGU just signed with those NYC hospitals?"
Her: "What? I hadn't heard about that..."

Her: "Yeah, I'd give the Drexel SMP a good look over, it's a great program"
Me: "What about Georgetown's program, I've heard it's the best..."
Her: "Huh? Yeah maybe, but Drexel, they came and gave a talk last year, man do they have it together.."

Grrrrrr.....😡

/rant

 

[ANF1986]

My advisors are about as reliable as the wind...

 

[Stillwaters]

Adviser? What adviser? Never even met her.

 

[RySerr21]

"I really like to recommend D.O schools, my brother is one and he just loves it!"

whats wrong w/ that? Is it just her reason for recommending it? (which is in fact embarassing if thats the only thing she could come up w/ for why to apply DO).

To answer the question, advisors have to be the number 1 thing I hear people comlain about on SDN......i feel blessed to have one that is very knowledgable and is an extremely valuable source of information.

 

[iA-MD2013]

Adviser? What adviser? Never even met her.

Same here. At least you guys have advisers!

 

[LossForWords]

Mine was amazing. 😳

 

[anythingover30]

My adviser was great...its name was Student Doctor Network. Too bad, I didnt find it until half way through college an a couple low GPA semesters.

On the other hand, the person who posed as my pre-med adviser...well, she was a joke.

 

[thame]

Since we're talking about advisers, can anyone tell me why my pre-health adviser insists that getting an F in a course and then re-taking and making an A in said course is MUCH MUCH BETTER than withdrawing from said course and then re-taking and making an A. I went through this and I still cannot understand how it would be better to fail a course (and have to make many, many A's to offset the lowered GPA) than to withdraw and then subsequently make an A. Any ideas?

 

[Premed Worrier]

my adviser is very good. he answers every question i bring to him, or finds the answer. he puts on little things all the time for us (i.e. how to interview, write your PS, different talks from schools, etc.).
my only complaint though is that he only answers the question at hand, he doesn't offer anything extra (even if it is pertinent) without you asking for it...which is kind of frustrating.

 

[Chemist0157]

Since we're talking about advisers, can anyone tell me why my pre-health adviser insists that getting an F in a course and then re-taking and making an A in said course is MUCH MUCH BETTER than withdrawing from said course and then re-taking and making an A. I went through this and I still cannot understand how it would be better to fail a course (and have to make many, many A's to offset the lowered GPA) than to withdraw and then subsequently make an A. Any ideas?

Makes no sense to me. Some people just don't like the idea of "quitting" a course (even though you would try again later).

Yeah, I'm gonna have to put down SDN as my #1 Adviser. My school has no pre-med adviser; it's more geared to pre-pharm students.🙄

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Lol, advisers. Mine doesn't know what SMP's are.

 

[BTC]

Here's your insta-advisor:

Don't take anatomy during undergrad
Get to know your teachers
Ask for recommendations eary
Have a lot of people review and critique your personal statement
Study extensively for the MCAT and take lots of practice tests
Apply early
Apply to a lot of schools
Get good grades
Do clinical volunteer work (100+ hours)
Do community service
Do research if it interests you


Bam. You're in.

 

[amakhosidlo]

whats wrong w/ that? Is it just her reason for recommending it? (which is in fact embarrassing if thats the only thing she could come up w/ for why to apply DO).

Yeah, her only reason.

 

[Heathrow6]

Here's your insta-advisor:

Don't take anatomy during undergrad
Get to know your teachers
Ask for recommendations eary
Have a lot of people review and critique your personal statement
Study extensively for the MCAT and take lots of practice tests
Apply early
Apply to a lot of schools
Get good grades
Do clinical volunteer work (100+ hours)
Do community service
Do research if it interests you


Bam. You're in.

Why not take anatomy as an undergrad? I mean, I didn't, but I'm wondering why it would be bad to do so.

 

[Thrombomodulin]

.

 

[HeatherMD]

There's no advisor at my school either.

As for not taking anatomy in undergrad, why the heck not?

Not only was it the most interesting & fun course of my university career, it's also the easiest A+ I ever earned.

Do it. Life is better after anatomy

 

[medking]

The pre-med advisers at the school I just graduated from are a joke. Didn't use them at all. Even though there are many neurotic premeds giving advice on this forum, SDN ftw!

It worked for me 😀

 

[SiR99]

You guys, DONT listen to advisers unless they either went to medical school, are in medical school, are an Adcom at a medical school, or are councilors AT a medical school (for the medical students).

Add me to the list of people who have Alot of useless councilors at their school who tell you things that are absolutely wrong.

 

[RySerr21]

You guys, DONT listen to advisers unless they either went to medical school, are in medical school, are an Adcom at a medical school, or are councilors AT a medical school (for the medical students).

Thats pretty bad advice. Learn from the upperclassmen at your school about your pre med advisor. They will tell you whether he/she is competent enough to give you useful advice. You cant just assume every advisor is **** b/c you had a bad experience.

Why not take anatomy as an undergrad? I mean, I didn't, but I'm wondering why it would be bad to do so.

It wouldnt be bad to take Anatomy. A lot of people seem to have a chip on their shoulders regarding undergrad anatomy becuase they say its useless in terms of preparing you for med school. What they ignore is the fact that some people (like myself) ENJOY taking anatomy and learning about the human body. I didn't take anatomy b/c I thought it would give me an extra edge during medical school, I took it because I was genuinely interested in the subject and wanted to learn the material. I realize we will be going into WAY more detail in med school and will be covering an incredible amount of information, but I dont care. My anatomy courses in undergrad were two of my favorite courses and taught by one of the best professors on the campus. I would take them all over again if I could (and in a sense I do because i tutor for the class and sit in during lectures just so i can get a refresher). So in conclusion, if you are taking anatomy b/c you think itll get you ahead in med school, then you probably wanna rethink your decision. If you are doing it b/c you just enjoy teh subject, then by all means take it, you will love every minute of it (i konw i did)!!!

 

[supergirl87]

ok, so i may be one of the few folks on this thread who thinks they have an awesome advisor. he used to be an adcom so i'd say that he's very knowledgeable. my advisor was there for me since my freshman year. he scrutinized every draft of my personal statement until i had my final copy which i couldn't be more proud of. he answered every q i could have possibly had on this process. and my commmittee letter was submitted in a timely fashion which i know was an issue for some other folks on sdn. so i guess i lucked out.

 

[vadd0]

I never had an advisor for this journey :/

Lucky kids with your premed advisors....
😛

 

[MilkmanAl]

My adviser is me. He's extremely reliable. 😛

 

[yangxx2]

My adviser doesn't know much..he keeps repeating that he's the Biochemistry adviser.
So I only contact him through email.
I've got this pre-med adviser/professor that is AWESOME, and I'm hoping to do research with him 😀

 

[iheartcats]

my pre-med advising office is amazing! i didn't even decide on med school until after graduation, and was still able to utilize the services of my undergrad advising office. my advisor read and helped me revise my ps at least 6-8 times and has given me great advice about schools to apply to.

 

[iheartmpls]

My advisor told me I should apply to Mayo because I'm instate (WAY out of my league). She also told me you have to be attractive to go to Mayo. All the girls are pretty and all the boys are buff. I wonder if she ever looked into the academic record of all those pretty people...

 

[scotties123]

I have a few relatives that are pre-med and they always ask me if they should talk to their advisors. I tell them all the same thing: Advisors are advisors because they couldn't get a better job. To me the simple fact that they couldn't advise themselves to do something more with whatever education they got tells me they are in no position to advise me on my life. Granted some can be great sources of pamphlets, but other than that I've never used them nor do I recommend them.

Oh, and don't tell me they "want to help people" because there are a hell of a lot of other jobs they could be doing that are "higher up" and do just that.

 

[MilkmanAl]

That's possibly the most misanthropic and misguided statement I've seen in the last...well, since I last visited hSDN.

I do their job for free on this forum every day. It'd be nice to get paid to do it. I can certainly think of worse ways to spend my professional life.

 

[tiedyeddog]

My school (which is massive and this surprises me) actually has great advisors. My only qualm with my advisor is that she knows nothing about MD/phD programs. She honestly told me that she doesn't ,however, instead of blindly leading me on.

In general, I believe if the decision is in any way important then you should get multiple opinions not just one person's (i.e. your advisors).

 

[LGMAlpha]

Not at all, do your own research and talk to people who you follow.