Is it ok to talk to premed advisor from OTHER School?

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paul2752

paul2752

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My premed advisor told me sevearl things about med school admission but based on what I read from the succesful applicants and some ex-admins, she doesn't know a jack crap about med school admission.

Is it odd to ask advice to someone in OTHER schools?
 
paul2752 said:
My premed advisor told me sevearl things about med school admission but based on what I read from the succesful applicants and some ex-admins, she doesn't know a jack crap about med school admission.

Is it odd to ask advice to someone in OTHER schools?
Click to expand...

Does your school only have on advisor?
 
Honestly. You will get better information on this site Plus msar stats plus amcas stats. Spend a few hours or more. Premed advisors can be from 1 to 10. You might want to post your specific questions here or sdn wamc


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile
 
paul2752 said:
My premed advisor told me sevearl things about med school admission but based on what I read from the succesful applicants and some ex-admins, she doesn't know a jack crap about med school admission.

Is it odd to ask advice to someone in OTHER schools?
Click to expand...



It's ok
 
paul2752 said:
My premed advisor told me sevearl things about med school admission but based on what I read from the succesful applicants and some ex-admins, she doesn't know a jack crap about med school admission.

Is it odd to ask advice to someone in OTHER schools?
Click to expand...
Of course. You'll get plenty of good advice here, if you can navigate the angst and hyperneuroticism.
 
Goro said:
Of course. You'll get plenty of good advice here, if you can navigate the angst and hyperneuroticism.
Click to expand...
Which I have been suffering for a very long itme..
 
I don't think you'd be able to get an advisor from another school to help you. They're not familiar with you or your school, so it's not like they can advise you on your specific situation. There are also probably regulations against this at their institution - they're only responsible for their students, not anybody who walks through the door.
 
aldol16 said:
I don't think you'd be able to get an advisor from another school to help you. They're not familiar with you or your school, so it's not like they can advise you on your specific situation. There are also probably regulations against this at their institution - they're only responsible for their students, not anybody who walks through the door.
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The “other advisor” is probably equally incompetent. Generally sdn > all
 
kb1900 said:
The “other advisor” is probably equally incompetent. Generally sdn > all
Click to expand...

Lol I've found the "advisers" on SDN to be quite lackluster. They cater to the average SDN pre-med, which, though they are admittedly more informed than the average pre-med, still means that the advice is not really good if you're either way above average or way below. My adviser from my undergrad program was familiar with the certain tricks and tools of the trade that got students from my university into the top programs - and was able to advise me how to use that to my advantage. People like to think of this whole system as completely meritocratic where it doesn't matter where you come from but where you come from has a huge impact on the resources and advice at your disposal, which translates into acceptances.
 
paul2752 said:
My premed advisor told me sevearl things about med school admission but based on what I read from the succesful applicants and some ex-admins, she doesn't know a jack crap about med school admission.

Is it odd to ask advice to someone in OTHER schools?
Click to expand...
Yeah sure you can talk to whoever you want mate. However, just know this: most pre-med advisers suck. They don't know anything about the process and sometimes, the pre-med advising job, just landed in their lap. They aren't necessarily the most passionate about "guiding the youth into medical school!" so to speak.
 
paul2752 said:
Yes and no, we have one advisor for alphabetical order. i.e. N-Y last name, "Jane Doe" advisor.
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My school also had an alphabetical arrangement for pre-medical students going to advisers. My senior year I stopped seeing mine because it wasn't fruitful; I just went to another one lol.
 
paul2752 said:
Yes and no, we have one advisor for alphabetical order. i.e. N-Y last name, "Jane Doe" advisor.
Click to expand...

My high school guidance counselor system was like that. I just talked to the others anyways. I guess that's harder in college, but I've had a good experience going around the system. Try it! What are they gonna do, snitch to the med schools that you aren't faithful?
 
I'd say about 80-90% of the info on sdn is accurate, so you'll be well off getting your info off of here for the most part.

I nvr realized most pre-med advisors were trash until I got here. I guess I'm pretty lucky mines' is freaking amazing. He's super passionate about it and it's all he does, besides teach upper level courses occasionally.
 
I wonder if the trash advisor problem is generally spread all over the colleges regardless their qualities(or ranks), or just large state universities. Our school really should spend more money to get better staff members instead of building new baseball stadium. We are 21:1 student-faculty ratio, for purgatory's butt sake.
 
I don't think that it's weird to ask advice from an advisor from a different school, especially if the advice that you're getting from your own school's premed advisor is suspect. I definitely think it's helpful to get advice from as many possible, and reputable, sources that you can; when I was in undergrad asking many different people about pre-med advice was always useful as it often made me think of of the pre-med process in a way I hadn't before. Also, SDN doesn't hurt either! 😛
 
Just make sure you also understand what your school expects and their own timelines and requirements. If your school writes a committee letter, they may have specific deadlines, informational interviews, etc. Don't ignore those.
 
OP - I guess I'm curious what your specific complaint is. I graduated from your school - your avatar and comment about a baseball stadium give it away. I thought I received good information from my advisor - had multiple acceptances. Like most big universities, the pre-med advising gets better as you progress. Since virtually half the incoming freshman class indicates they are pre-med, you need to get through the weed-out classes before they spend a lot of time with you. Also, pre-med advisors are going to be most knowledgeable about their in-state med schools and those other SOMs where their students routinely apply.
 
paul2752 said:
I wonder if the trash advisor problem is generally spread all over the colleges regardless their qualities(or ranks), or just large state universities. Our school really should spend more money to get better staff members instead of building new baseball stadium. We are 21:1 student-faculty ratio, for purgatory's butt sake.
Click to expand...

FWIW, I've had experience with advisors in both a large public school and a large top-ranked private school. Both environments sucked for advising. The problem is often that the advising positions are very poorly paid and it's difficult for the schools to keep employees for an extended amount of time. Pre-meds are often heavily involved in the application process for years...and still learning! Imagine having someone revolve through the position nonstop...not much opportunity for absorbing the intricacies of the application process.
 
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