Med school consultants?

[nick_carraway]

I'm not seriously thinking about this as I've already spent a lot of money trying to get into med school and I don't particularly think that $550-1800 is a "drop in the bucket", but has anyone ever tried something like this:

http://www.judycolwell.com/

I stumbled upon the link on the SFSU post-bacc website.

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[Old_Mil]

I'm not seriously thinking about this as I've already spent a lot of money trying to get into med school and I don't particularly think that $550-1800 is a "drop in the bucket", but has anyone ever tried something like this:

http://www.judycolwell.com/

I stumbled upon the link on the SFSU post-bacc website.

Yes, and frankly, the service is useless. I consider it little more than a shameless attempt to prey upon the hopes of medical school applicants, with no value added.

With the proliferation of information here and elsewhere on the web there's nothing new you gain by paying for her services...and some of her advice is simply bad.

 

[nontrdgsbuiucmd]

that fee seems steep to me, given how much you can learn here on SDN and through books available at libraries, amazon, etc. How much more can they offer?

I learned a huge amount calling and speaking to each school's admissions office for the schools that I was targeting, many things that I learned were not intuitive to me and felt an awful lot like jumping through hoops. If you could learn how to avoid all the mistakes I made, $500 doesn't seem a bad price to pay. But part of what made me competitive this year was the notes that I referenced in my apps -- 'I spoke with person XYZ from your office and am applying because of reasons ABC that we discussed'. Several schools specifically said that they looked favorably on applicants who showed specific interest in their school through conversations with admissions directors.

My concern would be how an admissions consultant could keep current on 129 or so medical colleges, considering from what I found, many colleges are seeking very different things in an applicant, and these things change over the years.

 

[fireflygirl]

I don't think the service is useless at all. My post bac went through a lot of leadership changes and the director of our program eventually ended up screwing a lot of people over. As someone that came from a non-trad background, I needed all the help and guidance that I could get. I used a consultant who turned out to be the exactly kind of counselor that I neeed. She was the former director of admissions at NYMC and was very realistic about my prospects. She looked over all my secondaries and helped me with my PS. She also helped me come up with a realistic school list and was the first person to really introduce me to the osteopathic route. I was fortunate to have the money and it was absolutely well worth it!!!

 

[nick_carraway]

But part of what made me competitive this year was the notes that I referenced in my apps -- 'I spoke with person XYZ from your office and am applying because of reasons ABC that we discussed'. Several schools specifically said that they looked favorably on applicants who showed specific interest in their school through conversations with admissions directors.

That's excellent advice! EXCELLENT advice.

I spoke with admissions advisors at many of my schools after last cycle and I never even thought about putting that information down.

Luckily I still have all my notes and some of the names.

Thanks!!