Medical school admission consulting

[Medin2016]

Dear all,

I am going to apply to medical school in June 2016. Just wondering is it necessary to hire a admission consultant? I am pretty nervous. I have good GPA, but I have not taken MCAT yet. Will do in May. I probably need some help writing the personal statement and help with interview.

any good medical school admission consultant you can recommend?

thanks a lot

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[Lucca]

It is absolutely not necessary; I would even strongly advise against it. You can find all of the information you need to put together your application on the internet (on SDN really). There really isn't much to it. Get a GPA, get an MCAT score, input a bunch of info into your AMCAS, write a bunch of essays, send it in, interview, profit.

 

[WedgeDawg]

Yeah, I recommend this guy named WedgeDawg. He charges $80/hour but it's totally worth it.

(totally kidding)

I 100% don't recommend hiring anyone. You can get extremely solid advice on this website for free. People here will also review your personal statement for you.

 

[thatwouldbeanarchy]

It is absolutely not necessary to hire an admissions consultant. No clue how many people actually do this but my guess would be not many. Obviously, it's up to you to decide what's best for you but I think your money could be much better spent elsewhere (on an MCAT prep course or something like that, although these aren't strictly necessary either).

You can find plenty of great resources for free online that will help you with interview skills and PS writing. SDN can be a good resources but there are plenty of others, too. Just google "medical school interviews" and you'll find plenty of school websites with sample prompts, etc.

If you're still in school, most universities have writing centers that will edit personal statements for free. If you have a premed advisor that you trust, they can help with that as well and may also be willing to do mock interviews with you. My personal opinion is that hiring a consultant is a waste of money since you can find pretty much any information that they could give you on your own; you just have to be willing to put the time into looking for it. All a consultant is going to do is capitalize on the fact that you're a nervous premed. Save your money. You'll need it for secondaries, interview trips, etc.

 

[LizzyM]

Start with the stickies at the top of this forum. Check out the MCAT forum. Ask questions. PM someone whose opinions you respect if you need to ask a question you don't want to make public.
There are some great writers here who will help edit personal statements (I'm not one of them.)

If you find the information useful, consider paying a fraction of what you'd pay a consultant to become a member here and keep this website going.

 

[mimelim]

I charge people in person for admissions consulting. It is absurd how much applicants (*cough* their parents) are willing to fork out. Every single one of them knows that I am a regular contributor on SDN and that they can get the advice for free if they PM me on here. Despite this, some people want assurances that they are "doing everything", which in their mind means paying someone. *shrug* I don't seek out clients, but they seem to find me from my interactions with the university across the street. I'm going to have to start rejecting applicants when I get back on clinicals as I don't have the mental energy to placate parents that much. There is a reason I didn't go into pediatrics...

Personal opinion...
#1 Stick to SDN
#2 Don't trust the single opinion, trust that as a group you will get a bunch of good perspectives.
#3 Always question if something makes sense. If it doesn't, figure it out. Admissions is a logical process.

 

[Goro]

SDN.

Just ignore the angst and hyperneuroticism (as in "I got a B in one class. Will this keep me out of med school???")

Dear all,

I am going to apply to medical school in June 2016. Just wondering is it necessary to hire a admission consultant? I am pretty nervous. I have good GPA, but I have not taken MCAT yet. Will do in May. I probably need some help writing the personal statement and help with interview.

any good medical school admission consultant you can recommend?

thanks a lot

 

[takeurmeds02]

...gunner....

 

[MrChance2]

1. 80% of it is GPA and MCAT. 2. Fulfill the schools mission 3. The majority of the rest is showing that you know what you are getting into and don't have a deal breaker type personality.

I've never used a coach but I'd be surprised if they don't just dress up these 3 principles.

PS bonus: standout because your research is outstanding or you have an amazing GPA/MCAT or you did the peace corps. Don't stand out because you wear a silly tie or write an avant garde personal statement..

 

[Goro]

Really??!

I gotta get in on this racket!

I charge people in person for admissions consulting. It is absurd how much applicants (*cough* their parents) are willing to fork out. Every single one of them knows that I am a regular contributor on SDN and that they can get the advice for free if they PM me on here. Despite this, some people want assurances that they are "doing everything", which in their mind means paying someone. *shrug* I don't seek out clients, but they seem to find me from my interactions with the university across the street. I'm going to have to start rejecting applicants when I get back on clinicals as I don't have the mental energy to placate parents that much. There is a reason I didn't go into pediatrics...

Personal opinion...
#1 Stick to SDN
#2 Don't trust the single opinion, trust that as a group you will get a bunch of good perspectives.
#3 Always question if something makes sense. If it doesn't, figure it out. Admissions is a logical process.

 

[mimelim]

Really??!

I gotta get in on this racket!

I'll be honest, if they paid me 5% more as a resident, I wouldn't even consider doing it. But making ends meet can be challenging (mainly unforeseen medical expenses), so it goes a long way to make things smoother.

 

[Officer Farva]

My friend used one of these services. You are basically paying a guy $300 an hour to google stuff for you. I might consider doing it to supplement the income.

 

[pinkstarburstxo]

I stumbled upon this website bc someone on SDN mentioned they had their LORs "screened through admissions council" so I looked that up and found this:
http://admissionscouncil.com/services/

"Review Letters of RecommendationCurious on how strong your letters of recommendation are? We maintain the confidentiality of your letters, but will disclose their strength and how they fare against other applicants. A poor LOR can easily cost you an interview or acceptance."

Is this legal...
If AMCAS or medical schools found out about this service would they be ok with this? How does this even work, does one forward their letters from Interfolio to them?

 

[AirplaneFruit]

Hmm, it wouldn't be worth it to have someone look over your writing for your application? PS, secondaries, etc.?


How can you judge that someone here will give you good advice/edits?

I feel like I wouldn't/shouldn't complain since it would be a free service out of the kindness of their hearts but I want some really special writing going out in my application and paying an experienced consultant to help with that should be better, no?

 

[m2regen]

As a prospective applicant, just throwing in my $0.02...
1) In most cases, I don't think it makes sense for an undergrad to pay for admissions consulting. There are so many people in that boat (AKA most people), there is way more flexibility with time, and most advisors will know how to advise you, since regardless of what path you take, the experience is relatively standard and easier to assess.
2) As a non-traditional applicant, experiences vary a lot more. While there are so many stories and experiences on SDN, it is a lot more difficult to find ones that are applicable to your situation. The time commitment of sifting through tons of online forums and threads, wondering if *maybe* what person X did would help in your situation, is also generally less feasible if you are working full-time (remember, it's not always 9-5 for everyone). At this point, depending on the desire of the applicant, financial situation, available time (and other factors), having someone else doing the legwork for you might be worth the money.

Anyways, I am not in that situation (yet), but I've been having trouble finding answers to my questions/people following the same path. I am new and still learning about SDN, so it is highly possible that I am just not typing the right keywords or following the proper etiquette, but I have been browsing/posting and am looking to improve my results. What is the proper way to solicit advice from people on SDN? I presume that members with one of the various "Verified" labels are probably on adcoms/faculty, so I would love to hear their thoughts as well. I know that they are busy, so is it acceptable to cold PM asking for advice? Is there a thread with rules for this? I know that these questions don't directly pertain to the topic (maybe it could dissuade people from paying for consulting?), so sorry in advance if this causes any inconvenience.

 

[AirplaneFruit]

Experienced how? Against what criteria? Who is actually doing the review? A former admission officer? a recently accepted medical student? An english professor who does edits? There are no standards, no certifications, and no stats on acceptances other than what they provide. It is nearly a crap shoot in what you might get.

Ok but then isn't SDN a crapshoot as well? The "certification" for consultants would be people vouching for them...same as for SDN, right?

 

[Dr Tony T. Chopper]

If you PM me a screenshot of a dollar ill let you in on the wealth of information that only PREMIUM SDN members are privy to...PM within the next 10 seconds for a fee waive and complementary HMS application sample

 

[AirplaneFruit]

SDN, OPM, AAMC , NAAHP

What is OPM and what resources are available from the NAAHP website?

 

[WedgeDawg]

What is OPM and what resources are available from the NAAHP website?

OPM is OldPreMeds (@gonnif's site)

 

[Dr.NickRiviera]

Ok but then isn't SDN a crapshoot as well? The "certification" for consultants would be people vouching for them...same as for SDN, right?

Do you have friends that write professionally? Or do you have a friend whose writing style you really like? Personally, I used friends instead sdn because they're a known quantity to me so I know I can trust their opinion.

 

[bc65]

Lots of people use personal trainers at gyms. They generally have no real education or training, and basically keep people company while they work out, but they charge $100 an hour or more. People happily pay them.

Lots of people use financial advisers, even though with about 2 or 3 hours of research online they could manage their own money better. Financial advisers charge commissions which can cost people millions of dollars over the years, or else they charge hundreds an hour, thousands a year. Most of the time, they are a big net loss for their clients.

So if people want to spend a few hundred dollars or a couple of thousands to help them through the med school application process, and perhaps even help them a bit, why not. The hard part is finding someone who can add value.