Poll: MSAR or Princeton Review Book?

[jlee9531]

i dont usually do this but...

my friend bought her premed brother the princeton review version of the msar...

what i wanted to ask for her is which one do you guys think is better?

the msar is cheaper than PR...

and i thought i read somewhere on here that the PR book had some incorrect information about some schools and such...

should she just get the msar and return the PR book?

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[jhk43]

are those books actually helpful?

 

[jlee9531]

Originally posted by jhk43
are those books actually helpful?

i dont know haha. i dont own them. but i know a lot of people that do...hopefully they can give some good info.

 

[sunkists]

get the MSAR. some of the numbers in the princeton review book are wack. wrong tuitions, wrong mcat score averages, wrong gpas. some stuff is missing altogether.

i repeat, get the MSAR.

have a good day.

 

[ElyMD2008]

I would get the MSAR too, because the schools are more likely to give AAMC all information necessary and correct. Using the MSAR is very healpful when deciding what schools to apply to. You don't want to apply to a school and find out later that they don't accept out of state applicants or they only accept about 10% of out of state apps.

 

[jlee9531]

thanks sunkists and ely for your help

 

[exmike]

MSAR is probably more accurate, although even it has errors. I used the MSAR to pick my schools based upon acceptance rates for out of state applicants and what not. The info about each schools is really diluted though, so I'd use it as a rough guide. Visiting the school webpage is probably better for getting info.

 

[Ragzpie]

Hi J,

I got both. The MSAR was great in terms of figuring out objective info about schools, like acceptance rate, whether or not the schools screen, and contact info. The PR book was really helpful for writing essays and prepping for interviews. The first blurb for every school talks about the general strengths of the school and what makes it unique. Also, the "student life" sections in the PR book were also helpful. Sometimes the PR book provided average MCATs and GPAs when the MSAR book didn't.

 

[ScoobySnack]

MSAR. No question. The information is more accurate. I think PR is typically one year behind. Also, it includes important information that PR does not, like EDP stats, out-of-state applicant considerations (for some reason some people still apply to states that do not accept out-of-staters- and they even submit secondaries. Surprise, surprise glance at the MSAR stats and learn that none of them get interviews), and the medical schools' mission statements (provided by the school). Relying on PR only would be a big mistake.

 

[hapkidochic]

i too have both. i think the numerical info in the msar is better. but i definitely prefer the PR school descriptions over those in the msar