premed advising from Harvard med students?

[pm121]

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Some of them services I've been looking at are really sketchy... like they're run by doctors who don't tell us where they go to school. Some of the guys who offer services aren't even doctors. There's one that's run by some administrative assistant at some small medical school...

Has anyone used ScholarLocker premed advising? they seem to be cheaper and they give profiles of their advisers (they're all harvard med students), but i don't know what the quality is like. anyone?!

 

[235788]

what could they honestly tell you that we cant?



They got there because of crazy mcat scores (probably went to ivy for undergrad) and a boatload of "unique" ECs

 

[FattySlug]

SDN has all the advice that you need. If you are unable to pick out which advice on SDN to follow or can't make it to medical school with all the good resources we have here then I doubt any kind of private advising can actually help you.

 

[NightGod]

Am I becoming to jaded when I read this and think it is an ad for ScholarLocker?

 

[235788]

Am I becoming to jaded when I read this and think it is an ad for ScholarLocker?

coming from a 1 poster with an non-creative name... it is very likely.

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

Stick with SDN. Check out posts by LizzyM and Catalystik if you're having trouble separating the good advice from the bad.

This is probably the best advice on this thread.

 

[Ashley1989]

Am I becoming to jaded when I read this and think it is an ad for ScholarLocker?

Spot on

 

[dbeast]

Am I becoming to jaded when I read this and think it is an ad for ScholarLocker?

Those Harvard kids are sheisty

 

[Tots]

Am I becoming to jaded when I read this and think it is an ad for ScholarLocker?

 

[tenndoc]

i heard that if you are URM with a 3.2/21 harvard will roll out the red carpet. OP can you confirm?

 

[pm121]

really? wow...
so which paid services are good out there? i refuse to believe that they're all bs, as people seem to be suggesting.

 

[TheMightySmiter]

really? wow...
so which paid services are good out there? i refuse to believe that they're all bs, as people seem to be suggesting.

Why pay for advice you can get for free? No Harvard med student could tell you anything more helpful than the aggregate SDN community could. But if you want to throw your money away, be my guest.

Or better yet, PM me and I'll send you my PayPal account info. I'm a "Harvard Med Student". Swear.

 

[drizzt3117]

Why pay for advice you can get for free? No Harvard med student could tell you anything more helpful than the aggregate SDN community could.

I disagree with this. SDN has a lot of good info but a lot of bad info also. While certain posters could be great resources, there's also a lot of misinformation.

 

[penguinism]

OP, unless you want to get into Harvard Medical School or you went to a top-notch Ivy undergrad (like many of the advisers did), you may want to find someone to help you that is more like you! Better yet, contact your pre-med adviser and ask him/her to put you in contact with another student from your university that was successful in his/her application cycle recently. I help out other students from my undergrad all the time (fo free). For editing your essays, your parents/friends/SO can be a good resource.

 

[mirimonster]

really? wow...
so which paid services are good out there? i refuse to believe that they're all bs, as people seem to be suggesting.

Advisers are useless, paid or unpaid. Come to SDN to figure out the application process, be honest with yourself and your chances (I can't even express how many of the "what are my chances" threads are people who already know their chances, but just want someone to make them feel better about it) and do what you know you need to do to get in, which is:

Apply early, keep your GPA high, get a good MCAT score, get lots of clinical & non-clinical volunteering experience, spend a lot of time on your PS to make it awesome, try to get in some research, add in something unique (a weird hobby/EC). There ya go, you have been advised!

Save your money for applications.

 

[235788]

I disagree with this. SDN has a lot of good info but a lot of bad info also. While certain posters could be great resources, there's also a lot of misinformation.

and a harvard M2 is infallible?

 

[Perrotfish]

pm121? as in "pre-med #randomnumbergenerator." First post includes mention of a commercial service?

Good eye NightGod I think you got this one.

Will pm121 prove himself or herself to be a real poster? We will wait and see...

If its an ad the follow-up will be another new SDN member (or two) who registered just to tell the OP that they used ScholarLocker and it got them into medical school.

I think a mod can also check the IP address. If its a service out of Harvard, is OP is checking in from Boston?

 

[Parklife]

SDN has all the advice that you need. If you are unable to pick out which advice on SDN to follow or can't make it to medical school with all the good resources we have here then I doubt any kind of private advising can actually help you.

SDN has some of the worst advice on the internet. Take everything with a grain of salt.

 

[tenndoc]

you are an idiot if you are paying for advising. like for real.

 

[tenndoc]

SDN has great advice if you know how to ID the trolls and ignore them

 

[tiedyeddog]

SDN has some of the worst advice on the internet. Take everything with a grain of salt.

It also has some of the best. You need to be able to pick out the good advice...

 

[235788]

SDN has some of the worst advice on the internet. Take everything with a grain of salt.

lol; i'm sure.



I hear bodybuilder.com gives some good advice for pre-meds that is FAR superior to SDN

 

[jHustle]

SDN has some of the worst advice on the internet. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Taking this advice with a grain of salt

 

[drizzt3117]

and a harvard M2 is infallible?

I'd trust someone who was able to get into harvard more than random pre-meds on SDN who may or may not even be applying to med school.

 

[Perrotfish]

I'd trust someone who was able to get into harvard more than random pre-meds on SDN who may or may not even be applying to med school.

I think some of the worst advice on getting into medical school comes from above average applicants, for the same reason some of the worst advice about exercise comes from professional athletes. These are generally people who were consistently coached towards their goals, who have very strong genetic predispositions towards succeeding in their field, and who often don't really have a good idea of how they got to where they are (that's their coach's/teachers' job) or what it takes for a more average applicant to succeed.

This trend will continue throughout your medical career. Your top-of-their-class teachers will generally advise you to read through thick medical textbooks rather than focusing on the review books and question banks that work best for 90% of students. You will have 'student run' forums to advise you on Step 1, Interviews, and the Match where the students advising you got 250+ scores on the step without much effort and whose only advice on the match is about how to keep program directors from embarassing themselves by too blatently flinging prematch offers at you. Their advice is well intentioned, and it would work if you were a student like them, but you're not and the advice is worse than useless if you're dumb enough to actually try and follow it.

You need advice from people who have actually been where you are and understand the challenges you face. If you're not going to be a Harvard med student, then don't ask Harvard students for advice.

 

[drizzt3117]

And you're advising people to read SDN then? SDN IS the 1%.

In any case, I disagree; I think most people would prefer to emulate the behavior of successful applicants rather than the bottom of the barrel.

I think some of the worst advice on getting into medical school comes from above average applicants, for the same reason some of the worst advice about exercise comes from professional athletes. These are generally people who were consistently coached towards their goals, who have very strong genetic predispositions towards succeeding in their field, and who often don't really have a good idea of how they got to where they are (that's their coach's/teachers' job) or what it takes for a more average applicant to succeed.

This trend will continue throughout your medical career. Your top-of-their-class teachers will generally advise you to read through thick medical textbooks rather than focusing on the review books and question banks that work best for 90% of students. You will have 'student run' forums to advise you on Step 1, Interviews, and the Match where the students advising you got 250+ scores on the step without much effort and whose only advice on the match is about how to keep program directors from embarassing themselves by too blatently flinging prematch offers at you. Their advice is well intentioned, and it would work if you were a student like them, but you're not and the advice is worse than useless if you're dumb enough to actually try and follow it.

You need advice from people who have actually been where you are and understand the challenges you face. If you're not going to be a Harvard med student, then don't ask Harvard students for advice.

 

[jHustle]

And you're advising people to read SDN then? SDN IS the 1%.

In any case, I disagree; I think most people would prefer to emulate the behavior of successful applicants rather than the bottom of the barrel.

I agree here. But the problem is that a lot of the advice that is getting thrown around is mainly regurgitated stuff. You have guys that are giving advice to applicants when they themselves are either in the same boat (applying), failed a previous cycle, or gained 1 acceptance out of 30 applications. No offense to them, but it's perfectly understandable if the person reads their posts, checks their mdapps, and realizes "Hey, this guy applied to 30 schools, got 2 interviews and 1 acceptance off the waitlist, why would I take advice from him when he barely made it in?". It's kind of like taking interview advice from guys that have had 10 interviews that ended up with 1 rejection and 9 waitlists. Obviously that guy isn't the best person to listen to. But if he is giving regurgitated advice, then I guess it's ok?

And of course many people say that all you need is 1 acceptance, while that is true, if you only manage to get 1 acceptance out of 30+ applications, then I'd base that success on luck rather than having the actual knowledge to know what it takes to make a good application.

With that said, since I'm applying this cycle, I don't mind who the advice comes from, as long as it seems like good advice. Heck I've even given out advice myself about smaller things that I have experience with. Though I have to admit, those who have shown past success are more likely to better keep my attention.

P.S. The WAMC forum is the perfect example. There is a guy in there I think named trgpremed or something. And no offense to him, but I saw him giving advice on there for the longest time as if he was an adcom or something. Then one day I found out he hasn't applied to med school yet and I was shocked beyond belief that someone who hasn't applied yet would be dishing out such extreme advice to potential applicants (no offense to trgpremed, just my thoughts).

 

[tenndoc]

i bet you'll be changing your tune soon when you end up on waitlists

 

[jHustle]

i bet you'll be changing your tune soon when you end up on waitlists

Are you referring to me? If so, what tone are you talking about?

 

[VisionaryTics]

Are you referring to me? If so, what tone are you talking about?

That tone.

 

[Perrotfish]

I agree here. But the problem is that a lot of the advice that is getting thrown around is mainly regurgitated stuff. You have guys that are giving advice to applicants when they themselves are either in the same boat (applying), failed a previous cycle, or gained 1 acceptance out of 30 applications. No offense to them, but it's perfectly understandable if the person reads their posts, checks their mdapps, and realizes "Hey, this guy applied to 30 schools, got 2 interviews and 1 acceptance off the waitlist, why would I take advice from him when he barely made it in?". It's kind of like taking interview advice from guys that have had 10 interviews that ended up with 1 rejection and 9 waitlists.

That's not necessarily true. What you want is someone who isnot someone who is absolutely successful but rather someone who is successful relative to their stats. I think that someone who managed 1 acceptance out of 30 applications with a 3.2 and 25 on the MCAT would probably have a much better understanding of the system than someone who got 5 acceptance out of 10 applications with a 3.9 and a 38 on the MCAT. The first applicant really needed to understand the system to get in, the second just needed to apply.

 

[jHustle]

That's not necessarily true. What you want is someone who isnot someone who is absolutely successful but rather someone who is successful relative to their stats. I think that someone who managed 1 acceptance out of 30 applications with a 3.2 and 25 on the MCAT would probably have a much better understanding of the system than someone who got 5 acceptance out of 10 applications with a 3.9 and a 38 on the MCAT. The first applicant really needed to understand the system to get in, the second just needed to apply.

I definitely understand what you're saying. I think it would be a safe bet to go with the more successful applicants that have average stats, rather than look at the two extremes?

 

[Perrotfish]

I definitely understand what you're saying. I think it would be a safe bet to go with the more successful applicants that have average stats, rather than look at the two extremes?

I agree, and I think SDN offers that. Actually it offers everything: straight A students, average applicants, and people who weaseled their way in with sub 3.0 GPAs. That's why I think its a better source of advice than most services: rather than one size fits all advice you can cherry pick the advice from people whose situation is closest to your own.

 

[deleted103644]

The strength of our network is in the number of people who have applied, failed, re-applied and succeeded. Many of those offering advice have been through at least one admissions cycle and some are even involved in admitting students at their medical school. You need to be able to sift through posts to find the valuable information, but it's there.

Those are not people you should look to for advice.

There isn't much advice to give except to aim for the best GPA + MCAT you can and go to a good undergrad. Do some research, some community service, and some shadowing.

Throw in something that makes your narrative interesting.

The only tricky part is gauging where to apply, but the most important thing is to apply to enough schools with a broad enough range of competitiveness.

That's the only advice anyone can give you unless they're giving specific advice about a specific adcom where they have some special insight.

 

[Neurosis]

I hear bodybuilder.com gives some good advice for pre-meds that is FAR superior to SDN

.

 

[Perrotfish]

Those are not people you should look to for advice.

There isn't much advice to give except to aim for the best GPA + MCAT you can and go to a good undergrad. Do some research, some community service, and some shadowing.

Throw in something that makes your narrative interesting.
.

The main advice that people need is how triage those goals. Everyone knows that, ideally, you want a perfect GPA (from Harvard, in Chemical Engineering), a 40+ MCAT, multiple first author publications, more community service than Charlie Sheen (post court order), shadowing with world famous physicians in every specialty, and a compelling life story that begins in a small village in Africa. However if you're a mere mortal and can't really pull of all of that how do you prioritize? Do you stick with an engineering degree from the difficult school and hope that they take the difficulty of your situation into account when you get a 3.2 or do you drop down to a mid tier state school and do a communications major where you can maintain a 4.0? Do you stick with the 20 hour/week research lab hoping for a pub or do you focus on getting the extra 5 points on the MCAT? Do they honestly give a care that you're an interesting guy or are the numbers more important?

The reason that medicine selects for the children of the rich in general and physicians in particular is that its not a common sense process. You wouldn't expect schools to care mainly about your GPA and not care about how difficult it was to get, after all no sane employer would care that you got a 4.0 if you got it by doing a communications major at Michigan State. Yet the reality is that's what they care about. You wouldn't expect that ADCOMs would prioritize a pointless standardized test over the community service and reserach that they so pompusly proclaim are their top priorities, yet again that's the reality. You would expect that the quality of your school would have a really strong impact on your application just like it does in the job market, but it doesn't so you might as well minimize your debt by going to a state school. You would expect that schools would want you to major in something that would actually prepare you for your career like biology or neuroscience, but actually if anything they prefer artsy crap that makes you moderately more entertaining in your interview.

That's not common sense advice, and it's more complicated than just telling someone 'do well in everything'. If they can do well in everything, of course, that's just great, but that's not an option for most people.

 

[von Matterhorn]

I disagree with this. SDN has a lot of good info but a lot of bad info also. While certain posters could be great resources, there's also a lot of misinformation.

I agree. Nearly all of my personal friends in medical school should never have gotten in according to SDN. Certainly a cynical site in regards to applying.

 

[FrkyBgStok]

I don't understand why it is so hard. You need these prereqs, this is the average mcat and gpa, here are the standard ECs. So now that people know what they are, why do they need a life coach to have someone to blame? No offense OP, but the whole thing seems like common sense will get your the farthest. Worked well for me.

Either I am a friggin genius, or people are ridiculously stupid. On average.

 

[circulus vitios]

I agree here. But the problem is that a lot of the advice that is getting thrown around is mainly regurgitated stuff.

The application process is subjective. Individual interviewers/committee members may have their own set of (possibly stupid) criteria that they look for. Some schools look at hard numbers, some look at extracurricular activities, some look at desire to practice medicine in underserved areas, etc. Of course none of the schools come out and explicitly say this, leaving you to sift through unconfirmed, unreliable, and uninformed second hand accounts. It's best to read up on baseline GPA/MCAT/EC and some general information on the application process and say f it to the rest of the "information."

 

[tenndoc]

I don't understand why it is so hard. You need these prereqs, this is the average mcat and gpa, here are the standard ECs. So now that people know what they are, why do they need a life coach to have someone to blame? No offense OP, but the whole thing seems like common sense will get your the farthest. Worked well for me.

Either I am a friggin genius, or people are ridiculously stupid. On average.

whats the average act score? 21? just imagine the kid in your high school that got a 21. the one who you question how he makes it through his day w/o killing himself or others.... and remember that 1/2 of high school graduates that take the act(most graduates do. i know in my state, every graduate takes it) are dumber

 

[FrkyBgStok]

whats the average act score? 21? just imagine the kid in your high school that got a 21. the one who you question how he makes it through his day w/o killing himself or others.... and remember that 1/2 of high school graduates that take the act(most graduates do. i know in my state, every graduate takes it) are dumber

Careful........I got a 24.

 

[tenndoc]

Careful........I got a 24.

lol thats like the 75th percentile

 

[FrkyBgStok]

lol thats like the 75th percentile

Haha. No I am kidding. My high school days were a lot different. Still a bad score.

 

[tenndoc]

Haha. No I am kidding. My high school days were a lot different. Still a bad score.

you aren't old. you are seasoned right?

 

[TheMightySmiter]

SDN has some of the worst advice on the internet. Take everything with a grain of salt.

You clearly haven't been to most of the Internet.

 

[235788]

I agree here. But the problem is that a lot of the advice that is getting thrown around is mainly regurgitated stuff. You have guys that are giving advice to applicants when they themselves are either in the same boat (applying), failed a previous cycle, or gained 1 acceptance out of 30 applications. No offense to them, but it's perfectly understandable if the person reads their posts, checks their mdapps, and realizes "Hey, this guy applied to 30 schools, got 2 interviews and 1 acceptance off the waitlist, why would I take advice from him when he barely made it in?". It's kind of like taking interview advice from guys that have had 10 interviews that ended up with 1 rejection and 9 waitlists. Obviously that guy isn't the best person to listen to. But if he is giving regurgitated advice, then I guess it's ok?

And of course many people say that all you need is 1 acceptance, while that is true, if you only manage to get 1 acceptance out of 30+ applications, then I'd base that success on luck rather than having the actual knowledge to know what it takes to make a good application.

With that said, since I'm applying this cycle, I don't mind who the advice comes from, as long as it seems like good advice. Heck I've even given out advice myself about smaller things that I have experience with. Though I have to admit, those who have shown past success are more likely to better keep my attention.

P.S. The WAMC forum is the perfect example. There is a guy in there I think named trgpremed or something. And no offense to him, but I saw him giving advice on there for the longest time as if he was an adcom or something. Then one day I found out he hasn't applied to med school yet and I was shocked beyond belief that someone who hasn't applied yet would be dishing out such extreme advice to potential applicants (no offense to trgpremed, just my thoughts).

See bolded below

I don't understand why it is so hard. You need these prereqs, this is the average mcat and gpa, here are the standard ECs. So now that people know what they are, why do they need a life coach to have someone to blame? No offense OP, but the whole thing seems like common sense will get your the farthest. Worked well for me.

Either I am a friggin genius, or people are ridiculously stupid. On average.

I applied to 9 schools, 4 interviews, 2 acceptance. I don't consider myself god when it comes to this things -- but I agree/mirror a lot of what triagepremed says.

There are simple pre-reqs to becoming a average applicant -- you either have them, go beyond them, or you dont. Its very simple to advise in WAMC's because you usually just point out what they're missing and giving them an eyeopener that they're 28 mcat wont get them into ohio state and duke. With experience you figure it out. They're always exceptions -- but we can usually determine pretty quickly where an applicant stands because raw gpa/sgpa trends and mcat hold sooo much weight.

 

[drizzt3117]

Applying and getting into any med school is easy. Have a decent gpa, MCAT, ECs, apply early, and you're good to go.

Getting into top programs is not easy. With respect, 95% of SDN doesn't know the first thing about getting into top programs, because they applied to them as hail mary's with no hope of admission. Getting insight into what makes people competitive for top tier programs is valuable because so few people get accepted into those programs. Certainly some people on SDN are accepted into top tier programs, but very few.

Furthermore, the same reason many/most people claim school reputation doesn't matter is because they go to low or unranked schools.

 

[circulus vitios]

Applying and getting into any med school is easy. Have a decent gpa, MCAT, ECs, apply early, and you're good to go.

I wouldn't say that. All schools have enough high GPA/MCAT/good EC candidates to build a class without looking at decent GPA/MCAT/average EC candidates. The selection process is subjective.

 

[drizzt3117]

I wouldn't say that. All schools have enough high GPA/MCAT/good EC candidates to build a class without looking at decent GPA/MCAT/average EC candidates. The selection process is subjective.

I would. If you have a 3.7, 32, decent ECs, and apply to 20 schools, you're good to go.

 

[GreenStyle]

I would. If you have a 3.7, 32, decent ECs, and apply to 20 schools, you're good to go.

Ditto. As much stress as us with the stats above and greater have during the application process, 80% of people with my stats get in just based on GPA/MCAT according to AAMC sources. That is really really damn high. I didn't get accepted to my top choices, but I actually, rather easily got into medical school.

SDN is a good resource. I wont deny that. However, I also didn't use SDN resources at all to get into medical school, and I wont be using it to get into residencies either.

In fact, once I get back to the United States, I will likely not come back to this site much if at all. The site interesting though~~. I like the site A LOT, but there are many places to actually get better information.

Again, great site, but there are better places. I know the next question...'Where!?" And my answer is...get off the computer and find them....

Again, I like this site (in case I am about to be flamed).