premed advisors...

[spyyder31]

Is it me, or do a lot of the premed advisors out there seem REALLY pessimistic? I know that their justification is that they are just trying to get the "right" people in to Med school...so they say, but they make it seem like it is a hopeless journey for those w/o the most spotless transcript. The experience hasn't beed really that bad for me, but some of my friends(with some pretty sweet records) have told me some horrible stories. Anyone else have a similar thought on this?

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[Sunnyleo]

You've got a really good point. I think that in the world today there is a trend to focus on the negative....The "oh my god he had a 2.3 his freshman year" rather than "wow, he's had a 4.0 for 6 semesters in really challenging courses". I think that blemishes can be turned to your advantage.
What did you learn?
How are you different now?
How you relate to people with difficulties?
I think it makes you HUMAN and you just press on with classes and applications and pray.

Positive attitudes make the difference and if the pre-med advisor dissuades you and you fold you didn't want it bad enough...

Keep the faith....

Karen

 

[scoren]

I agree! I think some of the "pre-med" advisors are probably a bit ignorant about the medical school application process, and this translates in to pessimism.

Many of the best pre-med advisors I talked to were medical students who graduated from my undergrad University.

Best of luck!

 

[zolie]

My undergraduate pre-medical advisor told me that the closest I would ever get to patient care was as a nurse... med school would be out of the question.

I'm starting at a UC in the fall, and found some time to go into the office and thank my pre-med advisor for the opportunity to prove her wrong. If anything she helped me to realize that my goal was worth fighting for.

I think it is not the information that you get that is so important, but what you choose to do with it.

 

[omalleypat]

Most pre-med advisors need some help. Most are phd's making decisions and giving advice on something they have never gone through themselves. many probably wanted to go to med school and didn't make it, this is their opportunity to exert control!
My first advisor was really bad. I had bombed my first organic exam and he told me to go ahead and give up, that if I couldn't handle organic I wouldn't have a chance in med school. Maybe it just pissed me off and made me work harder, but I got in and am doing just fine. All in all, don't take any of their criticisms too seriously, you can do it if your heart is in it. Once you do get in, try to go back and visit your college and talk to the pre-meds. I have done that a few times and it is very rewarding for you and the students.

 

[bbas]

Is it me, or do a lot of the premed advisors out there seem REALLY pessimistic? I know that their justification is that they are just trying to get the "right" people in to Med school...so they say, but they make it seem like it is a hopeless journey for those w/o the most spotless transcript. The experience hasn't beed really that bad for me, but some of my friends(with some pretty sweet records) have told me some horrible stories. Anyone else have a similar thought on this?

Mine sure is.

 

[lilnoelle]

mine was pretty bad too. honestly, one of the reasons I'm entering as a non traditional student instead of coming straight out of school is my professors scared me out of trying (this on top of getting married and then pregnant my senior year). Granted, I shouldn't have let myself get scared out of trying, but naivete on top of the confusion of whether I could be a parent and a med student kept me from trying.

 

[yanky5]

You are right. My premed advisor basically told me I should become a chemist and not a doctor. She was also a complete idiot who knew nothing about the whole process (how it is a crapshoot) and never heard of DO schools. I think there is a requirement that you have to be a dumb pessimist to become a premed advisor.

 

[manO'war]

My undergraduate pre-medical advisor told me that the closest I would ever get to patient care was as a nurse... med school would be out of the question.

I'm starting at a UC in the fall, and found some time to go into the office and thank my pre-med advisor for the opportunity to prove her wrong. If anything she helped me to realize that my goal was worth fighting for.

I think it is not the information that you get that is so important, but what you choose to do with it.

the last sentence by zol is brilliant. its one person and my premed advisor was similar. I guess sometimes people need someone to believe in them, but what you do with the info is really what matters. if you go into a shell coz of one person, jeez why are you trying to be a doc? its your life, do what you would like and have no regrets. screw the rest!

 

[MEG@COOL]

Is it me, or do a lot of the premed advisors out there seem REALLY pessimistic? I know that their justification is that they are just trying to get the "right" people in to Med school...so they say, but they make it seem like it is a hopeless journey for those w/o the most spotless transcript. The experience hasn't beed really that bad for me, but some of my friends(with some pretty sweet records) have told me some horrible stories. Anyone else have a similar thought on this?

My premed adviser made it sound like it was impossible for me to score 30 or above on the MCAT even though my practice scores indicated that I would score above 30. I think the reason for that is that most students at my school are incapable of scoring decently on the mcat and he was just mindlessly delivering the same hackneyed speech he always does to the other students.

 

[chandelantern]

One thing that no one mentioned is that sometimes students come in with very unrealistic views of med schools. I am a pre-med peer advisor, and although I do not discouraged people from medicine, sometimes I definitely encourage them to wait to apply and strengthen weaker areas of their application. Whether they are overly confident or just don't have the facts...in the end it's better that the pre-med advisor is a little on the pessimistic side rather than saying "everything will be alright" when it might not. It hurts the student to have to be a reapplicant and it doesn't look good for the undergrad school to have a low acceptance rate too. (I have heard of some schools that will only give committee letters to students they deem have good applications to make their applicant stats look better - so be happy if your school doesn't do that!)

That being said, yes, many advisors don't have their facts straight so you should definitely do some research yourselves!!!

 

[jackieMD2007]

Yeah, one of our pre-med "advisors" gave me some lip about getting an A, and then a B+ in organic chemistry. Like that is some kind of terrible slip in grades. Like hell froze over that day because of that B+. Sorry, but one B+ didn't cause me to spiral into F grades, lady!

(Bitter.)

 

[biggoron42]

how many times have the pre-med advisors gone through the application process? zero.

do the research for your self. talk to doctors and current medical students and the folks on this site, and i think you will be in much better hands.

 

[OSUdoc08]

Is it me, or do a lot of the premed advisors out there seem REALLY pessimistic? I know that their justification is that they are just trying to get the "right" people in to Med school...so they say, but they make it seem like it is a hopeless journey for those w/o the most spotless transcript. The experience hasn't beed really that bad for me, but some of my friends(with some pretty sweet records) have told me some horrible stories. Anyone else have a similar thought on this?

Pre-med advisors are designed to talk people out of medical school.

It would be your best bet to avoid them AT ALL COSTS.

 

[Mr. Tee]

anyone know of a pre-med advisor who actually has a MD? unfortunately, sometimes these advisors are in charge of writing part of the committee letter that goes along with the file

My premed advisor has an MD. He's very supportive and optimistic.

 

[LabMonster]

Mine was quite good, very supportive, and absolutely ecstatic when I told her about getting into my #1.

Of all those who thought their advisor was an idiot, how many are from CA? I think we need a poll...

 

[CardiacIntensivist]

My pre-med advisor is not friendly to Freshman and sophmores but warms up to you during Junior year. My belief is that many people entering the school claim to be "premed" which can be very irritating when most of them drop anyways. You have to give them some lee-way. You can't be too sensitive when it comes to the application process.

 

[haleyrockx]

Mine is either stupid or really just doesn't care since he is tenured. I asked him questions about things I was unsure about and he would just say, "I don't know." Then I started asking him questions about things I actually knew about (just to see what he would say) and he would either say he didn't know or that he didn't even know that it existed (or something clueless like that). Not much help for a non-traditional student such as myself that is the first to go to college in the family. I'm so clueless already. I kinda expect the one person that gets paid to stay informed and be helpful to actually do his job to a certain extent. Guess that's what happens with some people in tenured positions- they don't care since they have job security.

 

[Jacks Mannequin]

Hey, be happy. At least you have a REAL pre-med advisor, not just some random professor they decided to label pre-med.

 

[mercaptovizadeh]

Many of the pre-med advisors are quite ignorant. At my school, there was an advisor with an M.A. and one who was an M.D. The M.A. was OK, the M.D. was pessimistic. Also, they didn't know too much about MD/PhD programs. So, my advice is to use SDN as your advising, especially for special double degree programs and the like. I learned a LOT more from SDN about the MD/PhD, application essays, presenting myself for interviews, etc., than I did from my pre-med advisors.

 

[ND2005]

My pre-med advisor was too optimistic, I thought. She paints a very rosy picture, but not the most accurate one. She was very helpful in most regards though; helping me find schools that are Aug-MCAT friendly, giving good advice on courses and other things like that.

I kind of long for the "good old days" at my school. When the pre-med advisor was a hard-ass priest who told it like it is, and made hopeless applicants cry; when the bio prof posted the score report from the first exam, put a piece of paper over the top half of the scores, pointed to the bottom half and said "you people are not going to med school".

 

[HemaOncoDoc]

Is it me, or do a lot of the premed advisors out there seem REALLY pessimistic? I know that their justification is that they are just trying to get the "right" people in to Med school...so they say, but they make it seem like it is a hopeless journey for those w/o the most spotless transcript. The experience hasn't beed really that bad for me, but some of my friends(with some pretty sweet records) have told me some horrible stories. Anyone else have a similar thought on this?

I think premed adivisors should be realistic and have a working knowledge of the stats on getting into medical school. They should be encouraging if they see what you have is passion for the field, and should write a committee letter that best represents your strengths.

 

[AggieJohn]

With all this hate on premed advisors, I figured I would throw in my 2 cents.

My advisor is great. She has not gone through the application process, but she knows more than anyone would want to know about it. Someone said "unfortunately pre med advisors write the committee letter," I don't think of that as 'unfortunate.'

They aren't all bad.

 

[HemaOncoDoc]

With all this hate on premed advisors, I figured I would throw in my 2 cents.

My advisor is great. She has not gone through the application process, but she knows more than anyone would want to know about it. Someone said "unfortunately pre med advisors write the committee letter," I don't think of that as 'unfortunate.'

They aren't all bad.

Agreed.