and thank god you did !! you are an encyclopedia of information ( + jayna, + otter, + dubz, + shorty) the information most prevets knows wouldn’t be known if it wasn’t for you guys sticking around to help.
on the topic of the services, i think services from people who will read your essays, give you personalized feedback, and a general in-depth personalized experience are okay. i don’t think charging someone just to talk about vet school is cool, we’re all broke lol !! but they also shouldn’t cost $6,000…. like $500 MAX imo but that’s just me.
i think too many people charge, but at the same time, i think i received like 40+ requests to read essays this application cycle and i just couldn’t do them all. so i see both sides tbh.
Yeah that's a fair point. Like a legit proofreading. And that doesn't even have to be done by someone veterinary, although it's helpful if it is. But also taking this as an opportunity to remind anyone reading that a lot of colleges/universities actually offer free proofreading services through their learning centers/whatever centers.
There's been a handful of vets that have started 'advising' companies and are charging a lot (with no guarantees, for obvious reasons) and it just doesn't sit well with me. I mean they don't have any more experience than any of us old people on this forum do usually (ETA to say that I mean many of us here have
also done interviews, reviewed apps, etc. ), at the end of the day you're just paying for their opinions.
There is someone in particular doing this right now, who is advertising themselves extremely frequently on social media pages, who won't even give their real name/educational background/work experience details out on their business site, but is charging for their services (which include admissions advising, NAVLE prep, general vet school tutoring, etc). It all just feels very uncomfy, but that's just one example. I had to do some light stalking to figure out who she was and what her background actually is.
When I was applying, there was an ex-dean of admissions (of Cornell, I think?) that was trying to get his advising business off the ground. I had a free consult with him and he couldn't tell me anything I hadn't already learned myself/by talking to schools/through SDN. He used to show up at the APVMA conferences, idk if he's still in this line of business or not though.
Another ETA: I have seen a few people say that the person I am referring to (the one who won't use her real name) is great, so I don't mean to suggest that anyone doing paid advising is a crook. I just don't think they can give much more insight than what one could get for free from other resources. And that I think's it's super weird to have a whole veterinary advising business based around a fake/kitschy name and just allude to your background/experiences without getting specific.
