Sophomore year (undergrad)

[acretinmelon]

Howdy folks,

Thanks for all your replies about the Republican stuff. As I read more (especially the thread about advisors who suck) I'm just starting to get a little concerned.

I don't meet with my premed advisor that much (I go to a fairly large public u) but I called her a few days ago to ask how she felt about taking physics over the summer (I decided against it). She launched into a long diatribe about how I should seriously consider grad school and not worry about going straight to med school.

Now, this woman has no clue who I am, what my grades look like, etc., so I don't think it's just me. Is it just standard to do some grad school first? Should I ignore her, listen to her, or sit down with her and let her know more where I stand?

The truth is I don't really care that much about going straight to med school. I graduated high school early and I have a late birthday so I'm relatively young; also I have a lot of other interests that it would be fun to pursue for a few years.

So I guess that's two questions: One, should I even bother listening to my advisor? And two, what are your thoughts on grad school in general? (Does it help admissions or hurt; does it matter what kind of program you do?)

Thanks again!

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[Anka]

Listen to them, but don't do what they say without a lot of independent thinking. Look, at the end of the day all they care about is acceptance rate to medical school, or some derivative thereof (acceptance rate to top three choices or whatever). Now, if everyone out of that school who applies to medical school goes to grad school first, they're gonna have a higher "percent accepted rate".

Then there's money -- especially in a post-bac program, they're going to want you to re-take everything or take it there to get your tuition money out of you.

So, listen to their advice, but take it with a whole lot (a pound or two) of salt. I had a pre-med advisor at an Ivy tell me to retake all of freshman physics there, because it would look better from there than MIT. And all of freshman chemistry. Yeah, right. How much did you want the check for?

Anka