Your recs for better premed advising

[Tularemia]

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How would you improve the premedical advising you received?

 

[LizzyM]

Get pre-med advisors in front of med school admissions personnel to learn about what schools are looking for and how pre-med advisors can best advise students on how to prepare for the application process and what to expect of the application cycle.

Ask your advisor, "do you ever get a chance to talk to med school admissions people? What do they recommend?" If your advisor has never spoken to med school admissions personnel, ask how they keep up to date on the subject of med admissions? If you don't like the answer, take it to your university's administration and get some changes made. You shouldn't pay what you pay for college and get sh1tty advising.

 

[Isomerase]

I went to one of the most pre-medical schools in the country with highly-touted advising. I was advised to apply to med school with 30 hours of clinical experience and no nonclinical volunteering. In reality I had 0 hours (30 hours was from shadowing which doesn't count) and applying likely would have likely led to me re-applying. In my opinion, substantial SDN research is the best advising you can receive, just make sure the posters are adcoms. Everything you're told by a pre-med advisor should be considered probably false if it can't be fact-checked on this website.

Edit: I also consider the MSAR to be a top-tier advisor

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

just make sure the posters are adcoms. Everything you're told by a pre-med advisor should be considered probably false if it can't be fact-checked on this website.

Edit: I also consider the MSAR to be a top-tier advisor

That's an interesting recommendation 🙂 I see wide range of advises from adcoms. For example one says you need lot volunteering to underprivileged and another says you need to network with the schools you are interested. There are even disagreements over what's clinical vs non-clinical. I agree that you shouldn't rely on premed advisor only unless you know for sure that they have good track record.

 

[Isomerase]

Who says that you need to network with schools and what does that even mean in this context? I've been asked about service to underserved in every interview that I've attended.

That's an interesting recommendation 🙂 I see wide range of advises from adcoms. For example one says you need lot volunteering to underprivileged and another says you need to network with the schools you are interested. There are even disagreements over what's clinical vs non-clinical. I agree that you shouldn't rely on premed advisor only unless you know for sure that they have good track record.

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

Who says that you need to network with schools and what does that even mean in this context? I've been asked about service to underserved in every interview that I've attended.

check WAMC threads. I agree on need to have service to underserved but I disagree on number of hours needed.