Partnering with a Pre-Medical or Pre-Business School Advisor or Consultant

All advisors are not the same

• Finding an Advisor, Mentor or Admissions Consultant

Once you’ve committed to the pre-medical or pre-graduate school of business track, finding the most expert guidance and resources, as soon as possible, is paramount. If you are sick, consulting your health care provider as soon as possible is optimal. The same is true when planning your life’s work. This is a big deal. Benjamin Franklin once stated, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Without expert guidance and planning, opportunities are missed and success delayed or blocked.

• • High School
    • If you are in high school, you must contact your college guidance counselor. Regretfully, statistically, if you attend public high school, he or she will have only 10 minutes or less to advise you per year in college admissions. Parents, friends and better yet, people you know in the field that interest you can help. In Private or Magnet Schools, the resources increase exponentially. Perhaps, the best source is the Internet and the key contacts you reach from there. If you prefer expert and personal advice, confer with a private admissions consultant.
  • College
    • At good colleges and universities, the advising can be impressive or it can be mediocre. At great universities, advising is exceptional. For example, at some great colleges, the advisors are full-time staff or professors, who advise infrequently, minimally and often reluctantly. To the contrary, at other elite universities, the advisors are full-time, have low advisor to student ratios and they are expert in most matters premedical and pre-business.
    • Moreover, at great colleges there is Academic Advising, Career Advising, Peer Advising, Fellowship Advising, Pre-Professional Advising and Global Program Advising available to select from.
  • Academic/Major Advising
    • With this resource you ask questions such as what are appropriate majors to study and classes to take? Are there research opportunities? Should you entertain graduate school?
    • Faculty in your department or your assigned faculty advisor can also help.
  • Career Advising
    • With this resource, college staff and alumni are readily available to provide useful information.
  • Peer Advising
    • Upperclassmen are also an excellent source of relevant information to guide you on your journey.
  • Pre-Professional Advising
    • Some colleges have specific Pre-Medical & Business School Advising programs with dedicated advisors to assist you maximize your opportunities.
• When to Seek out an Advisor?
  • The time to consult an adviser is now, not at the end of the semester or over the summer, not after the MCAT. If you have chest pain, would you wait until the weekend or the end of the month to consult your doctor? Your health is important; and your education and career are important as well. You never substitute being busy for being knowledgeable and productive.
• What Questions Should I Ask?
  • Which Courses, Electives, Tutors, Summers Jobs, Gap Year, Research, MCAT Prep? Planning to graduate on time takes – well – planning.
• How Do I Know if the Advice is Reputable?
  • The stakes are too high for mediocrity. At Ivy Bound, our experienced, senior consultants graduated from medical school and can provide you with world-class guidance.

The burden is on you to be well informed and to make decisions based on the facts, not an amateur’s best guess. The truth of the matter is that many advisors are average or worse. The posts of most students on blogs are likely no better. Though there are a few gems out there. The good news is that the Internet is abundant in relevant advice. But only if you know where to look. The American Association of Medical Colleges (AAMC), MCAT prep companies such as Kaplan and Princeton Review, and universities with elite graduate and professional schools have extremely reliable and relevant information. Your job is to tell the difference between misleading, uninformed and exceptional admissions advice. Just because someone offers their opinion on the Internet doesn’t make if valuable.

At Ivy Bound, we can help you navigate the tedious and stressful medical school admissions process.