Session 238 Allison joins in again to discuss something that came up with one of the students I'm helping. Should your premed advisor tell you that you can't or shouldn't apply? I was in a phone call with a student I'm working with and he said his premed advisors told him that if he didn't get a 510 on the MCAT, he shouldn't apply to medical school this year. We were talking about applying to Harvard and so I took this in the context of not applying to Harvard. But he corrected me saying the advisors meant not applying to any school for that matter. And so I wanted to bring that conversation into our episode today to discuss the role of the premed advisor. [02:48] A Little Backstory I went to the University of Florida, a very large state school that typically puts out the most matriculants into medical school every year. My premed advisor told me not to apply to medical school not because of my grades, MCAT score or volunteering or shadowing, but because I was a white male. Needless to say, I didn't utilize their services very much after that. Allison had a different yet similar experience with her premed advisor going through her undergrad in Canada. She saw her only once because the help she gave her was not helpful. Getting into a medical school in Canada is extremely difficult so premed advisors have this idea that everyone should have some kind of plan B because most people are not going to get in. And most people don't get in. She basically had friends who ended up going to nursing school because they applied to medical school once and couldn't get in, even applying three times to the same school and didn't get in. Plus the fact that there are only about seventeen medical schools in Canada so it's highly competitive. So when Allison went to her advisor and said she wanted to go to medical school, she asked her what her plan B was and that was the only thing she wanted to talk about. Allison thinks that what her premed advisor should have done was to encourage her to apply to medical school, to tell her honestly that getting to medical school in Canada is extremely competitive and difficult, and to ask her how she can support her  in pursuing what she wanted to do. Adversely, Allison got zero encouragement and it was all plan B. It was a dismay considering she wasn't there to do the job Allison felt she was there to do. [06:10] What Does It Mean to Advise? Advise refers to an act offering suggestions about the best course of action to someone. Extending it to an academic advisor, it's about offering the best course of action based on what the student wants to become. It may not necessarily be possible, but they will give you the best advice possible. In my opinion, the advisors stepped over the lines of what they should be doing which is to offer advice based on what you want and being the person who is the gatekeeper to medical schools. Basically, your premed advisors are there being the eyes and ears based on your school and your location. They know the teachers, they know everything. Having somebody locally that you can go to and sit in there office and have conversations with is beneficial. So don't avoid them because of what we're saying on this podcast. Rather, pay attention to what they're talking about and the advice they're giving you. And if they're give you some of this information, maybe look elsewhere. [08:14] Seeking Other Resources Allison did not get any help from her school. She looked up online as much she could and just worked hard. She ended up looking AMCAS online and trying to look at the individual school she was applying to. She didn't have any premed advisor essentially nor did she go to a school where there was a committee that did a letter. For her, everything was very individualized. Ultimately, she got advice from other people she knew were applying. She didn't know anybody that was already in medical school but she knew somebody that had gone through the process and this was helpful. I pretty