<p>I am trying to find out if there is a legitimate consulting firm for medical school admissions. My son is not pleased with his advisor at school. As a senior in college, he is ready to send his medical school applications in as he now has his MCAT scores. He is home for the summer and really doesn't have a good feel for which schools are resonable for him to apply to. He is planning at this moment to apply ED to our state medical school. Unlike undergraduate admission, medical school does not allow you to submit any other applications while you have an ED application out. He will be notified October 1 if he is accepted; if not, he can them submit his other applications. The problem here is that many medical school have a rolling type admission where interviews are required. If he waits until October, I am afraid he will miss some chances at other schools. What little I have found online makes me think that ED applicants should be the stronger applicants, again unlike ED for undergrad.</p>
<p>Anyone with knowledge about medical school admission feel free to respond. If I thought undergrad admission was hard, I was mistaken!! I have no knowledge about medical school admission except from when my husband applied in the 70's. Then I don't think we had a concern that her wouldn't be admitted somewhere; in todays times many students are not admitted.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about medical school admissions, but there is whole other part of CC Discussion about med school. Maybe if you post there as well as here, you will get some information.</p>
<p>There is very little action on that part of the forum, just a couple of students. I figured there might be some parents here that have either gone through this with children or maybe sit on some admissions committee.</p>
<p>Consider contacting an advisor at an institution other than your son's school...sounds crazy I know but he/she may be willing to give you a few minutes of time.</p>
<p>That was my thought, to call the private school in our city with a top medical school. I am sure they have more than one premed advisor there. I wish my son felt more comfortable with his advisor, they just didn't click.</p>
<p>Medical Schools, or at least the one where I once sat on the committee, tend to have a rolling admissions in the sense that there were monthly meetings during which the applications completed were discussed in the order in which all of the paper work was completed. By not applying elsewhere before Oct. your son will miss only the ED session and the session during which the incredibly bright are accepted.
Your son also needs to consider that accepting an admission to a particularly school is binding and all of the other schools will honor that choice. Once a student has accepted a position attempts to gain admission to other schools will be regarded as a form of dishonesty by those other schools and the school where he accepted a position.
As to the choice of schools he does need to know what's available. On the other hand there are certain standards in the curriculum and less variation than there is between colleges.</p>
<p>He knows ED is binding; that is his hope. After looking at the $$$ the out of state and private universities would cost him, he has decided to go to our state school if accepted. It was good enough for his father and other relatives, so it is good enough for him. Besides, he does want to practice in our home city, so attended the state school makes sense. </p>
<p>It would be nice to have him closer to home for 4 years; he might even allow me to visit every so often. My husband and I married after his second year of med school (high school sweethearts) which allowed him to focus on studying while I took care of the home, meals and bills while working full time. I can now see myself visiting every month or so to deliever food and maybe clean unless he finds a girlfriend before then!! I'm sure grandma would love to cook all his favorites as she will be afraid he will waste away!!!</p>
<p>you definitely need to check out the pre-allopathic forums at studentdoctor.net</p>
<p>They will be so much more help than anyone on here, as this board is by definition focused on undergrad. Also, it might be better to have your son post rather than you, since he <em>is</em> an adult now. </p>
<p>There are a lot of issues associated with applying ED that experienced posters on that board will be able to help you with.</p>
<p>Avalon and asterstar- Thanks for the information on the forums at studentdoctor.net; we didn't know that forum was available. My son isn't a forum kind of guy, but he might take a look at this one. I just told him about it.</p>
<p>asterstar, you are correct my son needs to be the one posting if he was interested in posting, but he isn't. I was looking for information from other parents, hense the post on the parents forum. You gave me some of the information I needed by telling me about the other forum, and for that I am grateful. I know my son might be an adult, but I will always be his mother and will always help him whenever he needs or wants me to.</p>
<p>yeah, sorry I realized that came off a little harsh. What I meant is that all the posters on studentdoctors are all the students themselves, and they might be taken aback by parents posting. </p>
<p>One important thing your son should consider: if he's applying ED, he won't be able to apply anywhere else until he hears back from that school. Because of that, he needs to be sure that he's very competitive for admissions at that school. Is his GPA and MCAT at least at average? Are his EC's and rec letters very solid? Because if it ends up that he doesn't get in, he will be at a great disadvantage applying to other schools so late in the cycle. This is usually one of several reasons why students choose not to apply ED to a school. Your son should also be very certain that he would be satisfied with his financial package from the state school, because he won't be able to compare packages from different schools. Of course, the big advantage of ED is that schools look very favorably upon applicants who have already committed to them. </p>
<p>I did a search on the SDN forum and found a poster responding to a question similar to yours:
[quote]
Before this decision is made, it is imperative that you learn the percentages of accepted applicants in early decision and regular decision. Also, learn the post-interview acceptance percentages for both. Honestly, I would only apply early decision if I had at least a 50/50 chance, which isn't that likely. Your numbers are good, but your chances can definately be hurt by having to apply late. Med school acceptance is too much of a crapshoot for you to put all of your eggs into one basket.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Just a thought, hope that helps. If you give the posters on SDN some info on his MCAT, GPA and which school it is, you'll get much more specific information.</p>