Recently I was invited to be the main presenter to a group of premed advisors here in California. It was a wonderful, informal conversation about the common issues and problems that premed advisors face when it comes to giving meaningful advice to dozens, hundreds and sometimes thousands of premeds.
Advisors from several major universities attended. I started the conversation by asking these advisors — some of them with more than 20 years of advising experience — to list out the major problems that they face as advisors, and I was frankly astonished by the topics we brainstormed.
The #1 issue premed advisors face: Application Procrastination!
What was the #1 biggest issue that your premed advisor / preprofessional advisor faces? “How do I get students to stop procrastinating on their application?” I was really blown away by this, because it’s an exact mirror of the issue that you face as a premed student: “How do I get all my regular classwork done, AND do everything I need to do to apply to med school … and on time would be nice!”
I explained to the prehealth professionals in front of me that the issue wasn’t really procrastination, but prioritization. We brainstormed some solutions to help — offering a timeline and an action plan.
Afterwards, I got to thinking. Really this is about embracing the real life reality of what it means to be a premed. Instead of giving you a timeline — something else to be stressed about — why not just adapt to the circumstance?
Introducing: “Spring Break Premed Workshop” on Youtube
It seems to me that what students really want, really need to help them would be a workshop that you could do during spring break, that would take just a few hours and that would help you get your stuff done for your med school application. I haven’t seen anything like this online, so I’m going to create it — on Youtube.
I’ll come back to this post and include links to the my Youtube workshop on your premed application. I’ll start with the personal statement, and then if you have feedback or want additional help, leave me a suggestion in the comments below.
I’m a private advisor, so I’ll be offering a more advanced course for students who want to upgrade. Don’t worry, it won’t be too expensive.
The Youtube “Spring Break Premed Workshop” will be online soon!
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