Customer Reviews

Getting into Medical School: The Premedical Student's Guidebook

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

For the non-traditional applicant, Dr. Brown's book is insightful and encouraging. While lacking a bit in the school-review section (no juicy details here), it takes on the process of applying to Medical School as a personal carpe-diem search rather than a run in the rat race often depicted by books geared toward nervous 20-year-old grade-thirsty premeds. Worth a 2nd read.

This is the only book I could find that dealt directly with issues that the nontraditional applicant would face in applying to medical school. I highly recommend it for applicants who are older, have a non-science degree or have other obstacles to overcome in applying to medical school. One chapter is devoted to success stories of applicants who had huge obstacles to overcome and still were able to do the impossible - getting accepted into medical school despite these barriers. Very inspiring!

I wouldn't say that this text is geared to 'just non-trads', but to everyone.

Pros: This author encourages you to contact him... impressive for any author, let alone an M.D. He gives a 'real-world' view of medicine, and this being his 9th edition, has a fair amount of experience in the 'pre-med' arena.

One thing I really like about this book is the reality check it gives. Facts like M.D.s have about 10 years of post-graduate education, yet are told what to do by people who went to school for only 2 years post graduate to get their M.B.A.'s (Since medicine is becoming coorperatized by HMO's, and new physicians are finding themselves joining managed groups or hospital positions, ran by 'management' MBAs). The fact that HMO's are taking over and autonomy is no longer available for the physician. The fact that it is no longer a 'stable' career as U.S. and foreign medical schools are cranking out more physicians than the demand, and that salaries fell for the first time ever recently... and that it will ultimately be the willingness to be of service and to help that will continue to spur students into medicine, as salaries continue to fall and current M.D. positions are replaced by PAs FNPs and other specialists. He, and many physicians I've talked to, have supported his idea that M.D.'s are losing their security by the excess supply, and replacement by PAs, FNPs etc.

These are the things that few 'Get In' texts fail to mention, yet many physicians attest to.

Cons: You only get 'half' a book. The first half is the book, the second half is a dummed down version of the Medical School Admission Requirements (which you should get if you are seriously considering medical school). The first half has valuable information, the second could either be scrapped or include more inforamtion... it doesn't include nearly the information it tries to reflect from the MSAR.

Summary: A worth buying text... more realistic than most out there. Like most others, its a bit short. Its a good reality check to think about the current state of medicine, where its headed, what you expect from becoming a physician, and what likely will be. Great for any student who is new to the idea of becoming a doctor.

I read one of the first editions of this book and found it encouraging, especially since I was a non traditional student. The end result: I did get into medical school.

This book contains a reasonably large amount of useful information. Finding one book or even one source of all your med school information should not be anyone's goal. It is an easy read with a vast range of topics which are all applicable. One of the most important parts of the book includes a listing and run down of almost every med school in the country, including gpa and mcat statistics, and tuition.

This is NOT a book for those who've known they were going to be a doc from the beginning. This is for those who may have just decided to become a doc after getting done with a non-science major or anybody else who hasn't followed the high school -> college -> med school path. I really appreciated the honesty and reality of this book. It definitely cut short any idealism I have about becoming a doctor (well, not all of them, I'm a sucker for idealism), and emphasizes the need to have a backup plan! A must for those non-trads like me taking a crack at it late in life. Good luck to all!

This book has been very helpful and very encouraging! I highness recomend this book to those who are either thinking about going to medical shook some day, but are not sure that's what they plan to do with their lives or to those who fear they may not be on the right track.

After reading this book, it was evident most of the information in this text can be found on professional or academic websites geared toward medical school entrance. In addition, it was very disappointing to realize that the author has never been on a medical school admissions panel, and in my opinion, has been out of the process of medical school admissions for quite some time. The prospective medical school applicant is better off doing personal research via all academic and professional means. I do not recommend purchasing this book if your purpose is to gain foresight into the medical school admission process or how to successfully be accepted into medical school.

So I bought this as a non-traditional pre-med student and I found some of it encouraging and informative and other bits of information totally inaccurate! The school information...oh my god...not all of it is accurate! Thank god I had bought the Princeton Review 2011 168 Best Med Schools because when I compared the school information to this books info, I saw the discrepancies. I swear he just either rounds up the GPAs and the school costs are off.

I am a "non-traditional" (older) student in my second year of med school. I bought this book when I was preparing to apply, since many people said it was great for non-trads. But when I actually read it, I was shocked at how bad Brown's advice was. He relies heavily on his own experience applying to med school--but that was about 40 years ago, and things are totally different now. If you followed his advice today, you'd be guaranteed to fail.

Brown got into med school by taking all his prerequisites at a community college, and racking up a "straight B average," so he thinks this approach will suffice for today's students. (Today the average GPA of accepted students is 3.7.) He tells students to skip MCAT prep courses and just study their science textbooks. (Are you kidding?) I could go on, but what's the point?

Brown's underlying premise--that even less-than-perfect students can get into med school if they go about it intelligently--is completely true. But all the specific advice in this book is utterly worthless.