Michelson says that at many other schools, there is one pre-med office for all the students so pre-meds do not get the personal attention that they receive here.

Some schools have only one advisor for all the pre-med students, according to Hsu.

"It's really a strength in comparison [to other schools]," he says. "It's definitely a big plus here."

Wealth of Experience

Michelson says the Harvard advisors are advantageous for many reasons, including the fact that almost all of the advisors are medical students, residents or physicians.

"[It] is really nice in a lot of ways so that students really get a sense of what medicine is," she says.

Bryant says medical schools are very impressed with the advising program at Harvard.

"Harvard actually has a great system...You speak with people on medical admissions [committees] and they are very pleased," she says.

Michelson says she has also received positive input from medical schools about Harvard's strong advising system.

"The feedback I've gotten from admissions officers...is that the Harvard letters are wonderful because they really know the students," she says.

"Because it's so competitive, the admissions officers need more than just numbers," Michelson says. "And that's what the premed advisors can do."

Although advisors in the house can really get to know students and therefore write more in-depth recommendations, problems may still arise, such as an advisor's having to leave before writing a student's letter.

But this is a dilemma addressed by Quincy's policy.

"When you assign advisors in the middle of junior year, you know who's going to be around to write letters," Bryant says.

Katy E. Black '98, a history and science concentrator in Leverett House says that overall, she is pleased with the advising system.