"They've had a lot of meetings and told me to get letters of recommendation," Black says.

"It's helpful sort of to know they're there...but the advice sometimes sort of varies depending who you talk to," Black says. "[T]hey're really good about the MCAT and the application process."

Black's one complaint is that Leverett has yet to assign pre-med tutors to the students, which is important because students face a variety of challenges in the application process.

"Even though we're all premeds, we're all different," Black says.

Black says she had hoped Leverett would assign pre-med tutors by the beginning of second semester junior year at the latest, if not the semester before.

"What they give is advice, they don't tell you what to do," she says. "It's nice you can sort of listen and decide what to do on your own."

Med Students as Advisors

Hsu says he found having a pre-med advisor who is currently in medical school helpful because med school students are closer to the process.

"[They are] not that far removed from the medical school application process," he says.

"[My advisor] was very close to the process" Nair says. "She was in my shoes a couple of years ago...She was definitely very helpful and she really knew what I was going through."

Med school students say they definitely feel the pain of the students they're advising.

"You kind of appreciate the anxieties that students have about letters of recommendation," Mora says.

However, Mora says the non-student advisors are also helpful because they give students an idea of what the medical profession entails from a different vantage point.

"I think that's good, people see what you're going through," she says. "I think that makes it more realistic for people."