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Med School Insiders Review
An in-depth review of the MCAT tutoring and admissions consulting services provided by Med School Insiders, including pricing, available resources and overall effectiveness
With a team made up entirely of doctors, Med School Insiders grounds their consulting and tutoring services in the philosophy that no two medical students are the same. But will their customized tutoring with 1-on-1 mentoring and consulting services be right for your MCAT prep and med school admissions journey? We will help you answer that question in our detailed review.
As this is a pretty lengthy review that covers a number of topics, above is a helpful jump-to table of contents for your convenience.
Overview
Before diving straight into discussing Med School Insiders, I need to clarify a point about which services I used and reviewed. Med School Insiders offers a ton of different tutoring and consulting services, but for this review, I am only covering their MCAT tutoring and med school admissions consulting services.
That is all I used, and thus, all I will cover here. Though in all likelihood, I would guess that 80% or more of people that use Med School Insiders use one or both of those services—the other stuff is more auxiliary. In any event, let’s dive in, starting with their MCAT tutoring service.
MCAT Tutoring Plans & Pricing
Med School Insiders offers four different plans for their MCAT tutoring sessions. These are the Hourly, Bronze, Silver and Gold plans.
The Hourly plan costs around $230 per one-hour session and offers private, 1-on-1 tutoring with one of their tutors. Next, coming in at approximately $2,000 is the Bronze plan, which includes 10 hours of tutoring. This breaks down to around $200/hour.
A look at Med School Insider’s MCAT tutoring pricing structure
Then there is the Silver plan. The pricing on this one is in the neighborhood of $4,500 for a full 25 hours of tutoring (roughly $180/hour). Then lastly, the Gold plan offers everything that the Silver plan does, but gives you a full 40 hours of tutoring. It costs right around $6,400.
To be honest, these price points are fairly expensive compared to other MCAT tutoring services we’ve used and reviewed. You only get competitive rates if you buy 25 or more hours, which is a major commitment.
👉 If you are looking for a more affordable MCAT prep option, be sure to check out Magoosh or MCAT Self Prep.
How Med School Insiders MCAT Tutoring Works
MCAT tutoring with Med School Insiders is among the more straightforward tutoring methods I’ve encountered. First, you register an account on their website, after which you’ll complete an intake questionnaire to help them determine your needs.
You’ll then be paired with a tutor who they determine to be the best fit for your specific requirements. My tutor was familiar with my information before we met, and this allowed us to dive in headfirst as soon as we came together. We began with crafting a study plan based on my schedule, and then addressing my weak points requiring attention right away.
The biggest thing setting Med School Insiders apart from others is that it’s completely customized for you as an individual. There’s nothing about this program that’s cookie cutter. They’ll not only take into account your areas of weakness, but they’ll also account for your goals, study style and individualized needs to help improve your score.
However, that’s more or less where the good news ends. I really liked that they tailored my study schedule and approach to me as a learner, but this also gave my study plan a very disorganized feel. There wasn’t a singular, coherent progression through the study materials.
They assigned me random homework based on weaknesses, and we sort of jumped from one area to the next. I didn’t care for that.
The other issue is that the Med School Insiders tutors taught me different stuff than what was in my prep course. There wasn’t a consistent teaching framework as I jumped from my prep course (Blueprint MCAT) to their tutoring.
Their tutor would blow off the teachings from the prep course and teach me a “better way” to attack passages.
All in all, I found the Med School Insiders tutors to be knowledgeable and helpful, but I was in constant conflict between my MCAT prep course and their teachings. Plus, there was too much emphasis placed on weak areas in my opinion. They just looked for weak spots and went after those subjects, which isn’t all bad, but more variety would have been appreciated.
👉 Looking For A Full Prep Course? Check Out Our Reviews of Top-Rated Courses Princeton Review and Kaplan
Medical School Admissions Packages & Pricing
After taking the MCAT, you’ll obviously need to go through the admissions process. This is where Med School Insiders makes their name (literally). Let me quickly explain their pricing structure before getting into my thoughts.
Med School Insiders has three different packages. For $3,000, the Silver package offers three hours of general advising, as well as three personal statement edits, two hours of interview prep, and some other features.
The Gold package costs approximately $4,500 and provides everything the Silver package does but with elevated numbers. You get five hours of general advising, as well as unlimited personal statement edits, three hours of interview prep, and some other features.
And finally, the Diamond package gives you the acceptance promise if you meet certain criteria, along with unlimited application editing, unlimited personal statement work, unlimited interview prep and unlimited advising. It costs a crazy $11,000.
The Med School Insiders’ roster of physician-advisors
I’ll be honest here. Like the MCAT tutoring, compared to other med school admissions consulting services, this is just plain expensive. You’re paying for physicians’ time, when that might not be totally necessary (discussed further below). For the price, I think you can get much better bang for your buck with other companies (like Blueprint).
Analysis of Admissions Services Provided
Now, Med School Insiders makes a big deal about how their team features advisors who are practicing doctors that will help with any editing of your application, personal statements, and interview prep. These doctor-advisors have special insider knowledge they say.
That makes for a great marketing tool, but honestly, it doesn’t play out well in practice. Just because someone happened to go through the same process you’re going through years ago, doesn’t necessarily make them an expert for advising others on the same today.
Practicing medicine and crushing med school interviews are two totally different things. You don’t necessarily need a practicing doctor to better understand what admissions committees are looking for. I would much rather have a consultant whose time was spent 100% on this specialty day in and day out.
Plus, practicing doctors are busy. They aren’t always available to answer questions or set up calls. At least, that was my experience.
A look at the services provided by Med School Insiders
For the most part, the Med School Insiders team was fine. Their advisors seemed to genuinely care about my journey and had good generalized advice and strategies.
However, it wasn’t perfect advice or consulting. What they advised often conflicted with what others told me, it was hard to align our schedules, and frankly, some of the advisors seemed snippy. It just wasn’t the best experience.
The personal statement and application edits I got were good—but it also took time to get them back. And the interview prep was helpful in the sense that I got repetition and practice, but it wasn’t the best insight I’ve received.
Verdict: Med School Insiders Review
Whether talking about MCAT tutoring or med school admissions consulting services, I’m not sure the Med School Insiders packages are worth the price tag. If you want to crush the MCAT, our team recommends the MCAT courses from Blueprint, Princeton Review and Kaplan. Their prep courses are much more affordable, and just as effective for raising your MCAT score as Med School Insiders’ tutoring. And you can always add tutoring from those companies directly to learn within the same framework.
Likewise, I do think there are better, more affordable med school admissions consulting services out there. My personal favorite is Blueprint. Their comprehensive packages are reasonably priced, their advisors are more in tune with current admissions practices, and it was an overall more pleasant experience. That’s just my two cents.
How much do the Med School Insiders tutoring options cost?
Depending on which MCAT tutoring plan you choose and the number of hours you need, you can plan on spending anywhere from around $2,000 to $6,400. It is a fairly pricey package.
Will the Med School Insiders tutoring services help me get a good MCAT score?
Utilizing Med School Insider’s MCAT tutoring will most likely give you a heightened score; however, I think there are more cost effective packages out there. I think a better bet is going with a dedicated prep course and adding direct tutoring with that company if necessary.
Does Med School Insiders have a score increase guarantee?
If your score does not increase after completing your tutoring plan, Med School Insiders will work with you for an additional 5 hours at no additional cost to you.
