Med School Admissions Officer Counsels Rejected Applicants

A Medical School admissions officer who this spring interviewed around 50 rejects from medical schools last week said that 90 per cent of those he chose to counsel in 1972 had subsequently been accepted to medical schools.

Daniel H. Funkenstein, associate professor of Psychology, said that he counsels only graduates of the College or students "with connections" to Harvard, despite pleas from graduates of other schools.

Funkenstein said that he will tell many of those he sees to hang up the prospects of an MD, while to others he might recommend the names of Harvard researchers as prospective employers. Of those he agreed to advise in 1972, 90 per cent ended up in medical schools as opposed to the 20 per cent national average for all applicants.

Of 24 students for whom he helped to find jobs in 1972, 21 later entered medical schools.

Although he is not paid for this work, Funkenstein said that 25 years ago College officials asked him to speak with all those rejected that year by the Harvard Medical School--"all two of them."

Disappointed Grow in Number

Since then, the ranks of disappointed have multiplied while Funkenstein has continued to counsel on his own time, although limiting his services.

"Some students ought to be special students at Harvard, some ought to be special students in other states, some ought to be in foreign medical schools, and some ought to apply to different schools," he said.

An employee at a lab in Boston City Hospital who received his job after consultation with Funkenstein said, "He's the leading man in knowing about different medical schools, the qualifications of medical students, their psychological qualities, everything."

A June graduate of the College who works in the same lab said "there's a certain technique to applying to medical school that most people don't know about. It's a big game and you've got to squeeze all your qualifications into the application, and Funkenstein knows exactly how to do it." He too got work through Funkenstein, after failure to gain acceptance to med school this spring.

The Harvard graduate noted that his employer has received ten workers through Funkenstein over the past ten years. "Funk tries to give you a name that has weight," he said, explaining that Funkenstein can only suggest the name of a prospective employer.

The former College student said that he was not being exploited for cheap labor, and that Funkenstein had no control over his wages or working arrangements.

Funkenstein hinted at the wide range of connections he maintains. "One Radcliffe girl from California I told to find work at a med school in Los Angeles," he said. "I told her some of the people to look up and talked about what courses to take at UCLA."