About Premed Catalyst

Why We exist

The Story Behind
The Program

Premed Catalyst was founded by people who navigated this process without a map. First-generation students, children of immigrants, premeds who figured it out the hard way and then spent years helping others do the same.

They saw what was broken: generic advice, faceless services, and feedback from people who had never actually sat in an admissions room. So they built something different. A small, high-touch program where every student gets a real plan, real feedback, and a team that stays accountable all the way to an acceptance.

Hundreds of students later, that is still the only way it runs.

Young graduate in cap and gown hugging his smiling parents outdoors on a university campus with other graduates in the background.

What we actually do differentely

Most services make promises.
Here's what we actually deliver.

Your medical advisor is reachable, not just scheduled

Every student has a dedicated medical advisor who is a current MD student from a top program. Meetings, yes. But also texts, quick questions, decision check-ins, and the kind of ongoing access that turns a consulting service into an actual support system. You will not wait a week to get an answer to something that is stressing you out today.

Woman in a gray sweater sits at a wooden desk engaged in a video call on a laptop with a man, surrounded by notebooks, papers, and a UCLA coffee mug.

Young man studying on a laptop at a wooden table in a cozy library room with other students in the background.

Advice backed by data, not gut feeling

Most advisors tell you what worked for them. We tell you what the numbers say. PreMed Catalyst tracks outcomes across hundreds of applications to give you a clear answer on every decision. No guessing. No vague encouragement. Just data that tells you exactly where to focus.

A team behind every student, not a solo advisor

Students work with a mentor, a program coordinator, and senior advisors who review major decisions. There is always someone tracking the full picture. No single point of failure, no gaps in coverage.

Three college students studying together in a cozy café with open textbooks, notebooks, and a laptop on the table.

Student sitting cross-legged on a plaid blanket on grass, writing in a notebook outside a historic university building.

Honest if the timing or profile is not ready

If a student's profile or timeline is not positioned to get the outcomes they want, that gets communicated clearly and early. A service that is just collecting fees does not do that.

Four students a month. On purpose.

The cohort stays small so the attention stays real. Premed Catalyst does not scale past the point where that breaks.

The people in your corner

Multiple perspectives,
fully invested in your outcome

Michael Minh Le, MD

Co-Founder

Mike earned his MD from UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and is an anesthesiology resident at Mount Sinai in NYC. Over the past 7 years, he’s helped hundreds of premeds earn acceptances to their dream schools.

As the child of Vietnamese immigrants, he understands the family stakes behind this journey and brings that perspective into every student’s strategy.

Zach French

CEO, Co-Founder

Zach is CEO and Co-Founder of Premed Catalyst. Premed at UCSD, he chose startups, spending two years as Healthy Gamer’s first employee for a company founded by a Harvard-trained psychiatrist.

He’s passionate about helping students get closer to being competitive and earn dream-school acceptances. He builds systems that turn mentorship into momentum, so students always know the next step.

Jam Harley, PhD

Program Manager

Jam leads operations at Premed Catalyst with admissions-side insight. She spent 8 years at UCLA DGSOM, leading outreach and pre-health programs, and has mentored 300+ premeds.

Her favorite part is watching students grow and hit their goals. She turns big plans into clear steps, keeps students accountable, and sharpens stories for applications and interviews.

✨ Top 5% Selected

Our Mentors: People Who've Been Where You Are

Roughly 100 applications per hiring round. The top 5% get selected based on mentorship ability, writing quality, and values alignment. Every student is matched by personality, communication style, and background. The goal is someone who has been where you are, not just someone who got good grades.

Here it first hand from our students →

~100

Applications per hiring round

Selected, top tier only

1:1

Matched by style & background

30+

Medical schools represented by our mentors

Sound familiar?

Premed Catalyst works with students at every stage

What they tend to have in common is that they are done leaving this to chance.

You're good. You want to be great.

Strong GPA, strong MCAT, real experiences. Not worried about getting in somewhere. Wanting to get in somewhere that matters. The best athletes still have coaches.

You can't afford to get this wrong.

Applications cost thousands. A gap year costs more. You've done the math. Getting it right the first time is worth investing in actually getting it right.

Nobody in your family has been through this.

Your parents are proud of you and have no idea what AMCAS is. You've been figuring it out alone. That is not the same as figuring it out correctly.

You have experiences. No story threading them together.

Clinical hours, research, leadership. When you look at your application, none of it connects. You need someone to help you find the throughline.

You've been through a cycle.
You won't go through another one.

You know exactly what it costs in money, time, and the specific pain of waiting. This time you want a team, a plan, and a real reason to be confident it ends differently.

The results

The 100% acceptance rate is not luck

It is what happens when the right strategy, real accountability, and feedback from someone who has actually sat on an admissions committee all work together.

100%

Acceptance rate, on-time applicants.

More interviews than the average premed

"Interviewers were commenting on my personal statement. In one interview I was literally just saying what I had written and the interviewer started tearing up. I knew I had written a very solid statement. It was worth it."

Premed Catalyst student, 2024-2025 cycle

We built the program we wish existed

The Story Behind
The Program