EctopicFetus said:
I think everyone would agree that hard work, experience, grades, awards and dedication are all that matter.. Why would this give you a leg up? Shouldnt all students strive for this? What does this have to do with people who can buy their way in?
Sigh. OK, I'll say it slowly so everyone can understand... Some students worked much harder and overcame much more to get that GPA, that award, that MCAT score. Some had to combine school and work; not by choice (like my loan-hatin' self) but for sheer survival. Others had to teach themselves academic discipline and foster their own intellect in early life, and never had the kind of stability that
directly leads to later achievement - those things which those of us with good parents take for granted. They could not afford the thousands of dollars it costs to take MCAT prep courses that give you higher scores. Their level of dedication, and often their intellectual ability, is
greater than that of easy-living students with equivalent stats.
People can and do buy their way into medical school - or, more accurately, their parents are generous donors and/or have connections. That is also "unfair" (if one considers fairness as a sheer stats competition) - yet that is considered the way of the world and is accepted. I certainly haven't seen many threads bashing this long-standing, terribly unfair practice. But try giving an advantage to poor or "disadvantaged" applicants, despite the very
real justice and logic involved, and middle-class kids start screaming discrimination.
For those who are shocked at the anger and disdain expressed on this thread, the reason is simple: SDNers
hate threads that suggest that anyone, anywhere, might be more deserving of a medical education than they are. Suitability for medicine, in the minds of many, boils down to mere numbers.
There is a prevalent myth in American society that states that every person is an island, and that they rise and fall based on their own merit alone: and furthermore, that their qualities and abilities are innate and would have been fully expressed under
any life circumstances, no matter how horrid. I can easily imagine all the ways I could have turned out if my early life had been different, or if any number of fortunate events had happened any other way. I do not have the hubris, and
it is hubris, to think that I would have gotten
nearly as far as I have without lots of help and support (read:
advantages) in my life.
Hats off to all the students who have managed to succeed despite a great many direct, difficult,
unchosen obstacles to success.