Connections in Med School Admissions (like networking for job hunt)?

[Med01]

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In job hunts, people often suggest to network to find the "hidden (not advertised) jobs". Even for advertised jobs, bosses often hire through the coworkers' network, and don't like to go through all the resumes that come through HR. The reason being that the referred person is known/screened by referring employees. Often, the employee will direct the job-hunter's resume (a contact who they know) directly to the hiring manager.

I wonder if the same applies to medical school admissions. While it's true that people submit recommendation letters, admissions people may not read them (just like hiring managers won't read all the piles of resumes that come in). I wonder if it helps to have contacts (e.g. faculty member within School X) within the organization bring your file to the attention of the decision-maker (in this case the committee of School X), or call them.

Any thoughts or experiences with this?

 

[Law2Doc]

In job hunts, people often suggest to network to find the "hidden (not advertised) jobs". Even for advertised jobs, bosses often hire through the coworkers' network, and don't like to go through all the resumes that come through HR. The reason being that the referred person is known/screened by referring employees. Often, the employee will direct the job-hunter's resume (a contact who they know) directly to the hiring manager.

I wonder if the same applies to medical school admissions. While it's true that people submit recommendation letters, admissions people may not read them (just like hiring managers won't read all the piles of resumes that come in). I wonder if it helps to have contacts (e.g. faculty member within School X) within the organization bring your file to the attention of the decision-maker (in this case the committee of School X), or call them.

Any thoughts or experiences with this?

I suspect it helps a borderline candidate get "looked at", and perhaps even a courtesy interview, but I doubt just having a random faculty member place a call is enough to get much more than this. Being a close relative of the Dean or a big benefactor of the school (or having compromising pictures of adcom members 😀 ) would be more likely to work.

 

[Will Ferrell]

only if you're in the Good Ol' Boys Club.

 

[StevenRF]

If its a good connection it can make all the difference unfortunately. In the business world it can mean everything, as some of my friends have demonstrated in their rescent job hunts. I think it can be just as bad for med school, but I think you have to have stronger connections since more than one person decides if you get in.

 

[Quazimodo]

For well qualified applicants, it can mean the difference just by shedding some light on your application. If you're not qualified, then you're likely to get your connection some embarassment.