connections

I think connections are very important and if her dad is well connected there, she probably will get in...

Also, connections with rec letter writers are pretty important. If the people writing your letters are NAS, nobel laureates, or former profs/president at the med school you are applying to, and they write you a strong letter, you better believe that makes a difference. Even more, a phone call from one of these people can be the difference between getting in and getting rejected. Even a weaker candidate with these kinds of connections might be accepted over a more qualified candidate.

Just politics....

 

Networking is the key to life. It's not what you know but who you know. That is just the way the real world works. It would be nice if we could be judged on out own merits but it doesn't work that way. People are more comfortable helping someone they have a connection with. Frat brothers, club members, church members, whatever the connection may be helps breed this familiarity. Connections will get people into medical school this year, they will get someone that top residency, and they get someone that high paying job.

 

I second that!


proph...

 

Anyone out there using connection to get into medical school or know someone who is using connections to get into medical school?

 

Anyone out there using connection to get into medical school or know someone who is using connections to get into medical school?


Actually, I think most of us are--at least indirectly. If we're asking for LOR from profs who are well known, then we're using connections, right? In that case, yup, I'm using connections to get into MD and MSTP programs. What you said is really true. Networking is the key to life...

 

But a word on tempering this --

If you make an effort to network with people, help others out whenever you can, show you are a willing and able person as part of a team, I think this kind of "connection" can be well deserved, say later asking your boss for a recommendation for medical school, or residency.

 

You're absolutely right, thewebthsp. There is a difference between merely "using" connections and making the most of connections that are formed in constructive ways (employers, honors thesis readers, academic advisors, etc.)

 

i have connections in the sense that one of my dad's better clients who has turned into a sorta friend is on the admissions committee at a certain school, don't want to say which one. she basically told me if i have good stats then i'll at least get an interview. But isn't that kinda vague though? a lot of people with good stats get interviews anyway. In any event, i doubt i'll even apply there or apply in case i can't get interviewed anywhere else, but i don't know if i would go there. It would seem kind of wrong, like did i get in because of my stats and EC's and LOR"s and stuff like that, or did i get in because of connections?

but a lot of people wouldnt bat an eye at using their connections. It's business, a competition, and either way, they're going to graduate an MD.

 

I know someone who got his one and only acceptance at a school where his uncle was one the admissions committee. Maybe this was not really why though because I thought they asked members not to participate in the process if they had a family member or friend applying. So either they only make rules like this on paper but do not follow them, or know one knew they were related, or this was not the reason he was admitted???

 

at one of the schools i interviewed at there are a couple of people on the adcom who have known me since i was 10 years old because our families go to the same synagogue. i actually didn't know this when i applied, and i hope it didn't influence whether i got in or not. but i would imagine that it had some affect simply because the people that knew me could have added their comments to any discussion about me.

 

It helps, but I'm unclear on how much. For example, I've gotten a few PMs from people with connections to Penn. It's too hard to tell though how this has affected their acceptance or waitlist status here. Nevertheless, a strong piece of evidence is the way that we ask "Are you related to anyone here?" on our secondary. Hilarious.

 

Connections, you had better bet money they are advantageous. Here is an example of what happened to a class mate of mine two years ago. He takes the MCAT and bombs it, getting a 21. His GPA is around 3.4-3.6. The guy has no type or real ec's that I am aware of. Fortunately the kids dad is the president of a state Medical Physicians organization and graduated from the school the kid wants to go to. Come match day, hello acceptance letter. It really piss's you off to know that someone else more qualified got booted so he could fill the spot. Then again, if I were in his situation you had better bet I'd do the same thing.

 

Keep in mind that "connections" may not always pan out. I know a girl whose parents are both on the admissions committee at a school, and she got waitlisted. I also know a guy who got rejected- very fast- from a law school where he and his father were good friends with a member of the board there; can't remember the exact position, but he said the guy was above the dean and president.

Eh, whatever. Just saying that it doesn't always work.

 

I know of a guy when I was in college who was bumped from the waitlist after his father (an alumni of the medical school) donated a large sum of money to the school....True story