Does alumni status help or is it meaningless with med schools?

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drcoxer

drcoxer

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I already did a search on this but all those posts are sparsely replied to and no real info. my dad did his internal medicine stuff at one competitive school and his fellowship at another competitive school. the internal medicine doesn't actually consider him an alumni, but the one he did his fellowship at does. i am going to have below average stats at these schools...like i have a 3.6 and their avg gpa is like 3.7-75. their mcat is like 33-34 haha and my mcat...well i dont know yet i just took it a week ago. it's possible i could get in that range but i'm not counting on it haha. i was thinking of applying to these places anyways since my dad is at least considered an alumni at the 2nd one. im hoping it'll say somewhere asking about your parents so i can at least mark down he did his internal medicine stuff at that school. what do you think? do you think it'll help me at all to boost my already below-average chance due to my dad's alumni status?

i didn't think it mattered..but my friend with a bad gpa and lsat just got into georgetown, which is hella competitive, because his mom is an alum there haha.
 
It depends on the school, but on the whole I'd say it definitely matters. If you are basically in their range, alumni status tends to give you a boost.

It won't make up for a huge deficit in your big three statistics (Volunteer work, MCAT and GPA) but it'll put you over someone with identical statistics fo shiz.
 
A bit rough, I think.

There are a lot of inequities in this godforesaken process. Minority status being one, economic prosperity being another. Someone who has a lot of money is obviously going to be able to afford more prep for MCAT and Med School than would one whose family lives in the lower middle class. It isn't fair, but that is the way it goes.

As someone who has no alumni association, I don't begrudge anyone using what they have at their disposal. This process will never be completely fair, sad to say, and I doubt alumni status will give much of an edge at most places...not so much that the person that gets rejected in favor of an alumni's kid would be far above him in overall stats.
 
gatorsbball said:
Do you really want to ride Daddy's coattails you're entire life
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oh please, anyone who has an alumni parent is going to use that to their advantage. life isn't fair. deal with it. you won't get very far in life without CONNECTIONS. wonder why everyone says that in every field? because is true. if you have them, use them. if you don't, tough luck.

my gpa is only a 3.6 but i could have easily argued with my profs to have been bumped up to As. PRETTY MUCH EVERY PREMED I KNOW DOES THAT. they BEG for their grades and whine until the prof bumps them up. that is pitiful IMO and i never stooped to that level. **** man, last semseter one of my friends had a LOWER grade than me in biochem and got an A while I got a B because he begged the prof for a better grade. so give me a break. if i'm competing with a bunch of whiny premeds who beg for grades when they don't deserve them, i have absolutely no problem using my alumni parent to my advantage.
 
Seriously that works at your schools?
I've never bothered begging because.. well if you beg to have anything remarked.. they re mark your whole exam and you end up losing marks.. my friend went from an 87 on an organic chem midterm to 72...lol... but he got his the 2 extra marks he was begging for 😛
 
drcoxer said:
oh please, anyone who has an alumni parent is going to use that to their advantage. life isn't fair. deal with it. you won't get very far in life without CONNECTIONS. wonder why everyone says that in every field? because is true. if you have them, use them. if you don't, tough luck.

my gpa is only a 3.6 but i could have easily argued with my profs to have been bumped up to As. PRETTY MUCH EVERY PREMED I KNOW DOES THAT. they BEG for their grades and whine until the prof bumps them up. that is pitiful IMO and i never stooped to that level. **** man, last semseter one of my friends had a LOWER grade than me in biochem and got an A while I got a B because he begged the prof for a better grade. so give me a break. if i'm competing with a bunch of whiny premeds who beg for grades when they don't deserve them, i have absolutely no problem using my alumni parent to my advantage.
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So relying upon alumi connections is more honorable then arguing for grades? Okay...

Theres nothing wrong with taking advantage of the system, although I really don't know how much alumni status plays a factor anyways. If you have an advantage...use it, I certainly would. I guess I'm just idealistic, as I wish these sorts of things wouldn't factor in.
 
gatorsbball said:
So relying upon alumi connections is more honorable then arguing for grades? Okay...

Theres nothing wrong with taking advantage of the system, although I really don't know how much alumni status plays a factor anyways. If you have an advantage...use it, I certainly would. I guess I'm just idealistic, as I wish these sorts of things wouldn't factor in.
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If your dad was an alumnus, your view would change 😀
 
drcoxer said:
oh please, anyone who has an alumni parent is going to use that to their advantage. life isn't fair. deal with it. you won't get very far in life without CONNECTIONS. wonder why everyone says that in every field? because is true. if you have them, use them. if you don't, tough luck.

my gpa is only a 3.6 but i could have easily argued with my profs to have been bumped up to As. PRETTY MUCH EVERY PREMED I KNOW DOES THAT. they BEG for their grades and whine until the prof bumps them up. that is pitiful IMO and i never stooped to that level. **** man, last semseter one of my friends had a LOWER grade than me in biochem and got an A while I got a B because he begged the prof for a better grade. so give me a break. if i'm competing with a bunch of whiny premeds who beg for grades when they don't deserve them, i have absolutely no problem using my alumni parent to my advantage.
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What school do u go to? It must suck.
 
drcoxer said:
oh please, anyone who has an alumni parent is going to use that to their advantage. life isn't fair. deal with it. you won't get very far in life without CONNECTIONS. wonder why everyone says that in every field? because is true. if you have them, use them. if you don't, tough luck.

my gpa is only a 3.6 but i could have easily argued with my profs to have been bumped up to As. PRETTY MUCH EVERY PREMED I KNOW DOES THAT. they BEG for their grades and whine until the prof bumps them up. that is pitiful IMO and i never stooped to that level. **** man, last semseter one of my friends had a LOWER grade than me in biochem and got an A while I got a B because he begged the prof for a better grade. so give me a break. if i'm competing with a bunch of whiny premeds who beg for grades when they don't deserve them, i have absolutely no problem using my alumni parent to my advantage.
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I always hear of that happening on SDN...but is it really true?! It just doesn't make sense.
 
Ehh, I doubt alumni Status is gonna make a big difference. So many other things are much more important.
 
drcoxer said:
I already did a search on this but all those posts are sparsely replied to and no real info. my dad did his internal medicine stuff at one competitive school and his fellowship at another competitive school. the internal medicine doesn't actually consider him an alumni, but the one he did his fellowship at does. i am going to have below average stats at these schools...like i have a 3.6 and their avg gpa is like 3.7-75. their mcat is like 33-34 haha and my mcat...well i dont know yet i just took it a week ago. it's possible i could get in that range but i'm not counting on it haha. i was thinking of applying to these places anyways since my dad is at least considered an alumni at the 2nd one. im hoping it'll say somewhere asking about your parents so i can at least mark down he did his internal medicine stuff at that school. what do you think? do you think it'll help me at all to boost my already below-average chance due to my dad's alumni status?

i didn't think it mattered..but my friend with a bad gpa and lsat just got into georgetown, which is hella competitive, because his mom is an alum there haha.
Click to expand...

The "alumni status" you described is probably not going to matter one iota. If your dad has personal connections, that could help, but that isn't the same thing. Most schools only really look at alumni status where someone went to med school, not training. Because folks who go to med school give alumni donations, while folks who go to residency or fellowship generally will not. And multigenerational alumni families tend to give more money than single generational alumni, so there is an incentive for the school to take a true legacy if he has the stats -- it has been shown to help the school's endowment. So no, where your dad did IM or fellowship won't help much or at all in terms of alumni status (but as mentioned above, if he has personal relationships with adcoms, sure that could help independent of his alumni status). But where your dad went to med school may be an alumni path you could tap into.
 
Law2Doc said:
The "alumni status" you described is probably not going to matter one iota. If your dad has personal connections, that could help, but that isn't the same thing. Most schools only really look at alumni status where someone went to med school, not training. Because folks who go to med school give alumni donations, while folks who go to residency or fellowship generally will not. And multigenerational alumni families tend to give more money than single generational alumni, so there is an incentive for the school to take a true legacy if he has the stats -- it has been shown to help the school's endowment. So no, where your dad did IM or fellowship won't help much or at all in terms of alumni status (but as mentioned above, if he has personal relationships with adcoms, sure that could help independent of his alumni status). But where your dad went to med school may be an alumni path you could tap into.
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nope, wrong. he is counted as an alumni at the one he did his fellowship at. they send him alumni stuff 24/7 asking for money, invite him to all the alumni stuff, etc. etc. it counts. i mean, the letters say "Dear alumni..blah blah." the other school where he did his internal medicine training doesn't send him anything, you're right.
 
jgberken said:
I always hear of that happening on SDN...but is it really true?! It just doesn't make sense.
Click to expand...

it definitely is true. it also happened to me in my vertebrate physiology class like 2 years ago. i had a higher grade than this other guy but he always was hassling the prof basically saying she was a terrible teacher and complained about every question on tests. in the end, he told me after the semester that he got an A.

i just told you another example before about my friend in biochem with me. true story...definitely true. i was pissed at first but then just left it alone b/c i didn't deserve an A anyways. my roommate does biochem research with him and he said the other day that all the lab assistants were like "yeah...if you know Dr. ____ you're basically guaranteed an A." the professor overheard and just started laughing. that friend who got the A when he had a lower grade than me definitely knew the prof. decently. upon entering the pretty big class, it was already apparent he had favorites based on who were the biochem majors, which is in the chem dept., versus everyone else (i was bio major, never knew the guy). oh did i mention all it took for him was an EMAIL saying "how did i do on the final. i was wondering what my final grade was. i feel like i really improved over the semester. I got a C on the first test, a B on the 2nd, and i I studied real hard for the final." the prof replied was like "you got an "A" (put a bunch of quotes around the A implying he didn't actually have an A) because i felt you improved over the semester." that's a garbage man...i did better on every test than he did! i don't like seeing ppl begging for grades so i don't do it, but my GPA definitely could have been better. i seriously wouldn't be surprised that if I had begged for my grades, i'd probably have a 3.75+ right now haha. it's a bunch of garbage.

my other friend was telling me how she did in this advanced cell class. i took it a year before her and i was like "man, that class was real hard. i barely pulled a B! i shouldn't have taken it as a dumb sophomore considering everyone in my class were seniors!" she took it later and was like "yeaa, i got an A fortunately but not truly an A. it was real hard...it required a lot of arguing and he was going to give me a B." that's sooo much bs. she does research for him, too, hmm might have played a factor...idk. oh well

anyways, my point is that because of things like above i have no problem using alumni status to my advantage. most premeds are whiny and beg for grades, and guess what, it's these ones that make it to med school. i see time and time again how the most annoying premeds make it, it's ridiculous. oh you'd be surprised how many idiots make it, too! seriously, they aren't smart, no common sense, but get in. thus, time for some revenge.
 
drcoxer said:
nope, wrong. he is counted as an alumni at the one he did his fellowship at. they send him alumni stuff 24/7 asking for money, invite him to all the alumni stuff, etc. etc. it counts. i mean, the letters say "Dear alumni..blah blah." the other school where he did his internal medicine training doesn't send him anything, you're right.
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Sure they ask for money from anyone they can, and address the letters however they think they can create a connection which results in a donation. But statistically only degree recipients give money. Fellows won't. So no, it doesn't count the same.

When they sit down to decide if you are the kind of legacy that will result in multi-generational giving, they are not going to put you in the same pile as the family with multiple degrees from the same institution. People do fellowship for a year or two and move on. Schools don't expect such people to give money, come to reunions, etc. They do from med school degree recipients. It's just different.
 
Law2Doc said:
Sure they ask for money from anyone they can, and address the letters however they think they can create a connection which results in a donation. But statistically only degree recipients give money. Fellows won't. So no, it doesn't count the same.

When they sit down to decide if you are the kind of legacy that will result in multi-generational giving, they are not going to put you in the same pile as the family with multiple degrees from the same institution. People do fellowship for a year or two and move on. Schools don't expect such people to give money, come to reunions, etc. They do from med school degree recipients. It's just different.
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cool cool. he actually did his fellowship there for 3 years i think since it was in cardiology and worked there for a lil bit after. but yea i'd see why they'd consider what you mentioned better. my dad came from overseas tho so did med school in his native country. i still think it could help me, tho, because i have multiple family members who did their post-med. stuff at this place and still work there. my cousin actually goes to the undergrad right now, tho i doubt this would count. some of my other relatives are donors, but to the school in general, not the med school i don't think. it's a real big state school but one of the best med schools in the country surprisingly. i was also born in that state but didn't growup there. i'm not a resident there but have lots of family still there. they probably don't care about that, but at least i'll mention that in a secondary or something saying i want to live close to family and return to the state i was born in. not sure, you never know!

for example, i was born in V state, grew up in X state but do my undergrad in Y state. the premed advisor always tells everyone "even if you're out of state, since you go to school here, the public state med school still considers you differently than someone completely OOS since you did your undergrad here." sooo you never know! they aren't written policies obviously but still probably help under the table. he also said in the past (he's been doing this for 30+ years) that alumni/legacy status definitely helped. med schools don't mention it officially anymore but he believes they still hold a hidden bias altho do not openly admit it.
 
oh and also in regard to premeds begging for grades.

someone said my school sucks since the profs allow that. hahaha yea maybe (i never beg i find it unethical) but...they also rarely curve the classes. some other good schools, i.e. U of Michigan Ann Arbor, substantially curve the grades. my friend said in his ochem class an 80%+ was an A-....that is bs haha. for me it was 87%+ was an A. we don't have the +/- system either, altho this doesn't matter much b/c i really feel in the end it balances out. most of my Bs are B+s, but i definitely have a good # of A-s too. this is mainly because with a system like mine, you really only work to just make the grade since a 90% is the same as a 99%. however, it's a bad habit to start b/c being that low to the border can mess you up on the final and you'll drop to a B! i definitely did this multiple times...whoops!
 
wow i lost a few brain cells reading this thread
 
drcoxer said:
oh and also in regard to premeds begging for grades.

someone said my school sucks since the profs allow that. hahaha yea maybe (i never beg i find it unethical) but...
Click to expand...

Why is that?

You already seem to have the state of nature mentality... why not extend it?
 
smeagol said:
Why is that?

You already seem to have the state of nature mentality... why not extend it?
Click to expand...

it's not unethical to use a natural advantage you have. it is unethical IMO to beg for something you don't deserve. having an alumni status had nothing to do with something you caused, it was out of your control. you were born into a certain family. you have control over BEGGING for grades that you DO NOT DESERVE and should not do it.

owned. :laugh:
 
drcoxer said:
oh please, anyone who has an alumni parent is going to use that to their advantage. life isn't fair. deal with it. you won't get very far in life without CONNECTIONS. wonder why everyone says that in every field? because is true. if you have them, use them. if you don't, tough luck.

my gpa is only a 3.6 but i could have easily argued with my profs to have been bumped up to As. PRETTY MUCH EVERY PREMED I KNOW DOES THAT. they BEG for their grades and whine until the prof bumps them up. that is pitiful IMO and i never stooped to that level. **** man, last semseter one of my friends had a LOWER grade than me in biochem and got an A while I got a B because he begged the prof for a better grade. so give me a break. if i'm competing with a bunch of whiny premeds who beg for grades when they don't deserve them, i have absolutely no problem using my alumni parent to my advantage.
Click to expand...

stop whining, learn 2 beg
 
I'm in a similar situation, even though I don't want to be....

When I apply to med school, my GPA will be .2 - .3 below the average, although I haven't taken the MCAT yet. My EC's are also likely to be better than the average applicant.

However, my state has 2 state schools (LA). My dad graduated from one of them, and two of my cousins recently graduated from their as well (both of them within the last 3-5 years). They are both residents now.

I hope this won't affect me. However, if it does, will it be positive or negative? Thanks.


Edit - To expand on this a little, I sort of feel that because of this, if I ever get accepted, that it's going to be because of my dad and my cousins who both attended the school. And I truly don't want that. Maybe if I had a 4.0 and a 40 MCAT I wouldn't feel that way, but....I don't know. If I happen to get in, I think I'm going to end up feeling guilty for some reason.
 
drcoxer said:
it's not unethical to use a natural advantage you have. it is unethical IMO to beg for something you don't deserve. having an alumni status had nothing to do with something you caused, it was out of your control. you were born into a certain family. you have control over BEGGING for grades that you DO NOT DESERVE and should not do it.

owned. :laugh:
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Suppose I have a natural ability (natural advantage) of persuading people to bump my grades.

Your discussion of what it means to deserve something is kind of sad. I think you should reread it.
 
Drcoxer

There's no need to defend yourself... and there's no reason to bring up not asking for grade-bumps. You've got alumni relations. It will probably help if you have high numbers to begin with... since you have some tie to the school. If you're average or below average, nobody will care.
 
drcoxer said:
I already did a search on this but all those posts are sparsely replied to and no real info. my dad did his internal medicine stuff at one competitive school and his fellowship at another competitive school. the internal medicine doesn't actually consider him an alumni, but the one he did his fellowship at does. i am going to have below average stats at these schools...like i have a 3.6 and their avg gpa is like 3.7-75. their mcat is like 33-34 haha and my mcat...well i dont know yet i just took it a week ago. it's possible i could get in that range but i'm not counting on it haha. i was thinking of applying to these places anyways since my dad is at least considered an alumni at the 2nd one. im hoping it'll say somewhere asking about your parents so i can at least mark down he did his internal medicine stuff at that school. what do you think? do you think it'll help me at all to boost my already below-average chance due to my dad's alumni status?

i didn't think it mattered..but my friend with a bad gpa and lsat just got into georgetown, which is hella competitive, because his mom is an alum there haha.
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With all things being equal like grades and MCAT, it certainly helps. There are countless people in my class whose whole family have come through LLU. I'm sure that the fact that their grandfather, father, mother, and aunt graduated from the medical school won't impede an applicants acceptance, especially if they were already a good student. But it can't exactly make up for a completely lackluster application.
 
drcoxer said:
it's not unethical to use a natural advantage you have. it is unethical IMO to beg for something you don't deserve. having an alumni status had nothing to do with something you caused, it was out of your control. you were born into a certain family. you have control over BEGGING for grades that you DO NOT DESERVE and should not do it.

owned. :laugh:
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You really have an odd sense of logic...

You are unwilling to argue for better grades, but yet you expect your connections to make up for you GPA. So if you didn't have any connections, would you be more willing to argue for your grades? Isn't it fair for those who don't have the advantage of connections to take advantage of their professor's leniency? Whatever your advantage happens to be, you consider it perfectly legitimate, but the advantages that others have are "immoral" and "beneath" you. Whatever man, good luck to you...
 
Also, state schools are less inclined to take legacy applicants. (which probably doesn't matter to you unless your family still has connections there, i.e, they can pull some strings.)
 
xrevision said:
Also, state schools are less inclined to take legacy applicants. (which probably doesn't matter to you unless your family still has connections there, i.e, they can pull some strings.)
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Don't know how true this is at other schools, but take a look at EVMS's secondary application. EVMS is a public university that specifically requests that you list on the secondary application if any of your family members have attended the school.

http://www.evms.edu/admissions/docs/supp-app.pdf
 
I think at private medical schools, it could help. Otherwise, at most state schools, it probably will be more loaded towards the merit part of the application. It could be that with all else being equal, you can get into the school with someone with comparable stats and have no connection to the school.
 
thanks everyone. i understand. yea, if i'm WAY below when i get my mcat back, then forget it.

oh and yess i have no problem using something like alumni advantage but begging for grades. you arent begging for something, youre just born with alumni status. begging for grades is pitiful and only whiny premeds do it. no one respects ppl who beg for their grades. if you guys dont understand, then no...GOOD LUCK TO YOU. only douchebags beg for grades.

besides, like everyone has been saying, alumni status barely even helps you. so zip it!
 
Why do schools ask for where your family went to school if it doesn't matter?
 
DoctaJay said:
With all things being equal like grades and MCAT, it certainly helps. There are countless people in my class whose whole family have come through LLU. I'm sure that the fact that their grandfather, father, mother, and aunt graduated from the medical school won't impede an applicants acceptance, especially if they were already a good student. But it can't exactly make up for a completely lackluster application.
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Ehhh, My dad went to LLU. While I would love to go there, Im not planning on getting in. Im not SDA and while christian, I dont have alot of Religious ECs. This time next year we will see, talk to me then lol.
 
Disregard all those comments about alumni status not having influence. Those people have no idea what they are talking about. The reason why schools work hard to build their alumni network is exactly because "they matter". That's one of the perks. If you are competitive with other applicants, that will definitely give you the necessary boost to make you stand out. Notice that some schools will only consider "alumnus" someone who graduated from their undergrad program, while others will allow any of their grad students to be part of their network. They do it for a reason. Nothing wrong with working with what you get offered.
 
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