Does having 2 siblings currently attending the Med school help you app?

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Lacipart

M1 at UW-Madison
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Typo in title. "Does having 2 siblings currently attending the Med school help your application?

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Typo in title. Default "Does having 2 siblings currently attending the Med school help your application?

I'm a guy with two brothers attending the University of Wisconsin. One is a M1 and the other is an M2, I will be applying in 6 months with a 31M (12PS 10 BS 9 VR) and a 3.55 GPA :/

I have pretty nice extracurriculars (Vice Pres of Biology club, published research, 4 weeks doctor shadowing) and I think my LOR should be pretty solid. I'm worried about my 3.5 GPA and my "M" in writing though 🙁

Will the siblings help at all?


I totally think it could play to your advantage...think about it...three brothers graduated from the same school...and your mcat is solid. they should at least give you a shot at an interview
 
I would be interested to learn about your true motivation for becoming a doctor.

you better have a good reason other than "my brothers are attending med school"

This gives you little advantage over other applicants, other than your brothers can help you with your application.

Published research is great though! just make sure you can really talk about it at your interview.

4 weeks doctor shadowing is not enough patient care experience!

Keep in mind other applicants will have 4+ years of direct patient care responsabilty (paramedics, nursing)

Slightly above average MCAT and decent GPA. President of bio club probably could mean nothing, or be awsome depending on what you got out of it! Make sure you talk it up

This is just my opinion. I think you have just as good as shot as anyone with thoes score and thoes EC's. ya simply never no whats going to happen!
 
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why are you applying in 6 months? march? am i missing something?
 
Yes, I think that your brothers will help, but your GPA and lack of clinical experience will hurt. From what I gather, you're not applying yet, so START GETTING CLINICAL EXPERIENCE. 😉 It will probably make a significant difference. If in doubt, ask one or both of your brothers to talk to someone like Lucy Wall (I think she's the assistant dean) and ask. UW just got a $41 million grant. Niiiice.
 
Yes, I think that your brothers will help, but your GPA and lack of clinical experience will hurt. From what I gather, you're not applying yet, so START GETTING CLINICAL EXPERIENCE. 😉 It will probably make a significant difference. If in doubt, ask one or both of your brothers to talk to someone like Lucy Wall (I think she's the assistant dean) and ask. UW just got a $41 million grant. Niiiice.

a 3.55 is cause for concern? man...i'm toast...
 
Six months is March? Right... change what I said to 9 months 🙂

I would be interested to learn about your true motivation for becoming a doctor.

you better have a good reason other than "my brothers are attending med school"

Ha, don't worry I have my reasons and none of them have to do with that. I was actually semi annoyed when my 2nd brother said his plan was Med School as well, pretty sure I was thinking "oh great, now everyone's just going to think I copied him" :laugh:


Yes, I think that your brothers will help, but your GPA and lack of clinical experience will hurt. From what I gather, you're not applying yet, so START GETTING CLINICAL EXPERIENCE. It will probably make a significant difference
I volunteered 280 hours in a local hospital... during my last two years of High School. Does that count at all or do they only look at things from college and beyond?
 
i can't speak for all schools, but you need to do something that will convince your interviewer/commitee that you have enough knowledge of what the medical world is really like.

As one of the adcom members of SDN says, "something where your close enough to smell patients"

# of exact hours isn't exactly important (I got into med school with 0 shadowing hours and 0 volunteer)
 
what gpa and MCAT did your brothers have. Try to match or better their numbers. Remember, schools want to make offers to strong candidates who are likely to say "yes". Be sure to find out what your brothers love about the school and mention those things in your supplemental or in the interview. By that I mean if you can say, "I've heard that the school has a new ___ and I think that's great... I've done .... and I look forward to being able to ___ if I'm lucky enough to be a student here next year." You've got inside information regarding the things that the school loves to brag about and you can sell yourself on the basis of being familiar about the school and enthusiastic about the curriculum, facilities, opportunities, etc.
 
I volunteered 280 hours in a local hospital... during my last two years of High School. Does that count at all or do they only look at things from college and beyond?

Only what happened after HS. 🙁 Get busy this year so that your application is buffed when you apply next Summer.
 
Thanks Lizzy, nice advice.

Oh and for reference my brothers got a 28 and a 30 MCAT so I beat them there 🙂
...they each had 3.75 GPAs though :|
 
Thanks Lizzy, nice advice.

Oh and for reference my brothers got a 28 and a 30 MCAT so I beat them there 🙂
...they each had 3.75 GPAs though :|

Did you go to UW for undergrad? Many of the students at UWSMPH have so I think you might have some advantage if you have. In that case, I would probably have LOR from professors who teach at UW and possibly the med school.
I don't think your GPA is that low. You should remember that the class average is 3.75 which means some people had 3.4 while others had a 4.0.
In addition, I would try to have a lot of clinical and research experience to boost application.
 
Experience from my friends has been that if your siblings that are in med school currently are in good standing with them it shouldn't hurt your chances. I would definately have your siblings go to your dean of admissions and write a letter to the admissions committe on your behalf.

Medical schools want you to know that you are competent enough to handle the coursework. Once they figure that out by your grades and MCAT scores, then they want to know that you are a sociable person and would make a good doctor. Having someone vouch for you who is current student there and say "hey look I've known this guy all my life, and I know that he'd work out very well at this school." could go in your favor.
 
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