Does having a relative who went to the school help odds?

[juiceman311]

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I have 2 cousins that went to a pretty solid med school, both of them were successful there and are now extremely solid doctors, one of them is well known for his work in endocrinology (he published a lot of work while at the school, and is currently known in the field). Will this help my chances? This school also takes a good bit of out-of-states (it's private, takes about 60%).

Thanks

 

[NCF145]

I hope so, my grandfather went to Tufts. But I doubt that medical schools place an emphasis on legacies like undergraduate universities do.

 

[Fermata]

I hope so, my grandfather went to Tufts. But I doubt that medical schools place an emphasis on legacies like undergraduate universities do.

You'd be surprised.

 

[NCF145]

Originally Posted by Fermata
You'd be surprised

Really? I never thought that medical schools really cared if your relatives attended their school. But what do I know.

 

[jackets5]

Who you know counts a whole lot. A freind of mine got an interview at UCSF with stats no where near UCSF norms. Largley due to the fact he has shadowed and become pretty cool with a fairly well known doc who was a UCSF alum and made a phone call. Id rather be just a good applicant and know the right people than to be excellent one without any concetions.

 

[HoustonDoc123]

Really? I never thought that medical schools really cared if your relatives attended their school. But what do I know.

Probably not much 😀

 

[Jon Davis]

Many of the secondaries I have filled out have sections for alumni relatives. Especially, top-tier places (Harvard, Yale, Cornell, etc.) The official line is that it shouldn't matter but it does.

Later.

 

[theunderdog]

honestly, i think it only helps if you father/mother went there... or especially if you have a sibling....

cousins dont really help too much.

 

[LizzyM]

Who you know counts a whole lot. A freind of mine got an interview at UCSF with stats no where near UCSF norms. Largley due to the fact he has shadowed and become pretty cool with a fairly well known doc who was a UCSF alum and made a phone call. Id rather be just a good applicant and know the right people than to be excellent one without any concetions.

Getting an interview and getting admitted are two different things. Some of these are basically pity-interviews. (alums and faculty-kids', plus VIPs kids) Sometimes the applicant will get a nicer than usual rejection letter with an offer of a consultation with the Dean prior to the next application cycle.

Legacies only help at the margins. Let's say that an average score is calculated for each applicant and the applicants are listed by score. There are 90 offer letters to go out. The first 89 letters to the top 89 on list.
Then, of the next three there are:

Alice 8.3446
Brian 8.3444
Charles 8.3400

Charles is a legacy. Charles may get the letter even though he's a few thousandths of a point lower than Alice & Brian. Fair to Alice & Brian? Maybe not. The point is, it is not as if 100 people with better scores are getting passed over to give a slot to an unqualified legacy who is very far down the list.

 

[tigress]

I agree with the above post. My cousin got an interview at Harvard, and I bet he'll get in, partially because his father is an alumnus. But my cousin also totally has the stats and the application to be able to get into Harvard on his own. What I think it does is just take out some of the chance involved; Harvard gets tons of applications with great stats and ECs, but they can only interview so many and accept so many of them. So some people who are qualified aren't going to get lucky. I think if you're a legacy who is qualified you get placed in the applicant/acceptance pool more readily. And perhaps slightly lower qualifications would still get a legacy in, but certainly not to any great extent.

 

[drmota]

honestly, i think it only helps if you father/mother went there... or especially if you have a sibling....

cousins dont really help too much.

you think so? sweet. my brother's currently attending a med school. i hope that helps me out.
-mota

 

[badlydrawnvik]

yeah i dont know how much it works, but i have a lot of cousins that attended med schools around the countr,y and i just say that i had a relative when i'm at the interview just in case.