For those of you whose parents are doctors....

[EC]

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Hi Everyone,

For those of you whose parents are doctors, in your interviews have you been questioned about whether your parents influenced your decision in going to medical school? How did you respond?

EC

 

[DrSuga]

Both of my parents are physicians, and during open-file interviews, most people saw it as something positive and assumed that it was how I became interested in medicine. I corrected them by sharing stories of other life experiences, which really sparked my interest. I told them that while my parents' occupation certainly had an influence on me, it was not a major part of my decision to become a doctor.

 

[Mystique]

I've been asked if my dad has influenced my decision to go into medicine, and I usually tell them what DrSuga basically wrote. In my case too, it's been a positive reflection upon my interest. At the same time, you should take the opportunity to mention your other health-related experiences, so that your interviewers aren't led to believe you're another one of those "my great-grandpa, grandpa, and dad/mom are all docs, so it's expected of me" applicants. Mine have never "pressured" me to go into medicine; it was my sole decision. At the same time they're more than thrilled to know their kids want to pursue medicine. I told my interviewers that yes, my dad's work initiated my interest in the field, but my medical experiences with other doctors also played a pivotal role in my interest blah blah blah...

 

[SicVic]

both of mine are doctors. However, in my case I didnt want to go into medicine. I rebelled! I entertained thoughts about finance or computer engineering. However, they werent appealing anymore by my freshman year of college. So i turned to medicine- my clinical experience and a growing interest in science was the primary deal maker. If I hated it both...I would not have bothered. I loved it and I definitely see myself happy as a physician. The respect that i have for my peeps and how they go about being doctors is a great benefit. 🙂

 

[BlueDevil7]

My dad is a doctor so I am usually asked about this, often with a tone insinuating that I may just be doing it to make him proud, or because I couldn't think of anything better, or something like that. It just happens that I am interested in an area of medicine that is completely separate from what my father does so they usually like that I have thought about it a lot and am not just "following in his footsteps." Make sure you do have plenty of health experiences and/or you're interested in something unrelated to your parent(s) or you run the risk of them questioning your motivation.

 

[gobears]

Both of my parents are physicians too. In a couple of my interviews, my interviewer said something like, "Oh, I see your parents are both doctors, so you know what the life is like." I think one even said, "Oh, so you know the drill." Then we go on and talk about something else.

 

[spanky]

Just curious: Is there anyone out there who had parents who were doctors, but did not get into medical school?

 

[DocConnie]

I know of three sisters whose father was a doctor.
The younger was accepted. The other two were not and chose to go to St. Georges. Both did very well and entered the father's practice upon completion.

 

[Original]

I thought most places either didn't (and shouldn't) care, or marginally saw it as a positive. My interviewer at Harvard was like "o.k, o.k I know your dad is a doc but I'll still go ahead and ask you this one anyway for formalty".. I can't remember what the question was though. It was a question sort of probing one's familiarity with the profession. In anycase, I'm sure whatever extra evaluation points one might get from having physician parents is so marginal it's insignificant. It certainly doesn't hurt but then it doesn't and shouldn't help much either.