List as relative?

[Fishy fish]

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So I noticed a lot of DO schools like to know if you have any relatives/family members who are osteopathic physicians. My brother-in-law is an osteopathic physician. I actually shadowed him and he wrote me a letter of recommendation. The only reason I asked if because he is not someone I interact with often...I only see him about once a year and so I thought the letter wouldn't be biased.

My question is...do I have to list him as a relative? Are there any risks to not doing that?

 

[domare]

Considering a lot of medical schools do not allow relatives to write letters of recommendation for people, I would probably advise against disclosing that he is your brother-in-law.

 

[mc_bio19]

As the above person mentioned , letters from relatives are generally not acceptable. If they are still accepted by the school, they usually cannot fulfill the osteopathic letter requirement.

 

[Fishy fish]

Is there any way they could find out though that we are related? I do have other letters from physicians (not DO though) that could fulfill the requirement. Just thought one from a DO would look better. I'm worried because some applications make me sign to certify that none of my letters were written by relatives.

 

[Goro]

So I noticed a lot of DO schools like to know if you have any relatives/family members who are osteopathic physicians. My brother-in-law is an osteopathic physician. I actually shadowed him and he wrote me a letter of recommendation. The only reason I asked if because he is not someone I interact with often...I only see him about once a year and so I thought the letter wouldn't be biased.

My question is...do I have to list him as a relative? Are there any risks to not doing that?

It won't hurt to omit, but it might possibly help.