Medical Schools Prefer Tall Students?

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i have heard this before...something about a high % of CEOs being over 6'0...for my sake I hope it is true, my personal statement should have started "I am a 6'3 male, studies say I might be better than others..."
 
The abstract referred to rhos ~.2, which is pretty weak, the study mentioned in the SPI used self-reported measures of beauty, which is more of a measure of self-confidence, and the APP article mentioned that in careers where appearance was not as important (i.e. medicine) employers were more apt to go with a less attractive candidate. Not exactly ironclad evidence.

OTOH, who doesn't like attractive people?
 
Do medical schools prefer men tall, thin, good looking people?


You obviously haven't been to many med schools. Average height tends to be shorter than college, and folks tend to be the nerdier of the college crowd on average. Folks who were fairly unnoticed during undergrad get to be BMOC in med school because the "cooler" crowd tends not to go on to professional education. But sure, I'll give you thin (although scrawny is a more appropriate description).
 
IMHO

Being tall, attractive, good looking helps in all aspects of life.

Say I had a choice between 2 equally qualified doctors, but one was tall and healthy while the other looked fat and out of shape. Who would i pick? def the tall healthy doctor.

Your height, health, attractivness have no bearing what so ever on how good you are at your profession. My mom isn't the healthiest person in the world but she is a great doctor.

However, I do think they affect how easy it is for you to get into the profession. Whether it is med school, law school, job interviews, or meeting your significant other's parents. My mom has said from her personal experience that it has been harder to get to where she is because of appearance. Does that mean that it is impossible? Obviously not.

Looking good, healthy, and making a great first impression matters. Those who disagree are probably just in denial. Again just my opinion.
 
I can't wait for some gunner to make himself taller, a la Gattaca. (Actually, when I worked in a peds OR one of the attendings alluded to some hospital VIP's vertically-challenged offspring getting that surgery (for aesthetics, not to correct an imbalance or anything), much to the dismay of all the docs involved)
 
Even med school admission boards are not immune to subconscious prejudices. They are human after all. Sorry if you're too naive to understand this.
 
i was the tallest person at all my interviews, and i'm barely 6'1"...hopefully med schools prefer taller students, or at least me...
 
I hope this is not the case. That is just flat out discrimination to short people like me. Mind you, there are some successful doctors that are just as tall as Napoleon, and you know what greatness Napoleon achieved.
 
i was the tallest person at all my interviews, and i'm barely 6'1"...hopefully med schools prefer taller students, or at least me...

Your signature is very a propos.
 
i have heard this before...something about a high % of CEOs being over 6'0...for my sake I hope it is true, my personal statement should have started "I am a 6'3 male, studies say I might be better than others..."


I also heard that and that the average height of our nations presidents have been over 6'0. Though I think there comes a point of diminishing returns as you get farther from the average. ie; a 8'5 pediatrician will just flat out scare the **** out of a child.:meanie:

jk. My pediatrician was Shaq.
 
Even med school admission boards are not immune to subconscious prejudices. They are human after all. Sorry if you're too naive to understand this.
How much do you actually know about med school admission boards? Just curious...

Law2Doc is right, by the way. There are only about 5 guys at my school taller than me and I'm only 6'. If anything, med school tends towards small.
 
Everyone prefers tall, athletic looking people!
 
How much do you actually know about med school admission boards? Just curious...

Not much, but my mentor is on a residency committee and he says they don't accept residents under 6 foot! True story.

Seriously though, it has to affect their perception of someone at least a little.
 
Not much, but my mentor is on a residency committee and he says they don't accept residents under 6 foot! True story.

Seriously though, it has to affect their perception of someone at least a little.

It does, if you had a choice between a short fat guy, and a tall athletic guy, both with the same credentials.. You'd be in denial to say 99% of people wouldn't gravitate, maybe subconsciously, towards picking the more impressive looking guy.
 
pt-GarminYao04.jpg



I'd probably pick the guy on right to be my doc.👍
 
r166703_619902.jpg


I'd probably pick the guy on left to be my doc.👍
 
What about a short athletic guy and a tall fat guy? 😛
 
I hope this is not the case. That is just flat out discrimination to short people like me. Mind you, there are some successful doctors that are just as tall as Napoleon, and you know what greatness Napoleon achieved.
He met his downfall at waterloo??
 
there have been alot of studies about this. and yeah taller people will usually get the job over their shorter counterparts.

i know drug rep companies scout for the good looking female bio majors that don't get into med school. hot drug rep + lonely stressed doctor = sale.
 
man, yao ming is a beast...asian people are supposed to be short!
 
I guess this explains why I got in...! And here I thought it was because I'm qualified... but I guess it was just because I'm a slim 5'11" blonde chick!
 
I didn't bother to read the articles, so it may have already been explored - this discrepancy in sucess b/w the tall and beautiful and short and ugly, probably has to do more with the candidates themsevles, then the people who do the hiring/promoting. While I can't argue that people in general are more attracted to - whether consciously (in some fields, you HAVE to meet a specific set of physical requirements) or subconsciously - tall and beautiful people, I think the explanation is largely due to the differences in self-confidence. The people who are tall and beautiful, will most likely have gone through a lifetime of positive experiences with people, repeated social reinforcement of behaviors and mental states, that lead them to develop into very confident and social people. Being confident and having great social skills, versus being meek and having poor social skills makes a BIG difference in your professional AND personal life.

For me, the extremes trigger off a switch in my head that tells me not to trust this physician. So if you're WAY too hot, I assume that you're a superficial person who may not be completely "on the ball" with your job, that you must be in it for the ego, etc. For instance, I once visited a cosmetic clinic and the "dermatician" who performs the laser treatment, looked like she had at least 10 different operations on her - she was sexy as hell, but something inside me just though "yea, she might be into helping people and stuff, but she's probably in it for the money...so can I trust her to think about me first?? No, she'll be thinking about the sale". On the other end, if you're way to unkempt and ugly, I can't explain it, but I just don't trust people who look like they can't maintain some standard of grooming and self-respect.

It doesn't work this way in medicine guys - not even in business.

As long as you look normal and decent, are in healthy shape (not necessarily like you work out a lot), well groomed - what you should be more concerned about is your social skills, your personality, and how well you build rapport with others.
 
I hope this is not the case. That is just flat out discrimination to short people like me. Mind you, there are some successful doctors that are just as tall as Napoleon, and you know what greatness Napoleon achieved.

Nobody is saying that short people can't be effective doctors (that would be a ridiculous argument), just that those in charge of selecting who actually gets to be a doctor may have a subconscious bias...


5'8" female here with a 3"+ heel habit, definitely the tallest on my interviews. That must be why i got accepted. :laugh:
 
I'm 6'5, athletic build, very good-looking, pretty eyes according to the ladies. I like to dress well and wear fresh colognes. Do you think this will increase my chances of getting accepted to medical school?

Not if your interviewer is a 70 year old male.
 
Well, looking around the lecture hall, I'd have to say our adcom definitely didn't consider good looks in the admissions decision. 🙁
 
I'm 6'5, athletic build, very good-looking, pretty eyes according to the ladies. I like to dress well and wear fresh colognes. Do you think this will increase my chances of getting accepted to medical school?

The fresh colognes thing scares me. Although the rest will help, you'll find yourself at an overall disadvantage if your interviewer isn't inflicted by anosmia.
 
Damnit, I'm only 5' 7" 🙁

Stupid genetics ( 4'11" mom and 5'7" dad)

I don't think it should be too much of a factor. If at all, it should be the last deciding factor. As long as you have better GPA, MCAT, ECs, & LORs. How I love admissions alphabet soup.

If all of that is the same, it will come down to personality.

And if you both have the same personality, then height may come into play, but honestly at that point it's just a crapshoot.
 
I am surprised, and a little disturbed, to see how many times this topic has come up on SDN in various incarnations.
 
We grow up surrounded by magazines called "Self" teaching us to be obsessed with ourselves. We are bombarded by models, movie stars everywhere selling us products. We somehow think it is a bad thing to have average height, average looks, and start to believe we are at a disadvantage if we don't look like a model. It's a cultural disease!
 
Of course people prefer tall, good-looking people.

That's a really dumb question.
 
I personally prefer short, obese, smokers who don't shave, cut their hair, wash, or change clothes. But that's just me.

Extra points if they are blue and you can roll them like the girl in Willy Wonka.
 
there have been alot of studies about this. and yeah taller people will usually get the job over their shorter counterparts.

i know drug rep companies scout for the good looking female bio majors that don't get into med school. hot drug rep + lonely stressed doctor = sale.

Yes but this strategy assumes that the doc is lonely (eg, short and homely) and not getting hit on by this caliber of hot women all the time. The whole reason the drug rep philosophy works, and the reason drug companies sink millions into this strategy, is precisely because doctors aren't tall good looking types who regularly get the former cheerleaders.

You guys need to look around at the med students next time you visit a school. You won't find that many studly, tanned, basketball player types. You will see small, thin, doughy, pale semblances of humans. That's who gets in because that's what you become if you spend the time needed to put up high numbers, do countless hours of ECs, instead of hitting the beaches and gyms.
 
What a load off! Now I don't have to study as hard for these prereqs because I am a 5'10 athletic blonde chick with big boobs. Sweet! 😛
 
Maybe it has nothing to do with a psychological preference. Did you ever consider that tall people are just smarter with better scores and extracurriculars then short people??

😉
 
Sometimes I wonder if being TOO good looking can hurt you too, maybe it would arouse some kind of subliminal feelings of envy or spite. Or maybe they'll assume you're a bit superficial or what have you. I've heard some of my good-looking friends say that they sometimes have a hard time getting people to take them seriously.
 
I was at an interview where there was an applicant who was really good looking, atheletically cool, 6 feet, and blonde, he said he got grilled by his interviewer who thought he was too fratty-looking in appearance (then again he's from Stanford and I went to CAL so maybe that was reasonable)

But the point is, being good-looking hurted him on that interview.
 
The whole thing is a wash. Psychologically, it's probably not going to boil down to something as simple as good looking vs. bad looking. Do you look like the interviewer's daughter? Do you look like the interviewer's ex-husband? Etc.

Such is life. I wouldn't sweat it.
 
Since this is not the first thread I've seen like this, so when I came across this study I figured I should post it and put this matter to rest:

http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/penpapers/04-013.htm

It turns out what matters for future success is your height in high school. Since this is where the correlation is found, rather than from adult height, it would seem that discrimination is not the problem.

So remember: the only way your height is going to enter the equation is if you let it. Realize that the adcoms dont care and give em hell, kid.
 
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