Parent Physician

[subzero0174]

Is it true that having a parent that is a physician will lessen the chances at being accepted to medschool. My father is a ENT, and I am applying next year to about 20 medschools. Do you guys think it will help, hurt, or have no effect?

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[Brain]

Is it true that having a parent that is a physician will lessen the chances at being accepted to medschool. My father is a ENT, and I am applying next year to about 20 medschools. Do you guys think it will help, hurt, or have no effect?

Probably no effect and may actually help because you'll have a better idea of what medicine is like. I come from a family of engineers and was actually asked in a couple of interviews "Are there any physicians in your family? No? Then how do you really know you want to be a doctor?" I got this despite my own experiences and well defined goals that I wrote about in my application.

 

[FloridaMadame]

Depending on the school, it may very well help you. some schools like columbia and jefferson ask: did your mother attend , your father, your sister, your brother, your long lost cousin once removed, etc. if you are applying to the school that your father attended, you may find yourself in a very good situation. good luck

 

[vikaskoth]

I've heard that having parents as docs could hurt, but I think this is BS. Both mine are and in interviews when it comes up, as long as you dont say something dumb like "they really pressured me" things along that line. If the subject comes up, just be able to tell them how you came to choose medicine on your own, independent of their influence or how their influence simply aided you. You just want to distinguish yourself as independent, not a pawn of your parents. Although in some intvws i just mentioned what kind of docs they were and what my bro does, and they just moved on.

When the subject came up, i told em if I learned anything about med. from them it was probably lots of the downsides that come during family life, and just the stressors of the job, So i'm going into the application process more aware of what i'm getting into.

I think you should be fine, dont let this bother you.

 

[Ambs]

It has had almost no impact on my application process, except for the occasional, "oh, so you have some idea of what it's like to balance medicine and family." Usually, it's not even brought up.

 

[subzero0174]

Thanks for the info guys

 

[erin682]

There are a ton of people in my class that are doctor's kids. If it hurts you it can't hurt too much.