Pre-med's background

[jasmineH]

I am just interested to know how many of the pre-meds are coming from families of doctors and how many are actually coming from underpriviledged families or just families that didnt have college graduates.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Dr JPH]

Neither of my parents went to college.

Now I am in college and so is my younger brother.

Interesting thing to ask, though.

------------------
Joshua Paul Hazelton, CNA, EMT-B
[email protected]
University of the Sciences in Philadelphia (2002)
"D.O. Wannabe"

 

[jasmineH]

I'm just curious because people generally go on to excel in college because they had a mom or dad or uncle who went. People who have close role models growing up, tend to go on to achieve success themselves. When a parent is telling you "go to college like I did" its embedded in our heads from the start. So its interesting to see where individuals who had no one pushing them or being an example to them, get their motivation... I know I didnt

 

[kmmath]

There was a poll taken on this subject recently.....informal...but kind of interesting. http://www.321website.com/members/home/data/residents/polls.html

 

[wooo]

I am the only person in my family, other than one aunt, that has ever gone to college. Neither of my parents went to high school, and most everyone in my family over the age of 50 did not graduate high school. Unfortunately I did not start college until I was 29. The positive side of this is that I have done very well in college because I have been focused on my goal.

 

[Cobragirl]

Dad has some junior college (didn't graduate) and Mom never finished high school (because she was pregnant with me...she was an honor student...they kicked her out).

I'm first in my family to complete a BS, and DEFINITELY the first potential physician!

 

[lumanyika]

I was orphaned at an early age(12),and lucky to have support from a dynamic,loving family.My Aunt who took care of me is an MIT alumni,and the only college graduate in my clan(I'm African).The person who influenced me to further my education was my grandmother,an octogenarian who believed work and education are the tenets of humanity.

------------------
TO WHOM MUCH IS GIVEN,MUCH IS EXPECTED.

 

[RDJ]

My parents both finished High School. I was the only sibling (1:3) in my family who avoided a juvenile criminal record and becoming a high school drop out. At 17, I joined the Army with the intent of eventually going to college. My parents were reared in blue collar/mining/farming backgrounds and really did not favor the idea of me going to college. "YOU NEED TO LEARN DISICPLINE SON," is what they said. Moreover, they liked the idea of the GI Bill. I was originally a Military Policeman (for 18 months), but ended up being recruited for Army Special Operations where I served as a medic. That is where my love for medicine was born. I went back to school and now at the age of 29 I am off to medical school. As far as I know, I have only one other cousin in my family who has gone to a four-year college.
Look up "nontraditional student? in the dictionary and you will find a picture of me...

DJ

 

[WDN]

I understand where IDJ is coming from.In fact I've got you beat on being "non-traditional" Neither of my parents were H.S. grads, much less college.I myself married at 17,got my GED,went to college for 2 yrs then dropped out to support my family. I am now 34 yrs old and I have just returned to college.I figure it will take me 3 yrs just to finish my B.S. with the premed prereq's.At this point, my driving goal is to become a Primary Care Physician and work in a rural setting.

------------------

 

[galadriel]

A very large majority of pre-health professions students in the USA do not come from families of physicians or other health care professionals. A large majority of applicants do not come from families with at least one college educated parent. Indeed, if there is a place on an application to indicate your parents' educational level, indicate it there. If not, you might want to include it in a line in your personal statement.

If you do not have the advantage of a highly educated family, and if you have done well in college, it demonstrates what you have accomplished on your own. That is always a plus!

Professional schools do not preferentially accept students because family members are college educated or are health care or other professionals. Indeed, children in such families are expected to do well; if they do not, it is their own fault.

 

[tman]

Originally posted by jasmineH:
"because people generally go on to excel in college because they had a mom or dad or uncle who went. People who have close role models growing up, tend to go on to achieve success themselves."

I'm wondering where you got this information from...is this based a scientific study with sound statistical data or just your assumption? If you found this in a study I would like to review it myself if you don't mind citing the study. While this would appear to be true for truly underprivileged populations, I would be hard pressed to belive that just because someone's parents do not have a degree they are less likely to excel. In retrospect, (i.e. my oppinion) many of the most exceptional students I've met when I was going to school came from homes that didn't have a parent with post secondary education. These students were highly self motivated to achieve excellence, as opposed to many students whose parents were well off and they couldn't give a hairy rats behind if they excelled because they always had their parents and their parents pocketbooks to bail them out. But again that is my totally unscientific observation, if you have found information on this interesting subject I'd like to read up on it myself.

By the way, my mother finished her B.S.N. while I was in high school and my father is a rancher with a high school diploma.


[This message has been edited by tman (edited 10-15-2000).]

 

[misfit]

A very interesting post this is. As for my family, my father received his B.A. in business going part-time/nights after being an Army medic. My mother received a 2-yr. associate's degree in accounting work. Among my relatives, however, I have two uncles who are physicians, another uncle who is a med lab technician and his wife has a Ph.D. in immunology.
My family and relatives expected nothing less of me than to attend college and shoot for professional work. However, they did not encourage me to enter medicine, but I've always been fascinated by medical work, so that is what I'm aiming for.

 

[jasmineH]

Misfit, that is exactly what I mean. You said your family would expect nothing less of you than to pursue professional work. Its not a bad thing at all,but it has I am sure played a big role in your pursuit of college though.

p.s. To previous poster, no my thoughts arnt scientifically based, its just my personally observations of the world.

 

[BigSkyDreams]

Howdy,
My Dad took night school to earn his AA and my Mom dropped out of HS to start raising my brother and myself. My Dad was killed when I was young and there are no other college graduates in my family. Both my brother and I had to work and borrow our way through college because there is not the support to further education, even now the question is "When are you going to get a real job?" To help pay for school I joined the Navy for five years and then worked afterwards for a year and half, and then started on my BS. The presence of a role model is great but if the 'mighty dollar' isn't cheering for you also the dream of a professional life will not be a reality for many young people with the potential. I am not whining about this, I have gained a very realistic view of the human condition throughout the world that will serve my patients for my entire career. For this I am thankful.

------------------
BSD
______
Work under the assumption that you will be happy one day

 

[doctorperez]

My dad dropped out of high school my mother is an M.D.

[This message has been edited by doctorperez (edited 01-02-2001).]

 

[dlacroix]

GREAT QUESTION!!!!!
Mom and Dad are from a third world country. They came to the states in their 20's. (about 35 years ago)
Mom got a liscense as a hairdresser and years later got a liscencse as a nurse's assistant. She later owned a beauty salon (for over 25 years) which was successful and moonlighted at hospitals and nursing homes when business was slow.
Dad drove a taxi cab in Brooklyn and worked as a tailor in our basement for extra money.
Growing up in my family...going to college was not optional-it was MANDATORY.
They drilled it into our heads that we MUST get an education to become valuable citizens and leave a legacy for the next generation in our family.
My oldest sister got a BA in Business Admin. and a M.B.A.
The middle sis ran off to NY to become a dancer, dad disowned her until she later got her degree in Fine Arts.
I'm the baby...and I am determined to make them proud. Their sacrifices were made so that we could go further than they did.
It was programmed into our heads that it is our obligation to get an education, especially with the fact that we're minorities and from a poor country.
In their country, there are only 5 respectable careers: doctor, lawyer, engineer, nurse, and teacher. These are careers that have an impact on society. They don't have any other programs of study besides for these careers because the country is so poor...there isn't much of a demand for advertising, marketing for example. And usually the only people that get to go to college are those with money or connections. And my parents had neither. So they chose to come to the US to give my sisters and myself the opportunities they didn't have.

So it's my duty to become someone important. Not only for my parents but also for my kids, in order to give them what my parents couldn't. All of my parent's struggles would have been in vain if I don't take full advantage of America's resources. I owe it to myself and my family: past and present.

Isn't that the circle of life? To strengthen the legacy.

[This message has been edited by dlacroix (edited 01-03-2001).]

[This message has been edited by dlacroix (edited 01-03-2001).]

 

[AUDREYHEPBURNFAN]

My parents are immigrants who came from a third world country in 1980. My mom grew up working in the rice fields and my dad was orphaned and lived on his own when he was about 11 or 12. My parents had no real formal education in Vietnam. When they came to America, my mom and dad obtained an AA degree at the local JC. The degrees at the community college got them no where. I grew up in a ghetto area and my dad worked three jobs and my mom worked two jobs. They eventually bought a house in an upper middle class white neighborhood near the beach and they now each own their own businesses. So to make a long story short, they just expected me to go to college so I wouldn't spend my life trapped in an occupation that required manual labor. My brother was a gangbanger who was in juve for a while and now he is a bio major at UCLA pulling a 4.0 and he is taking his MCAT this august. My uncle is an ob/gyn for Kaiser, my cousin went into sports medicine and he recently married a friend he met in med school, my other cousin is doing his residency in emergency medicine, and I have another cousin who is a pediatrician for Kaiser. So basically a large chunck of the first generation in my family ended up going to med school and I suppose that influenced my brother and me to a certain degree.

 

[mvalento]

my father has a degree in industrial technology, my mom dropped out of college. i think my dad wanted to be an engineer, and then he wanted ME to be one, which led to a miserable freshman year! definitely made pre-med/biology seem a lot easier than it really is- however, i'm not too sure how much influence my dad had on my future aspirations, since my parents divorced when i was in 6th grade and i've been living with mom ever since. no one in my family has a job even closely related to medicine- this could be one reason why i didn't decide on medicine until my sophomore year! anyway- interesting post-

 

[puffy1]

Mom and Dad and my seven siblings were all born in Vietnam and came to the US in 1975 (I was born in '76). Dad was a teacher in Vietnam (college educated) but when he came over he had to work two full-time jobs to support us. At one point, he was working as a cashier at a Time Saver convenience store at night and at a Pizza Hut in the day time as an assistant manager. He would sometimes bring home extra pizzas for dinner. Boy, I really miss those times. Welfare helped out a lot. Of the eight kids, 4 graduated from college, and everyone else is doing well.

 

[guy104]

am i the only person here that isn't the son of an immigrant who had to claw his way to get where they are, or are the other people here feeling gulity or something? i have a great deal of respect for all of you who have not had it so easy. i just can't believe that the only people posting have had such circumstances. i was never rich or anything like that, but my mom's a teacher and my dad's an attorney. i didn't have to pay for college or work during college. i screwed around for a few years, which nearly kept me out of med school. but i pulled my grades back up and stopped taking things for granted. i start at my state med school in the fall. i don't think i'm a terrible person or anything, i was just young and immature. but i do realize that if i would have been under the circumstances that some of you are in or were in, i wouldn't have had the luxury of being so immature.

 

[Keith, NJ]

I was wondering what consideration medical schools give to one's family education. I am the first in my family to attend college. It is information that is asked for on AMCAS and on many supplemental applications. On each of my three interviews so far, I have been asked the occupation of my parents and my brother. I don't really see how this is relevant information.

On one hand, I see having a family with a strong college and medical education background as a benefit because of early exposure and a more realistic view of a career in medicine. On the other hand I can imagine an admissions committee looking favorably upon a student who risen above the status quo, from an educational standpoint. Further, it would indicate that the desire to practive medicine is derived from within, rather than some family pressure.

Does anyone have an idea on how medical schools view this topic?

 

[puffy1]

guy104,

if you read the first message posted by the person who started this thread, then you will understand the pattern you see here.

Originally posted by guy104:
am i the only person here that isn't the son of an immigrant who had to claw his way to get where they are, or are the other people here feeling gulity or something? i have a great deal of respect for all of you who have not had it so easy. i just can't believe that the only people posting have had such circumstances. i was never rich or anything like that, but my mom's a teacher and my dad's an attorney. i didn't have to pay for college or work during college. i screwed around for a few years, which nearly kept me out of med school. but i pulled my grades back up and stopped taking things for granted. i start at my state med school in the fall. i don't think i'm a terrible person or anything, i was just young and immature. but i do realize that if i would have been under the circumstances that some of you are in or were in, i wouldn't have had the luxury of being so immature.