Should having "connections" be a factor in the medical school admissions process?

[pathdr2b]

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Connections alone no of course not, but all things being equal ,who would YOU admit to medical school, someone you knew or someone you didn't?

FYI, I heard that former college/professional athletes have an acceptance average of over 80%.😱

 

[nero]

I think the only people that get pissed off about connections are the people that don't have any..........i myself dont have any, but relize that its a part of life and that, without connections you will eventually hit a plateau...............with that being said, i would definitley help someone out if i knew them, because if i was in a position to help someone out it means that someobyd helped me out..........thus, i've used a connection.............i agree that this may be unfair, but its used in med schol processes and residency placements all the time..............look at the connectino between harvard and yale.........how does harvard place 11 people in yale's med school when yale only does 9............maybe its not a person to person connection, but a school to school or school to person...........

nero

 

[BobbyDylanFan]

use em' if you got em'

 

[CRAZYTERP]

Unfortunately connections come into play in every part of life. Whether it's working at the pizza place down the street to making the high school baseball team to getting into college. When i applied for undergrad i had plenty of family friends who were alumni of schools I applied to say they would write letters on my behalf. I was vehemently against it and I made them promise not to do it. Then I see close friends with lesser GPAs and less than spectactular EC's get in bc their father or mother went to the school or taught there.

I ended up getting rejected from 7 of the 8 schools I applied to I have to admit I had a bit of a chip on my shoulder for some time afterwards. But then I grew up and realized that neither I nor my friends were any better off and that I had a great undergrad experience.

Now back to the question. Four years later I am applying to medical school and I have had people whom I work with say they will make a call or write a letter on my behalfto someone they know at a particular school. I have come to look at it this way. The people offering to help me are doing so because they see something in me. Call it potential or intellect, whatever it may be, by making a call or writing a letter they are also putting their reputation on the line. I doubt very much that one call from an alumni will gain me acceptance but if it allows the committee to give me one more look and think they see a future medical professional within my application so be it.

Now if the Chief of Medicine at Hopkins son/daughter is accepted to that medical school with a 23 MCAT and a 3.0 GPA something is severely fu*&%d.

Everyone does deserve a chance not a meal ticket...

-CT

 

[lady bug]

One of the reasons why schools give an edge to legacies is because a lot of private funding for universities comes from alumni....usually as much as 1/3 of private funding. Schools worry that these alumni might stop giving to their alma mater if they do not accept their sons/daughters. There's an article in last week's Wall Street Journal about this regarding undergraduate admissions, but a lot of the same reasons go for graduate and professional schools. Its drawing a lot of criticism nowadays because minorities argue that it is 'race-based preferance' b/c a majority previous generation alumni of top schools are from white/priviledged backgrounds.

 

[tryingagain]

Life is all about who you know. Just wait until you need patient referrals from other docs in 10 years or so.

 

[jtheater]

If you get a letter or a call about a candidate from someone you know and trust versus someone you don't know at all, whose word are you going to value more?

 

[xaelia]

Originally posted by pathdr2b
FYI, I heard that former college/professional athletes have an acceptance average of over 80%.😱

I'm not sure an athletics statement belongs in a "connections" debate. None of my interviewers slapped me on the back and reminiced about rowing square blades all eight rate 12. I'm sure there are members of the admissions committee who used to participate in intercollegiate athletics, and recognize the time committment required...but it's hardly an "old boys club".

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by xaelia
I'm not sure an athletics statement belongs in a "connections" debate. None of my interviewers slapped me on the back and reminiced about rowing square blades all eight rate 12.

I'm referring to the more income generating sports (no offense) like basketball and football. I've never heard of one with decent grades not getting into professional school.

 

[Sweet Tea]

I have...my co-worker was an all-ACC track athlete for 4 years, had decent (not a 3.9 and a 42, but not a 3.0 and a 27 either) scores, and she's reapplying this year. i'm sure being an athlete helps, but i don't think it necessarily helps you out with connections.

 

[Dr. Lawyer]

"Now if the Chief of Medicine at Hopkins son/daughter is accepted to that medical school with a 23 MCAT and a 3.0 GPA something is severely fu*&%d." - Crazyterp


Crazyterp:

These peole exist, and interestingly, they seem to do fine in medical school. I guess it's a point on the side of the "apple doesn't fall far from the tree" argument.

 

[Gumshoe]

People seem to so often think that this "connections" idea is so far away from any other topic in life that helps you get anywhere. This is why they give you classes in networking. The human is just as social an animal as anything else. And when it comes down to it, this is a crucial part of the human that is overlooked because we seem to be so individualistic --- when in reality we aren't as much as people think. Certain people are born smarter than others, some are stronger, etc. so at some point people don't WORK for the things they have when comparing one person to another. Clearly, the "connections" situation is the same. I can't see that a person is "born into" a connection but rather works with WHAT THEY HAVE in order to accomplish it.

I'll tie this all together with the reason of why people look at things the way they do in regards to connections. They are thought to be lucky bonuses for recipients, strict gimmies. This exists because of the liberal idea that all are created equal and therefore there is this continuous fight to make everyone equal -it's a sisyphus-ian battle, because all people aren't created equal. You see this in the affirmative action cases and begin to wonder at what point will one group will stop fighting the other and just realize that individuals are the ones that rise to the top because of many reasons, not groups. Anything past that is coincidental with race/upbringing/wealth/ etc.

I'd like to state (to deflect possible misinterpretation and controversy) that I'm not against equality at all -- that being basic rights of people. However, I am against people trying to make themselves the same as others. This argument could go on forever and to back it up, this post would be too long.

The point about a referrer putting their rep on the line was a great one. In summary, I just think that connections are considered total luck and random when they are actually just as important and co-relative as thinks like grades, ECs, etc.

We'll see what you guys think


Gumshoe

 

[badgergirl]

Okay, I think I'd like to pursue something about the downside of using connections. A phone call was made on my behalf to one of the schools I applied to right after my interview. My dad had chatted about me with an alumni of the school that he knew through work (who I've never met), and this person casually asked my dad for my stats (3.7, 33S). I was accepted a few weeks later, and up until I found out about this, it had been my number one choice. Now I feel guilty, and I question whether I would have gotten in without that phone call. In addition, I feel like I'm now obligated to go, but I'm having a hard time getting past this in my head.

Maybe this is off topic from what the OP started from, so I'll try to bring it back. On the one hand, I think I would trust the endorsement and be more inclined to accept a person because as others have said, the reputation of the connection is being brought into play. They wouldn't ask favors and support someone they didn't think could succeed. But on the other hand, do you think using connections cheapen the accomplishment of an acceptance?

 

[pathdr2b]

Originally posted by badgergirl
Okay, I think I'd like to pursue something about the downside of using connections. A phone call was made on my behalf to one of the schools I applied to right after my interview. My dad had chatted about me with an alumni of the school that he knew through work (who I've never met), and this person casually asked my dad for my stats (3.7, 33S). I was accepted a few weeks later, and up until I found out about this, it had been my number one choice. Now I feel guilty, and I question whether I would have gotten in without that phone call. In addition, I feel like I'm now obligated to go, but I'm having a hard time getting past this in my head.

I don't think you should feel guilty and I think it's very honest of you to admit it on SDN. Connections/networking is the way of the world and I guess it debatable about whether or not its fair. I'd also that guess that the overwhelming majority of unaccepted applicants to medical school didn't pursue networking, as I like to call it.

Out of curiosity, I wonder if your stats had been 3.3 and 29 MCAT would you feel more guilty? Either way, I personally wouldn't feel guilty about.

Congraduulations on the acceptance!

 

[Tech04]

This is something I've thought a lot about, particularly thanks to a justice class where we talked about which inequalities are just and which are unjust, but all that aside, we're ignoring something pretty important here. While all of us care a lot about which med school we go to (myself most certainly included), our patients, employers, and reviewers will not. The fact is, if you take whatever advantages you have, make the most of them, and become a great doctor, then you have made your own way.
You should never feel guilty about where you get in, because if you don't deserve it, then you'll end up a physician who is in the middle/bottom of the pack and your med school won't save you. If you do deserve it, then you'll excel as a physician, and you'll be so good that your med school won't matter.
Just my $.02.

 

[kam730]

I think there are different types of connections, and I have different feelings about each one. I have no problem with a person using self-made connections, for example maybe having worked in the research lab of someone who has influence on the admissions committee or something. What sometimes annoys me is when a person's connections actually come from no effort of their own. For example, I found myself becoming jealous on several occasions throughout this application process of a friend of mine whose parents old neighbor (who hasnt been their neighbor since like 1988) was director of some committee at a local hospital and hooked up my friend with a very nice job for which he was not qualified (you are supposed to be certified and he wasnt) and could never have gotten without her help. This person knew nothing about my friend other than he was the son of an old neighbor, she hadnt even seen him since he was like 12! Like I said, I was simply jealous because I do not have any such connections and perhaps would feel differently if I did. And I do agree with a previous poster that if I did have connections I would probably always wonder if that was the reason I got in and maybe I would have been rejected otherwise. It is a nice feeling knowing that I got in through my own hard work and nothing else.

 

[DAL]

I do not think connections should be a factor in the admissions process.

If I was in a position to admit someone I knew to med school over someone I didn't, I would remove myself from the decision making process for fear of making a flawed decision.

There is a thread in the everyone forum discussing IIT in India. 60 minutes covered the school and the link let's you watch the whole segment. I wish every college and med school operated by the same standards as far as admissions go. There is absolutely no favoritism shown at all.