Siblings and Parent information in AMCAS?

[g3pro]

Hey,

Is anyone filling out the sibling and parent information in the AMCAS?

I feel like I'm being violated from behind when I put that information in there.

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[LizzyM]

I would estimate that 98% of the applicants complete the parent section. As far as I recall, the only information about siblings is the number of sibs (AMCAS used to ask ages and sex of sibs, IIRC, but not in the past several years).

Why does providing your parents' names, highest schooling completed, last school attended, profession, and noting whether they are living make you feel violated?

Like any autobiography, information about family background puts your life in context.

 

[g3pro]

Because I can just see the ADCOMs saying "well, his mother completed a masters program, but this other applicant's mother only had a high school education. Let's admit the one from the disadvantaged background" or other such nonsense.

Why can't we be evaulated for the people that we are, and not by our parents or siblings?

 

[LizzyM]

It hardly works that way (choosing the applicant whose parents have less/more education). It paints a picture of the household in which the applicant had formative experiences.

A mother with a master's degree puts you at about the average -- I'd glance at that section and judge your application the way I would any other.

Applicants who have parents with not more than a H.S. education are a tiny sliver of all applicants. Looking at those applicants, one realizes that the applicant's parents could not fall back on their personal experiences in higher education in guiding the applicant through that experience. It in no way makes getting an interview or offer a "done deal".

 

[g3pro]

And what does putting in information for one parent and not the other? Can we choose which information to put into those questions?

 

[adiddas125]

Just fill both sections out. Leave it be, dont sweat this kind of stuff. If you merit an interview then you will get one, regardless of your siblings/parental status...

This section is the least of your worries mate!

 

[LizzyM]

And what does putting in information for one parent and not the other? Can we choose which information to put into those questions?

Giving info about only one parents makes it look as if you have only one parent and were adopted into a single parent household or some-such.
I had an application last year that listed a large number of siblings and no mother (neither living nor dead). I thought that it was very weird and even more weird that the applicant didn't address growing up in a big city with more than 4 siblings and no mother at all. It turned out that some AMCAS applications had an error that failed to show the information that the applicant had entered and he did have a mother.

Some family situations are sad (parent has died or has abandoned the family, or mother was never married & father was unknown, or someone is in prison or missing) but they are nothing to be ashamed of. Likewise, some families are pretty-much upper-middle class average and they are the bulk of the applications and, I would guess, the majority of those who are admitted, too.

It adds a certain richness to the application in a uniform way without spending several lines of your precious PS. Your home address, place of birth and high school are other means of placing your application in a particular context.

 

[Non-TradTulsa]

LizzyM is the last word so I can't add much. As a much-older non-traditional student, putting down information about my parents might have seemed odd - but it didn't. My Dad died three years ago and that experience was a primary motivator for my deciding that it was time to quit my ten-year stalling about pursuing medicine. Even though he's gone, I was still proud to put down his occupation and education along with my mother's. In fact, I wear Dad's 7th Air Force Army Air Corps insignia on my lab coat lapel where a lot people put a flag. Not many medical students these days have parents who fought WWII, but mine did (I was definitely a late-life kid and was the youngest). 🙂 My mother is the only resident of her senior apartment complex who has a medical student for a son.

On a serious note, however, there is much about the application process that can feel intrusive at times - but I think we'd better get used to it. Privacy protections that apply to job applicants do not apply to med school applications - nor do they apply to medical licensure applications. You can be asked highly personal questions about your lifestyle and personal habits - it's part of the process, and it's part of the price we'll pay for the privelege of practicing medicine.

 

[EBI831]

but what if i want scholarships(yes i know they are few and far between) to good schools and both my parents are doctors. adcoms might assume that i don't need the money

 

[LizzyM]

but what if i want scholarships(yes i know they are few and far between) to good schools and both my parents are doctors. adcoms might assume that i don't need the money

I could be wrong but it seems that most aid is "need based" and distributed based on information provided through the FAFSA. Awards for scholarship are not very common and, I think, tend to go to exceptional applicants who are the objects of bidding wars among schools.