Why do schools ask if you know anyone that goes there?

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Zosa

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Does that give you a boost?

If I barely know someone and put them down, will that help me somehow?

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Maybe they do med student interviews and want to ensure that you don't get matched up with someone who knows you? Not sure. It almost certainly won't give you a boost.
 
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Some schools will extend courtesy interviews to immediate relatives of faculty/students/graduates, assuming the applicant is relatively competitive. I have a close friend who interviewed at one of the Manhattan titans last cycle as a 3.5/507 ORM with no research. Her father is the chair of a department at said institution and her brother goes there. Listing someone you barely know will have no impact on your app.
 
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Maybe they do med student interviews and want to ensure that you don't get matched up with someone who knows you? Not sure. It almost certainly won't give you a boost.

Eh depends on who is advocating for you, but yeah generally it doesn't matter. I can also see a scenario where if they want to accept you they might go to the person you listed and be like, "so we are considering accepting X, they said they knew you. Are they actually a serial killer in disguise?"
 
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