Why do they ask for our parent's education?

[Vacant]

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I wondered about this and thought it totally ridiculous that they ask for parent's educations and their occupations on AAMC application. One interviewer actually asked me question about my dad's whereabout. What the heck does it matter what our parent did or do with our choice to be physicians? I am an independent adult making my own decisions and creating my own life. I wonder if this is their way of favoring those children of physicians or academia. BTW, my dad was a coal miner (junior high drop out) and my mom a janitor (elementary drop out) and I'm proud of their integrity and honest hearts.

 

[RustNeverSleeps]

A lot of time it is considered impressive to be the first person in your family to attend college, etc.; in this case, asking that question actually helps someone with you. I would imagine that Adcoms would find your parents' backgrounds a positive rather than a negative -- it's probably pretty rare and impressive for a child of parents with less than high school educations to be applying to med school -- so don't worry about it too much.

 

[leechy]

Yeah, your background is exactly what adcoms love to see. The whole "parental education" question is actually a disadvantage for those who do have highly educated parents... then adcoms may think you've been coddled and spoiled your whole life, and/or pressured by parents to do medicine. I think the question is almost discriminatory, because it allows the interviewer to form judgments about you ("oh, he's never had to struggle in his life"... or, "his mom is probably forcing him to do medicine, since she's a doc") that aren't entirely fair.

Really, the question is just more evidence of America's weird complex about wealth and education. Somehow, it's not GOOD that you should have been fortunate enough to have a comfortable childhood; America loves to see people who've risen from the very bottom. I'm fine with cheering on / assisting the underdog, but not with the accompanying smug assumptions about those who were lucky enough to have a comfortable upbringing or educated parents.

 

[Croatalus_atrox]

The main reason why I think that the parental education questions are on the AMCAS is to help place the applicant's academic achievements in context. I don't think anyone would argue that the children of highly educated parents have some advantages in academic terms over children whose parents have only a high-school education or less. Educated parents can provide better help with their childrens' homework which gives those kids academic advantages from an earlier age. There is also the issue of role models and providing an example of success that children can emulate.

Relatively speaking, of two similar applicants, the one who was raised in the less academically accomplished household has achieved more than his counterpart. In some ways, he has had less help and guidance from an earlier age and had to find his own path to get where he is now. To get to the same place educationally, the applicant from the edcationally disadvantaged household has had to deal with certain "handicaps" and overcome more obstacles than the other guy. The admissions process is all about performance and achievement, so this is just one more way of levelling the playing field and judging the applicants fairly.

 

[MWillie]

Doesn't this make you all feel like you're screwing your childrens chances of getting into the academic programs of their choice by getting MD's?

 

[Biscuit799]

I've also heard that if one of your parents was a physician, adcoms believe that you're more familiar with the occupation and the pressure that being a physician imposes on a family. Thus you're more prepared to be a physician if you've grown up around it all your life.

 

[krelian]

Doesn't this make you all feel like you're screwing your childrens chances of getting into the academic programs of their choice by getting MD's?

Dude, that is so wrong. People from disadvantaged background face a significant hurdle -- one that I don't think will be easily overcome by the small modicum of help that they get (if any) from listing their parents' education and occupation. Which situation would you prefer: to be from an educated family where you're continuing on your parents' success, or to be from a blue collar family where you're the first to pursue higher education? Even if someone's poor background got them into HMS, I think that person would still have preferred to grow up under more favorable circumstances and go to a lesser medical school.

BTW, Croatalus_atrox's post is excellent and describes my opinion exactly.

 

[Nittany Lion]

The main reason why I think that the parental education questions are on the AMCAS is to help place the applicant's academic achievements in context. I don't think anyone would argue that the children of highly educated parents have some advantages in academic terms over children whose parents have only a high-school education or less. Educated parents can provide better help with their childrens' homework which gives those kids academic advantages from an earlier age. There is also the issue of role models and providing an example of success that children can emulate.

Relatively speaking, of two similar applicants, the one who was raised in the less academically accomplished household has achieved more than his counterpart. In some ways, he has had less help and guidance from an earlier age and had to find his own path to get where he is now. To get to the same place educationally, the applicant from the edcationally disadvantaged household has had to deal with certain "handicaps" and overcome more obstacles than the other guy. The admissions process is all about performance and achievement, so this is just one more way of levelling the playing field and judging the applicants fairly.

I think you raise a lot of excellent points here, but I also think it's not always this simple. For example, in my situation, my dad is a physician; however, my dad also raised me as a single father with no help, starting before I even started elementary school. I'm not going to act like I had this horribly hard life or anything, but having a single parent who is a doctor and working ALL the time forced me to become pretty independent at a very early age. So...while my dad is a great guy and has achieved a lot academically, and his academic success gave me a good example to follow, I don't know if I would say that I'm necessarily more "advantaged" at all because he's well-educated. Trust me, my dad was NEVER around to help me with my homework or anything like that when I was growing up. So anyway, you just never know about people's individual situations. Sometimes there is more to the story. That's why you get to write a personal statement, so you have the chance to talk a little bit about your upbrining so adcoms aren't just left to make assumptions about you solely based on your parents' level of education.

 

[leechy]

So anyway, you just never know about people's individual situations. Sometimes there is more to the story. That's why you get to write a personal statement, so you have the chance to talk a little bit about your upbrining so adcoms aren't just left to make assumptions about you solely based on your parents' level of education.

Right, this is the danger inherent in questions like that... Adcoms may rush to conclusions that aren't appropriate. I agree though that on average, educational level is correlated with "advantage".

 

[leechy]

I'm fine with the fact that adcoms want to recognize those who are disadvantaged and give them a helping hand... But I think there is a complementary attitude that slides in, and that is that those who are "advantaged" are less deserving or are coddled children who haven't seen the "real world" or faced real struggles. Obviously no one consciously admits to having such attitudes, but I don't think these feelings are absent either...

 

[Croatalus_atrox]

I think you raise a lot of excellent points here, but I also think it's not always this simple. For example, in my situation, my dad is a physician; however, my dad also raised me as a single father with no help, starting before I even started elementary school. I'm not going to act like I had this horribly hard life or anything, but having a single parent who is a doctor and working ALL the time forced me to become pretty independent at a very early age. So...while my dad is a great guy and has achieved a lot academically, and his academic success gave me a good example to follow, I don't know if I would say that I'm necessarily more "advantaged" at all because he's well-educated. Trust me, my dad was NEVER around to help me with my homework or anything like that when I was growing up. So anyway, you just never know about people's individual situations. Sometimes there is more to the story. That's why you get to write a personal statement, so you have the chance to talk a little bit about your upbrining so adcoms aren't just left to make assumptions about you solely based on your parents' level of education.

Where did I ever say that it was simple? I merely demonstrated why AMCAS and the adcoms want parental educational information and how they might use such information to gain a clearer picture of the whole person that is applying. You talk about the personal statement as a place to let adcoms know about individual situations, but the personal statement is just too short to give anything more than a brief summary of what the person is like. Most people would rather write about the positive aspects of their lives: what they've accomplished, why they've decided to go into medicine, etc. You can't possibly cram everything about your life into the personal statement, and including too much "woe is me" information makes you look like you're expecting consideration based on pity.

It's a sad fact of life that where you eventually end up in life usually dependent on from where you start. Who's more accomplished, the child of privilege that graduates from an Ivy League university, or the first generation state college graduate child of ill-educated parents with no legacy of success to emulate? The parental education questions just give the adcoms more insight into obstacles that an applicant may have encountered, obstacles that the applicant himself may not realize he's overcome.

I highly doubt that adcoms are discriminating against the children of well-educated parents in the admissions process, as some have alleged. About the worst that can be said is that they receive no preferential consideration, rather than negative consideration as a result of their parents' education level. To some people, though, any positive consideration given to others is seen as negative consideration for them. I'll tell you one thing, though: from what I've seen in this interview process, the children of college educated parents outnumber the first-generation college graduates by a wide margin.

 

[DieselPetrolGrl]

Doesn't this make you all feel like you're screwing your childrens chances of getting into the academic programs of their choice by getting MD's?

no
i enjoy sharing my parents stories
their academic strengths show me how education is the road from being a nobody in a small village to beeing a valuable part of american heathcare..the message i take is that you can always learn more and more (should strive to) because it not only makes your life better but allows you to make major contibutions to the feild of medicine