Will this help at all?

[BigD311]

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So since everyone and their mother (literally) found out I will be applying to medical school this June, a few close family friends and colleagues have decided to "see what they can do".

What I wanna know is, will they have any influence?

Two of them are 3rd and 4th year medical students. I am not expecting much impact from them because they are still students. But then again, with a small class size, would their voice mean something since these are the people I will be working with?

The other person is director of alum relations. She said she knew the admissions people very well.

Basically, the point of this message is to see if the "good ol' boy" network exists in medical school since its so competitive.

I don't expect anything from anyone since at the end of the day, the only person responsible for the outcome of this process is me. I just am curious if "connections" can get you an interview if you are a little below average with numbers but top notch with everything else...

 

[Jolie South]

from my understanding, it might be easier for you to interview, but for an acceptance you still need to be on par as a candidate.

 

[Handy388]

So since everyone and their mother (literally) found out I will be applying to medical school this June, a few close family friends and colleagues have decided to "see what they can do".

What I wanna know is, will they have any influence?

Two of them are 3rd and 4th year medical students. I am not expecting much impact from them because they are still students. But then again, with a small class size, would their voice mean something since these are the people I will be working with?

The other person is director of alum relations. She said she knew the admissions people very well.

Basically, the point of this message is to see if the "good ol' boy" network exists in medical school since its so competitive.

I don't expect anything from anyone since at the end of the day, the only person responsible for the outcome of this process is me. I just am curious if "connections" can get you an interview if you are a little below average with numbers but top notch with everything else...

In my understanding, in a lot of places it's the med student that decide whether you get an interview or not.

 

[aebvd97]

If you have your mom call, regardless of her lack of affiliation, you'll definitely get an interview. Score an easy acceptance with a call from the great-grandma. 👍

 

[BigD311]

If you have your mom call, regardless of her lack of affiliation, you'll definitely get an interview. Score an easy acceptance with a call from the great-grandma. 👍

that was useful...

 

[aebvd97]

that was useful...

What do you expect? Do you really think that a bunch of pre-meds can make a more accurate prediction than you can? Is it going to hurt you, doubtful. Help? Your guess is as good as mine. I would like to think it wouldn't help you, because it shouldn't, but who really knows, except for the adcomms?

 

[BigD311]

If a bunch of premeds can speculate about chances of acceptance or various pitfalls of the application process...I think they can offer opinions about this question. Isn't that the point of SDN?

Any additional constructive thoughts?

 

[GoSpursGo]

If a bunch of premeds can speculate about chances of acceptance or various pitfalls of the application process...I think they can offer opinions about this question. Isn't that the point of SDN?

Any additional constructive thoughts?

It's really probably a school-specific thing. The reason premeds can speculate about those other topics is that we have good, quantifiable evidence to speculate about what it takes to get into a certain school (aka the MSAR) based on the past. Since there is no useful data available beyond possibly anecdotes at best regarding your situation, it would be at best unhelpful and at worst misleading for us to try and guess whether this would be helpful or not.

If you really want an anecdote, one of my dad's good high school friends happens to be the dean of admissions at one of my schools and called me personally to invite me for an interview. The second thing out of his mouth was that he remembered my dad from high school. I wound up being rejected anyways despite my "connections." So my anecdotal evidence suggests that it doesn't help, at that particular school... which is probably useless to you unless you happen to be applying there as well.

 

[235009]

connections are more important than qualifications

that's the bottom line no matter what it is we're talking about

 

[seelee]

During the interview, be sure to list your connections. Start with the phrase "Do you know who I am?" in a really condescending voice.

That's how you get into medical school my friend...worked for me!

 

[BigD311]

connections are more important than qualifications

that's the bottom line no matter what it is we're talking about

HAHAHA...if that were only true for med school...

 

[235009]

HAHAHA...if that were only true for med school...

...i wasn't kidding... despite what we all might like to think it is also true for med school... i mean of course you can't be a complete ******* and expect to get in but if you have strong connections you will be MUCH better off

 

[GoSpursGo]

...i wasn't kidding... despite what we all might like to think it is also true for med school... i mean of course you can't be a complete ******* and expect to get in but if you have strong connections you will be MUCH better off

I don't think anyone is disputing that having connections is better than not having them. However, unless your mom is dean of admissions or something, that's not going to make your application. In this case, having someone who "knows the admissions people very well" is not what I'd consider "strong connections."

And again, I'm sure this is a school-by-school thing. Like I said, I didn't get in at the place where my dad's friend was the dean of admissions, and that was with me having also done research there 2 summers and having a letter from my well-respected PI and from the director of med student research. That's pretty much the definition of "strong connections" and it didn't help me. My stats were also a good match for them, so that wasn't my problem either. So again, I want to stress that you might as well flip a coin and have that tell you whether or not it'll help you.

 

[muggle911]

I think connections (as long as they are significant connections) can have influence (at least for getting an interview). Don't you all remember filling out secondaries to some schools where they asked if any of your family members graduated from their school or if you have some other ties? That was it, plus the $100 or so.

 

[seelee]

...i wasn't kidding... despite what we all might like to think it is also true for med school... i mean of course you can't be a complete ******* and expect to get in but if you have strong connections you will be MUCH better off

Sounds like sour grapes to me.

 

[235009]

I don't think anyone is disputing that having connections is better than not having them. However, unless your mom is dean of admissions or something, that's not going to make your application. In this case, having someone who "knows the admissions people very well" is not what I'd consider "strong connections."

And again, I'm sure this is a school-by-school thing. Like I said, I didn't get in at the place where my dad's friend was the dean of admissions, and that was with me having also done research there 2 summers and having a letter from my well-respected PI and from the director of med student research. That's pretty much the definition of "strong connections" and it didn't help me. My stats were also a good match for them, so that wasn't my problem either. So again, I want to stress that you might as well flip a coin and have that tell you whether or not it'll help you.

unless it was your dad or some other relative who was the dean of admissions and not your dad's friend then i wouldn't really call it "the definition of a strong connection" ...your post is the definition of an exaggeration

I think connections (as long as they are significant connections) can have influence (at least for getting an interview). Don't you all remember filling out secondaries to some schools where they asked if any of your family members graduated from their school or if you have some other ties? That was it, plus the $100 or so.

exactly....and it was the only thing that appeared on almost every secondary!

 

[GoSpursGo]

unless it was your dad or some other relative who was the dean of admissions and not your dad's friend then i wouldn't really call it "the definition of a strong connection" ...your post is the definition of an exaggeration

I didn't mean having my dad's friend was the strong connection; that was just gravy. The strong connection was the 2 summers I spent there and having letters from my PI and, especially, the guy who literally heads all of the med school research for the entire school. Considering the school is pretty research-oriented, I'd call that a strong connection.

exactly....and it was the only thing that appeared on almost every secondary!

Hrmph... why did all my schools want nasty essays? 🙁

 

[pathophys17]

I can't answer your question of whether or not these connections will be helpful for you. I do have some anecdotal evidence for you that special connections do help, though....I have a friend who got into a top 20 school where his grandparents are surgeons at the affiliated hospital. He did have really good stats though also.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I can't answer your question of whether or not these connections will be helpful for you. I do have some anecdotal evidence for you that special connections do help, though....I have a friend who got into a top 20 school where his grandparents are surgeons at the affiliated hospital. He did have really good stats though also.

I think this was probably the reason he got in more than anything.

 

[pathophys17]

I think this was probably the reason he got in more than anything.

Right...like I said, anecdotal. He's extremely smart. How much pull anyone has...we will never know, and I wouldn't count on it.

 

[helplineb]

Buddy in this age of cut throat competition I think nothing but merit can sail you through.Why don't you work very hard and think of better performance than hunt for connections?If they have to help and you have them better still,but your hard work is the only key for your success.

 

[BigD311]

I have never hunted for connections...as I stated in my original post.

I have always relied on my own numbers/hard work, I was just curious if they would have an impact. Relax.

 

[student1799]

As GoSpursGo said, I think this is extremely school-dependent: "connections" seem to be worth a lot more at some schools than others. And then there is the quality of the connection itself that must be taken into account.

Like everyone else here, my evidence is purely anecdotal. But my impression is that unless your connections are EXTREMELY powerful (i.e. your father is best friends with the dean), they're of little value in med school admissions. This isn't hard to understand, because med school admissions is very numbers-driven, and about 2/3 of med schools are state schools, which tend to follow fairly rigid formulas for who gets interviewed and accepted.

I personally know of a couple of cases where applicants had parents who were long-time faculty members at certain state med schools, yet couldn't get into the schools. (They ended up elsewhere.) The same connections at private schools are probably worth a little bit more--how much, I don't know.

As for your specific connections, I wouldn't expect anything from the med students. Yes, many schools give them jobs reading applications or interviewing students, but they are almost never the major input on admissions decisions. (For instance, I have never seen a school with student interviewers which doesn't also have faculty interviewers, and I'd bet that the faculty ratings are given much higher weight.)

The alumni relations person might know the admissions staff very well, but does that mean they'll actually go out of their way to do her a favor? Hard to say.

My gut tells me that if your stats are more or less competitive with the school's applicant pool, these connections might give you a little boost. But if the school is a big stretch for you numbers-wise, I don't think they're going to help much.