<p>I am starting my sophomore year and am moving more decidedly towards a pre-med track. Both of my parents are physicians and I was wondering if this would be a positive thing for a medical school application. Not that I feel like I am already entitled to become a physician; I fully intend to work as hard as I can in college. I would like to keep a high GPA, MCAT scores, etc...</p>
<p>Looking back, I realize that my parents profession helped me make an informed decision about medicine. I realize better what the lifestyle of a physician is, and I remember my parent's residency (I was five). Living in a "medical family" dispelled romantic notions about medicine (e.g. that you make a lot of easy money, or that you feel like a superman because you cure people). Of course, there can be an opposite side to the token. It may seem uninspired to follow in your parents' footsteps, or medical schools may want students with different backgrounds.</p>
<p>In general, is it good, bad, or neutral to have physician parents as a pre-med student? Should one mention it? Ideally, it should not matter, but I feel it has some importance in the selection process.</p>
<p>From what I have seen, it is a huge plus. Great connections!!! I believe that it is the best un-advertised hook. From what I see, first group are “connected ones”, second are URM, third - the rest and if you are not in first 2, you better be at the very top of the third group. Still have to have some reasonable stats, but for many of them Med. School is free if a parent is professionally connected to one.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t think so, ace. A California resident male ORM might have to get close to those marks but I still think that with a well-crafted list and a well-prepared app after a well-thought out college and EC career, that Cali ORM male kid would get in somewhere with a 3.6/31.</p>
<p>That may be an understatement…seems to be the case everywhere. Every other person in Med school (any school) from my son’s HS as well as from his sister school is the child of at least one physician and in many cases both parents.</p>
<p>Coincidence? Just further proof that the “old boy’s club” is still going strong.</p>
<p>GPA>3.8
MCAT>33<br>
will have great choices as far as I know, 3.6+/31 will have lesser choices but still decent, and 3.9/35 will have greater choices…pretty logical</p>
<p>…I meant no-hook.<br>
But kids with physician parents sometime do not even take MCAT. They enter bs/md’s and/or StarMed (whatever name of programs that take them into Med. School in Sophpomore year of college), I know somebody who actually did both, switching to free (for this applicant)) Med. school and skipping MCAT (completely legit., nothing wrong, went to interviews in both cases, however, she got connections to both thru her MD parent).</p>
I think this may be true also for other career paths. I remember reading an article on school’s newspaper that many aspiring i-banking/consulting students complain that the connection could give an applicant a huge boost.</p>
<p>Regarding the required GPA/MCAT for a non-hooked applicant, one data point here: A 3.9+/39 student with a “good” school name (who is however not particularly good at how to “do premed” but, luckily, is not completely an academic nerd) could get into a medical school. In retrospect, it is likely the school’s name might help (but do not know to what extent.)</p>
<p>^From my experience, 3.9/39 is extremely rare and way way more than needed to get in. I am not saying that one should not be striving to achieve this, but in most cases it is unrealistic. To get 39 even with 4.0 is extremely rare, since 39 is very rare. I would agree with Curm’s estimate of 3.6/31 as a reasonable min. However, do not give up with somewhat lower stats, just adjust your list to whatever you have.</p>
<p>I would not say that I am part of an “old boy’s club” or medical aristocracy. My parents are primary care physicians with no academic positions. They did not graduate from a "top 50 medical school. If there would be a plus to applying as a son or daughter of a physician, it may simply be due to exposure to medicine. I experience what it was like to be a little child and have my parents leave overnight for shifts at the hospital–this perspective really makes you think twice about applying to medical school instead of just doing it “for the glory”.</p>
<p>Of course, there is a long history of medical careers being passed down from father to son. The Hippocratic Oath even states that a physician ought to teach his master’s children the art free of charge (implying that outsiders need to pay a fee!). It’s hard to gauge how much it really helps (Just like it’s hard to gauge how much legacy status helps) because the admissions process is non-transparent.</p>
<p>It is non-transparent somewhat and is pretty transparent to some who know personal stories and all kind of opportunities with much easier access for kids from physician’s families than others. (Research…special programs, even personal connections at non-local Medical schools). There is absolutely nothing wrong with it, why not rip benefits of parent’s very hard work. However, others need to be aware of it, they have to be a bit better, that is all I am saying (have been saying to my own kid all along to keep her in prospective and eliminate all kind of unneeded frustrations, it has worked).</p>