Networking

[peace2012]

Do you guys believe that in order to get into medical school, having networking such as relative or friend that are doctors, would help you greatly in admission process? What if you don't have a lot of networking skills, do you think people like that will be looked down at during the admission process? What kind of people do most medical doctors are like? Are they compassionate or are most of them just in the profession for prestige and money?

[jerkoutnow2]

Do you guys believe that in order to get into medical school, having networking such as relative or friend that are doctors, would help you greatly in admission process? What if you don't have a lot of networking skills, do you think people like that will be looked down at during the admission process? What kind of people do most medical doctors are like? Are they compassionate or are most of them just in the profession for prestige and money?

 

no

 

but maybe since u might have more opportunities early in childhood

[rmorelan]

Do you guys believe that in order to get into medical school, having networking such as relative or friend that are doctors, would help you greatly in admission process? What if you don't have a lot of networking skills, do you think people like that will be looked down at during the admission process? What kind of people do most medical doctors are like? Are they compassionate or are most of them just in the profession for prestige and money?

 

I have to say it won't help you except in a few simple ways - because you have those contacts you then know how the system works, and you know that right away. hense you can avoid making some mistakes. You also understand that is it possible to go to medical school - you have all these obvious examples in front of you. I don't want to minimize the advantages that can give you but only that access to similar information (this forum is a excellent start) can counteract it quickly. Actually that is one of the main reasons I continue to post here.

 

Otherwise networking doesn't overcome GPA, MCAT, and good ECs are out there for all. If your family can support you financially then you have more time perhaps for ECs and less stress but that is a barrier you can overcome as well.

 

In my experience most students go to medical school for a mix of reasons - often helping others/having a meaningful life is a bit part of it. Obvious have a great job is a part of it as well.

[apache]

mmmm... well, we'll see, i respect a lot of people, and if i get an email from one, then i wont count on it, besides that i need someone huge, which is what i have lined up as second plan yeah, me get tuition waiver with this person. paradoxical to the impression my vitriol (often critiquing those who treat it like being a gov worker... no, sorry, my bud makes a 150 k doing that if you want chill and stiff upper lip) my lead some to believe, i'm uber chill... although he's uber chill 2... im uber compassionate, to a fault actually, only thing i ever get knocked on on evals... too personable... self disclosure, then again, you have to tailor yourself to the patients comfort zone right. lots of docs are just detached as a coping mechanism, or because of stress, so hard to blame them, empathy all the time 100 hours a week is hard even when you want to show it... sometimes periodic narcolepsy has to be attended and worrying about being cheery is secondary.

 

networking def kills for res tho, least in canada.

 

Do you guys believe that in order to get into medical school, having networking such as relative or friend that are doctors, would help you greatly in admission process? What if you don't have a lot of networking skills, do you think people like that will be looked down at during the admission process? What kind of people do most medical doctors are like? Are they compassionate or are most of them just in the profession for prestige and money?

[tooty]

It used to help for UBC but not anymore.

 

networking wont help premed but will certainly help for Carms

[nosuperman]

Check out Altitude mentoring. It was set up, I think by a Toronto med student, to address the fact that some premeds have easy access to medical professionals and some have none. I do it now (as a med student with a premed mentee) and I would have loved to have that kind of access from first year.

 

I don't think networking is a make or break thing, its a tool that can be used to gain small advantages which can be important. Some people make the most of it and some people who have it take it for granted and do nothing with it.

 

Edit I'll clarify what I mean by advantage. I think if used properly it helps guide you through undergrad because you're learning, actively and passively, from people who have done it successfully. By networking I mean getting these people closer into your social circle so that you're exposed to their language, culture, important issues, talking points, etc. Its also good because there's a lot of bad advice out there, and though med students and docs can certainly give bad advice, I'd argue its less likely. Also for interview prep and even self-confidence its good to be surrounded by people who have achieved your current goal already. You might work with several doctors and meet with several med students and differ in opinion from all of them, but its good to know what people in the industry think if not solely for the purpose of communicating better when someone from that industry is sitting across the table from you asking questions. Its worth adding - don't restrict yourself to med-school networking either. You should be talking to all kinds of people from different backgrounds for the same reasons already listed.

[dokrbb]

last month, this topic was discussed in more details in the monthly Virtual Mentor,

 

sure, they spoke about this and other related topics with an amount of well-known political correctness, still it's interesting to see another point of view about the networking/family member, here is the link:

 

http://virtualmentor.ama-assn.org/2012/12/toc-1212.html