<p>I really think if you are a good candidate and interview well, you should be able to get in. Am I being naive? I have a 3.95 GPA, lots of extracurricular activities, lots of shadowing and although I haven’t taken it yet, the practice MCAT’s are making me feel pretty confident.</p>
<p>But I keep hearing people talk about having connections. At a family reunion my great-uncle said one of his students just got in because his family were “alumni”. Then today at lunch with my grandfather his friend came up to talk and he asked if I knew anyone, and when I said no he acted like I’d have no chance of getting in. </p>
<p>How important are connections?</p>
<p>pretty much not important for med school. For residency though, it’s a whole different ballgame for the smaller and competitive specialties.</p>
<p>Networking is important because it can open up opportunities that might not have otherwise existed, but you do not need to have connections to get into medical school. If that were the case, then the only doctors we’d have would be from long lines of doctors, and that’s simply not the case.</p>
<p>If you do everything right, you’ll get into a medical school. If you don’t get into a particular medical school because you don’t have any “connections,” then you don’t want to go to that school anyway. Also, even if this particular student’s family were “alumni,” they might have also had a great GPA and MCAT scores, excellent exposure to the field, great extracurriculars and internship experience, and wrote a good essay.</p>
<p>Don’t be discouraged because you don’t have connections to particular medical schools. I know many, many people who will be the first in their family to go to medical school or to go to particular universities, and they all got in on their own merit and accomplishments. Work hard, be smart about where you apply and how you put together your application package, and you’ll be fine.</p>
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<p>No.</p>
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<p>Depends on the type and how you define “connections”. It’s not going to stop you if you have none, but it may open doors that otherwise would not have been open. You can also earn your own “connections” while a student. Work hard and show commitment in your studies and ECs, because someone important may notice. :)</p>
<p>The connection you need is a great relationship with professors who will then write you a strong letter of recommendation, in addition to GPA/MCAT/ECs.</p>
<p>A few medical schools do ask if any member of your immediate family are alumni of the med school. What the adcomms does with information is unclear.</p>
<p>Connections can very rarely get an applicant a interview invitation, but those “connected” interviews seldom yield an acceptance.</p>
<p>My son had no connections to the med schools he was accepted to. </p>
<p>I doubt most students had connections.</p>
<p>No connecttions are required.</p>