Is it a good thing or bad thing if u have doctors in your family

OK....
about time i started another controversial thread eh :wink:

Ok i got alot of doctors in my family..and I was always under the impressions of not to mention it in interviews or PS......simply cos they dont like it..and what does ur uncle or dad have to do with your suitability directly as a candidate...plus its an unfair advantage

The other day ma boy Pat got turned down by a uni...im not sayin who and one of the reasons they gave was
"You did not show enough experience of the subject via friends and family"..
I dont know if they said that exactly as he told me this a few days ago.and i cant remember exactly what they wrote..i read the letter in fact.......i could probs find out....
but it was pretty much implied that the fact he does not know any doctors as friends or family has gone against him

He was pretty upset.....he said to me that its not his fault if his parents arent doctors and i was shocked..ill see if i can get the exact letter from him and post it on here.......

Is this actually allowed?.......and should I mention that i got doctors in my family cos im confused

This rejection was BEFORE interview as well

Reply 1

TurboShrimp

i think having doctors in your family or not is pretty irrelevent. They take it for granted that if you have medic connections you will use them wherever they are to get into placements etc and they can't really legitimately penalise you if they don't

I would be really surprised if the single reason he was rejected was family background
As far as you are concerned, I guess if having docs in the family has given you an insight then yea, sure, mention it but don't say you want to do it because it is like a family tradition or anything like that :smile:

Reply 2

Barry Scott

My dad's an established surgeon and an examiner for the RCS and if I was applying to do medicine (which i'm not), i wouldn't mention it because he has given me no desire to do medicine at uni. If they have inspired you, you could say something but other than that, I can't really see why you would feel the need to mention it.

Reply 3

_bonnie

5

I think if you mention that having doctors in family has given you an insight etc then thats fine as long as you also mention steps you have taken regardless of your family and what you learnt from that.

:smile:

Reply 4

krisstassen

OP

12

TurboShrimp

i think having doctors in your family or not is pretty irrelevent. They take it for granted that if you have medic connections you will use them wherever they are to get into placements etc and they can't really legitimately penalise you if they don't

I would be really surprised if the single reason he was rejected was family background
As far as you are concerned, I guess if having docs in the family has given you an insight then yea, sure, mention it but don't say you want to do it because it is like a family tradition or anything like that :smile:

No there were more reasons as well.......
but the fact that this was a reason at all was a bit surprising

Reply 5

Helenia

20

That surprises me to be honest. To say they don't show enough experience of the subject is fair enough, but to pick on the family connection is very dodgy (if this is in fact what happened).

There are plenty of us here without any medical family and plenty of people with medical parents ranging from GPs to high-flying surgeon types. I don't think it's made much difference, to be honest.

Reply 6

Philosoraptor

18

It's a good thing in terms of being able to get work experience and such like, but in terms of mentioning it; if I had medical people in my family, I wouldn't.

Reply 7

graemematt

12

I would mention it if it had a direct effect on your decision to study medicine. if you had got an insight of the medical profession through your father or mother, then thats worth a mention! Nobody will criticise you so long as you explain what you gained from their insight. Furthermore, you've experienced the strain long hours can have on the family from a personal viewpoint (I.e. as the son of a doctor).

Reply 8

krisstassen

OP

12

Philosoraptor

It's a good thing in terms of being able to get work experience and such like, but in terms of mentioning it; if I had medical people in my family, I wouldn't.

Yeh ive decided i wont mention it!.......
do feel bad for my mate tho....there were other factors as well in his rejection....but i do think its harsh nonetheless.......
i wonder if anyother ppl on this board hav had the same reason from this uni as its a pretty popular one for medicine

Reply 9

Throwaway15124

5

I didn't mention it in mine.

As with all of the "equal opportunites" rubbish, true equality is gained from not knowing and making a decision on the basis of what is important. It absolutely riles me every time I fill out a form with an "equal opportunities" section - surely if they didn't know anyone's creed nor colour then they would make the right decision on the relevant information rather than ticking the "I employed a homeless gay non-white transvestite today" box.

Reply 10

Miss Monkey

10

Lots of people here have one or both parents in the medical profession, but then there are also lots like me who have had nobody go to university before, and definitely no doctors. As others have said, if it comes up then I would imagine it's fine to mention it, but make sure it doesn't come out as if you only want to be a doctor because someone in your family is, or someone wants you to be. It's got to be your decision based on you having enough information about medicine, and if they can see that there won't be any problems.

Reply 11

martin101

10

Mmm, Im a first generation medic (ie. no one in my immediate family are doctors) I know loads of people who have one or both parents as doctors who are quite happily doing medicine. Honestly yes youre going to get work experience easier BUT that said you also have to make sure that it doesnt come across as your parents carrying you through it all. So it can work both ways. I personally dont remember being asked anything about what my parents do at interview(because quite frankly its irrelevant) and discriminating against you based on this is highly unethical.

Reply 12

krisstassen

OP

12

martin101

Mmm, Im a first generation medic (ie. no one in my immediate family are doctors) I know loads of people who have one or both parents as doctors who are quite happily doing medicine. Honestly yes youre going to get work experience easier BUT that said you also have to make sure that it doesnt come across as your parents carrying you through it all. So it can work both ways. I personally dont remember being asked anything about what my parents do at interview(because quite frankly its irrelevant) and discriminating against you based on this is highly unethical.

Exactly!
unethical sums it up!!...
I mean it was probably the most minor reasons and there were a million other things going against my friend..his grades arent great at gcse either and even tho other things were fine I did doubt him getting in..as much as i would love it if he did....but such a reason even if minor is unethical...

Reply 13

bright star

1

maybe he misunderstood and it said something like he seemed to have no first hand experience of doctors not even through family/friends. i dunno. doesn't sound likely that they'd care about that at all....

Is it a good thing or bad thing if u have doctors in your family

Related discussions

Latest

Trending

Trending

Articles for you