Suggestions for networking with schools?

[JAK2-STAT3]

Hi all,

After seeing the importance of networking with schools stressed over and over on here, I’m looking for suggestions on how to actually do this for the schools I’m most interested in. Do I email schools and say “hey, I want to go here is there somebody I can talk to?” Do I ask to be connected with current students? Do I ask for a meeting with an Adcom? I’m a non-trad and my undergrad does not have AMSA.

If anyone has successfully done this I’d be curious to hear what you did. It feels pointless because these schools have so many good applicants but I have some geographic preferences and want to try.

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[Lifeblood_20]

It never hurts to try to network, but it's definitely not as important to getting accepted as SDN makes it out to be, so don't stress over it if you don't make it very far.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

On the contrary, it is important but it doesn't give you a payoff with offers. What it does give you is a chance to not sound like every other premed applicant because you will have done homework on whether the marketing is really true. Relationship building is also a fundamental skill that dictates your longer term success in working with patients, getting a residency, or finding a research opportunity. Being an engaged applicant will make you stand out, especially if you come from an underresourced background.

There are many stories from students who wished they had known something about a school that has given them reason to question accepting their offers.

I give hints of my tips throughout the WAMC, but let's start off with an obvious task: have you made a calendar of the various recruitment events and open houses of the schools you wish to attend over the next three months?

 

[Lifeblood_20]

^I agree it is very important to get to know a school beyond their promotion material when choosing where to attend. That said, doing that much research before even getting accepted is preemptive. Besides, it is not at all realistic to spend that much time for every school as applicants need to apply to 20+ schools nowadays and every school accepts <5% of their applicants. Do it for like a select few schools you are really interested in but don't stress over it.

You can leave the in-depth networking and research to when you are actually accepted and considering attending.

 

[JAK2-STAT3]

On the contrary, it is important but it doesn't give you a payoff with offers. What it does give you is a chance to not sound like every other premed applicant because you will have done homework on whether the marketing is really true. Relationship building is also a fundamental skill that dictates your longer term success in working with patients, getting a residency, or finding a research opportunity. Being an engaged applicant will make you stand out, especially if you come from an underresourced background.

Thank you for clarifying what networking does and doesn't get you. I hear what you're saying on the importance of relationships, and that makes total sense.

I agree it is very important to get to know a school beyond their promotion material when choosing where to attend. That said, doing that much research before even getting accepted is preemptive. Besides, it is not at all realistic to spend that much time for every school as applicants need to apply to 20+ schools nowadays and every school accepts <5% of their applicants. Do it for like a select few schools you are really interested in but don't stress over it.

Yeah I was thinking of just 3-4 schools I'm particularly interested in. I'm overwhelmed enough trying to figure out how to differentiate all of these schools.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

One of the most ironic things I have found is that at many national conferences (AMSA), often students ask other students about their curricula and clinical experiences, and they realize either how great their own school is or how much better they would have been if they went elsewhere (buyer's remorse). In a lot of cases, the schools are extremely similar to each other, and many of the rotation sites will intermingle students from different programs routinely (correct me if that's not the case).

I would often ask my advisees to first figure out what YOU want in a school rather than run through all the MSAR profiles and try to match to what THEY want. It's probably similar to swiping left (right?) on online dating sites... unless you know what you want, you'll wind up with some really interesting possibilities.

But I also will say the interaction will be similar to undergraduate admissions. We want you to be invested in us, and we should be more than happy to give you as much insight into who we are as a medical school AND a university. Many of us have taken some lessons from how undergrad admissions (and other processes) recruit and engage, so you have to be receptive. Even better, you can be proactive.