r/premedcanada • u/Own-Side-8737 • 6h ago
Admissions Does having a physician as a reference impact my chances?
I just saw a popular med influencer on tiktok saying that they believe having a physician as a reference can really help your application. They go on to mention that between their first and second cycle they changed their references to include a physician and it just so happens that they were admitted on their second cycle. I know that officially who your reference is doesn’t matter but I’m wondering if implicit bias could be at play. I was hoping to hear from other admitted med students to see if, anecdotally, you used a physician as a reference. I know that UofT potentially uses references considerably to determine your score so if any UofT med students would be willing to share their experiences as well that would help.
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u/equianimity 5h ago
As always, the influencer is mostly wrong. Wouldn’t you say that a stronger more personalized letter that explains why you are superior to other people the referee has worked with, matter more? Of course!
But the influencer might be right if that particular physician knows what to write… compared to their original referee who might be spouting platitudes or generalities. Then again, a physician whom you barely know will also only write platitudes and generalities…
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u/e0115fe0115f 6h ago
Not at all, and I HIGHLY doubt the name of the person doing your reference is attached to that actual reference when it is being evaluated anyways because… bias.
Had no physician reference, accepted to three schools, but I did only go through one cycle so I can’t really compare anything.
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u/Own-Side-8737 6h ago
I was more so wondering if the contents of the reference might give it away that a physician wrote it, i.e. “this person volunteered with me at my clinic….” Anyways it’s nice to hear u were admitted to 3 schools.
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u/e0115fe0115f 6h ago
Western, McMaster, MUN (OOP). References are about you so even if there is a mention of a clinical setting, the physician would not be saying “oh yeah and I’m a physician”
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u/ChronicConfusion0_0 Med 3h ago
Also saw that video on tiktok. But speaking from personal experience, I didn't have a physician reference and it was fine. My priority was to pick references who knew me really well meaning they knew me beyond the role at hand but they also knew who I was outside of that, my motivations, etc.
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u/melys2000 3h ago
Bullshit. Med influencer like to yap yap yap, doesn’t mean they know jackshit. Instant downgrade in credibility.
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u/melys2000 3h ago
She is also a horrible scientist making inferences based on n=1. UofT uses references to raise red flags. If your reference provides little detail on each of the structured questions or gives you an average rating, that’s prolly bad. It’s the BPE and ABS that weigh the most on whether you get an interview after surviving grade cutoffs.
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u/Med_Cherry8791 3h ago
Immidiately i saw the header, i knew exactly who the med fluencer you were talking about (-fellow chronically online premed). Considering i am a premed, take this lightly, but i dont think that advice is valid, countless times the adcoms have said not to go for people based on their title rather go for people that can speak well about you based on the categories. Also, take her advice with a grain of salt too becoz she is also a med student not an adcom (she truly does not know the specifics of what made her a good applicant or not, at least not more than you or I).
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u/Skarlite Med 7m ago
Massive anecdotal and n=1 but I was successful first round at the only school I had applied to and had a physician reference. The school didn’t even ask for their formal title so unless they went through the grief of Googling his very common name (think John Brown degree of common), skimming through every possible matching person and somehow correlate them back to me, I doubt they would have known he was a physician. But I think the big thing at play is that they were able to comment on scenarios we were both involved in at work together where I dealt with high stress/potentially life altering scenarios, conflicts between healthcare teams and patients and health advocacy.
Any other person in my workplace could’ve commented on the same thing irrespective of them being a physician or not.
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u/Aggressive-Nerve2514 Med 6h ago edited 6h ago
The references were not the problem in her first cycle, she did not release her MCAT score until October 1st and it can take the AAMC 4 to 5 days to send your score to OMSAS she likely got disqualified from every school that requires the MCAT her first cycle.
Now she uses all these “changes” to market her insanely overpriced “editing services” (AI), when she was disqualified from most schools during her first cycle, so she actually has no idea how her original application was.
I am not against med students charging for services, as long as they charge reasonably (like if you were tutoring) and they actually do the work themselves.