Does Playing An Instrument Increases Odds Of Being An MD?

I’m skeptical.  My kid wants to be a physician so she was all upset yesterday when they played a video at school saying that 52% of kids that are in band in grade school go to medical school.  There’s no time for her to play multiple sports, study, and be in the band so of course we said no.

I was in the band when I was a kid so it’s not an issue with the band.  There are plenty of studies around music and academics.  Not that I’m going to call the school out on the video, but I’d like to see the research.  A quick Google search didn’t find anything on this correlation.  I’d more importantly ask the question of what percentage of physicians played an instrument, at what age, and for how long.  Did they play piano?  Did they play the recorder?  Did they play in marching band in college?  Did they play in a heavy metal band?  There is a difference.

I hate when groups “market” themselves hard to the kids.  My son was all worked up a few weeks ago when the boy scouts talked about shooting guns and bows and arrows (neither of which I intend to let him touch for a while).  He thought this was a way around me by joining boy scouts. 

Anyways, if anyone knows about research on band (or other activities) and the correlation with being an MD (I prefer causality), please comment.  Thanks.