Would adcoms understand "tl;dr"

[pgoyal]

hey so if i were to use "tl;dr" in part of my essay do you think adcoms would understand what it means?

also the underlying assumption here is that adcoms (generally MD faculty around the age of mid 40s?) are the ones who read your essay...please correct me if this is wrong as well

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[Pons Asinorum]

hey so if i were to use "tl;dr" in part of my essay do you think adcoms would understand what it means?

also the underlying assumption here is that adcoms (generally MD faculty around the age of mid 40s?) are the ones who read your essay...please correct me if this is wrong as well

They would understand that you don't understand that you were meant to write something of a certain degree of sincerity and seriousness.

 

[mmmmd]

Even if they did, that's a screaming loud cliché.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

Not a chance.

 

[deleted307836]

There is no circumstance where that would be appropriate.

 

[Arkangeloid]

If you do this, you will not start medical school next year.

 

[Spinach Dip]

As in, putting it at the end of your essay for a one-sentence summary?

Don't do that



However, if you put it somewhere in the middle to make a point or show how you're different than everyone else.... I could see that working. But I still wouldn't suggest it.

EDIT: Let me re-phrase that. It is possible that you could twist it in a way that would make you stand out to the adcoms in a good way, but that would be very difficult. I would also pay cash money to see an essay using "tl;dr" which gets favorable reviews from adcom members.

 

[yehhhboiii]

if they saw that in an essay, they would be the ones going tl;dr

 

[miss chievous]

Best question I've seen on SDN

 

[CanePreMed]

I am old. Late 30's. I had no clue what that meant and had to look it up.

 

[loveoforganic2]

They would understand that you don't understand that you were meant to write something of a certain degree of sincerity and seriousness.

This is the level of snark I came here to supply. Glad it was already accomplished. DON'T PUT TEXTING/INTERNET ABBREVIATION IN YOUR PERSONAL STATEMENT, OH MY GOD (OMG).

 

[pgoyal]

alright i get it...i was going for comic relief anyways for people joining the thread hereafter...

tl;dr dont do it.

 

[SilverCat]

Now I'm trying to see how you would possibly use it in a PS.

" Tl; dr." It was a note I made at the end of my first essay critique of a struggling high school student in a troubled inner city named John. OMG, by tutoring, I learned like, so much. It's like, totally life altering, dude. I spent like, so much time LOLing with my peeps ..."(continues with tutoring story, linking it to medicine)

 

[OCDOCDOCD]

I think academia should be more open to "tl;dr". For example, instead of using "abstract" to refer to the summary at the start of scientific papers, we could just refer to it as the tl;dr section.

 

[SilverCat]

I think academia should be more open to "tl;dr". For example, instead of using "abstract" to refer to the summary at the start of scientific papers, we could just refer to it as the tl;dr section.

Nah, the paper itself would be labelled Tl;dr, because the abstract is the only thing people read anyway, right?

 

[RyanRt]

Sure, just don't leave out

OMG LOL WTF BBQ

and put some smileys in there too

 

[LizzyM]

Application readers at my school range from medical students in their mid-20s to professors emeritus who are over 70. Some but not all will be physicians and medical students but some will be faculty members in basic sciences, medical humanities, health policy... you just never know. You just can't predict who will read your application but you could guess that tl;dr might not be a good idea.

 

[Narmerguy]

I hate to break it to you, but there are people in their 20s that won't know what that means. Not everyone is plugged into that "side" of the internet. Many don't go beyond facebook, google, and youtube.

 

[mttamgirl]

I hate to break it to you, but there are people in their 20s that won't know what that means. Not everyone is plugged into that "side" of the internet. Many don't go beyond facebook, google, and youtube.

For sure... considering I'm 21 and didn't know what it meant at first glance, could be a real gamble to expect 40+ year olds to know.

 

[circulus vitios]

I hate to break it to you, but there are people in their 20s that won't know what that means. Not everyone is plugged into that "side" of the internet. Many don't go beyond facebook, google, and youtube.

Gross.

 

[RocDiva4040]

I always just thought people were freaking out when they typed that lol. Kinda like "askhglakhd;l" what does it mean?

 

[Ost3oclast]

Lol dude are you joking OP? I mean if so, well done. If not......well....goodluck.

 

[TheShaker]

I always just thought people were freaking out when they typed that lol. Kinda like "askhglakhd;l" what does it mean?

Too long; didn't read. OP is encouraging adcoms to not read his app.

 

[A7X]

Don't do it.

 

[IncognitoGuy]

tl;dr: no.