Ad Coms Perusing SDN

[DrWuStar]

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Members don't see this ad.

So we hear these rumors to watch what we say, cause members of the admissions committees peruse these pages and can hold what we say against us. I am interested in whether people really believe this. To me, it seems a little far-fetched that admissions committee members would sit around trying to figure out who's who on SDN and similar forums.

"Hmmm... Wu lives in Cali, took a few years off between college and med school, work in an office, admits to having taken the MCAT twice, and seems to be very into Northwestern..." (admissions officer proceeds to rifle through thousands of applications and attempts to figure out true identity of DrWuStar)

Or maybe I receive an interview invitation from Med School X and the interviewer suddenly comes with "We've determined that you have been psoting on SDN under the alias DrWuStar. Please tell us Wu, why did you talk **** about the rudeness of our office staff when you called to bug them about your application status?"

I don't know, this just seems a little unrealistic to me. What do you guys think?

 

[exmike]

Its a fact that Adcom people DO peruse SDN. Because of that I am a bit cautious about what I post. That said, it is highly unlikely your admission to a medicalschool will be in any way influenced by what you do on SDN short of blatantly racial or derogatory remarks (which some people do post). Those people should have anonymous user names and profiles..

 

[UCSBMed1]

*(Cough)* Bulls*it...

 

[dumbest premed]

I once posted about this. My best guess is that they look at these boards for feedback about their interviewing methods/procedures.

 

[DarkChild]

oh they're watching!

 

[Alexander99]

That's right. They are connected with the operators of this website and they log all the IP addresses of people who post on here. If you've made an objectionable comment on here, they'll figure out who you are and automatically reject you!

 

[dumbest premed]

Originally posted by DarkChild
oh they're watching!

That's right. The adcoms have special software that can activate your webcams through SDN and then they can watch you without you knowing. The truth is out there!

 

[exmike]

actually i was referring to the interview feedback, not specfically the boards

 

[rCubed]

i know for a fact that they do look over the interview feedback, but i'm not so sure about the forums.
however, even if they did, i'm sure it would be just to get feedback and not to stalk applicants

 

[Street Philosopher]

Realize too that some members of the adcom are students, who were premed themselves not too long ago. Keep that in mind........................

 

[sacrament]

I think you should be more worried about God reading this forum. Hell is forever, kids.

 

[mlw03]

if people wanna get a list going, i can start. i know these two schools both look at the interview feedback part of SDN because they openly admit it. i don't think admissions comittee members of staff have the time or interest to review the message boards though.

University of Florida

University of South Florida

 

[....]

I have been encuraged by the schools i have interviewed at to use the interview feedback, and add to it. They say they read it frequently and they like to know what people think. This board is only one click away from the interview feedback. They certialy would pop their heads in occationaly if they are alredy looking at the feedback page. But to try and discern identities....paranoid.

 

[rCubed]

SUNY Stony Brook

University of Florida

University of South Florida

 

[Smitty3L]

Originally posted by sacrament
I think you should be more worried about God reading this forum. Hell is forever, kids.

The adcom committee not only reads all of your posts on SDN but have hired private investigators so be on your best behavior at all times!

 

[DarkChild]

no seriously - they really do read this

 

[DW]

another vote for they are reading it, and can figure out some posters.

i'm not kidding either

 

[coldchemist]

Georgetown knows some interesting details about the interview feedback. I'm pretty sure they just look at it to see what people think about their school--anything else would be a waste of resources that they need just to keep up with applications.

 

[soreed]

are there any other popular med student forums/places? SDN is it, isn't it?

 

[Megalofyia]

oldpremeds.com

MDmom.com

and others that won't show up on SDN..

 

[Squat n Squeeze]

Originally posted by DW
another vote for they are reading it, and can figure out some posters.

i'm not kidding either

Geez. I'm in hot water then. I revealed a lot of things from my application on here over the past few months.🙁

 

[exmike]

i bet the adcoms reading this thread are having a ball

 

[dtreese]

Well I might as well move on to another career path.

 

[Cerberus]

I cant imagine Adcomms spending their precious time reading "omg I got a 39S, do i hve a chance????" threads

 

[BerkeleyPremed]

I seriously doubt they read the forums (probably the interview feedback though). If they do read the forums, it would probably be the student consultants to the adcom. And I seriously doubt they would do the following: "Omg...**insert SDN sn here** just made the rudest comment!...**contacts SDN moderators**..looks up IP address...**calls ISP services to match IP under the registered user name**....**find last and first name of the user with said IP address...cross-researchers that name under the filing cabinets in their office with each AMCAS and secondary application**....**finds file**...**file thrown in the trash**

 

[Megalofyia]

Aren't there stories around about adcoms contacting SDN members after they had said things on here that upset the adcom?

 

[kmnfive]

i think they do. and if they dont, they very well damn should be.

 

[soreed]

Originally posted by Megalofyia

...and others that won't show up on SDN..

is there some anti-SDN site? some pepsi version?

 

[Megalofyia]

*******.com

Test to see if this shows up..

 

[Megalofyia]

SDN won't let it show up...

 

[Bridaddy]

I seriously doubt they read the forums (probably the interview feedback though). If they do read the forums, it would probably be the student consultants to the adcom. And I seriously doubt they would do the following: "Omg...**insert SDN sn here** just made the rudest comment!...**contacts SDN moderators**..looks up IP address...**calls ISP services to match IP under the registered user name**....**find last and first name of the user with said IP address...cross-researchers that name under the filing cabinets in their office with each AMCAS and secondary application**....**finds file**...**file thrown in the trash**

People can't just call an ISP with an IP address and get a username, or last and first name. People can fake their IP address to a website, its not that hard. I kept getting viruses sent from a particular IP address, and it took forever to get the ISP to even understand what I was talking about.

This is all a mute point, because:

1 No Adcom would ever do this, even if they could...

&

2. IP addresses are fakeable.

The RIAA has won some legal battles with getting names by talking about copyright enfringement, but I think ultimately the law will change, or this will be overturned in the higher courts. No copyright violations are taking place here on SDN, with the ADCOMs holding the rights.

People don't truly understand IP addresses, as I can demonstrate with the following:

Before any of you freakout over this, all this is doing is reflecting information about yourself, back at yourself, no one else can see it (they all see their own information).

If you'd like read more about it, here is the owner's website:

http://www.danasoft.com/

(privacy statement)
http://www.danasoft.com/privacy.php

On a side note, every website you go to logs the above information.

The more you know.....

(yes, your public service announcement for the evening).

 

[Deuce 007 MD]

Think about it, some of us are in med school right now. When you go to interview one of those interviewers might be a student. That student probably reads this board cuz he/she found the 411 useful when they were premed, e.g. jalby used to post regularly now that he is on the adcom at USC he doesn't give advise anymore. But I'm sure he still reads the boards from time to time. Say for example you've read all the stuff sns has said when you interview him reading his file you could figure out who he is. SnS you should ask darkchild or DW if they have read your file. 😀

 

[DrMom]

Originally posted by Megalofyia


MDmom.com

that's MomMD.com

 

[TTSD]

Well.. I guess that rules out me starting my "What porn site do you most frequently visit" thread eh? They probably don't want more perverts then there already are in med school.

 

[DrWuStar]

Originally posted by DW
another vote for they are reading it, and can figure out some posters.

i'm not kidding either

you people who feel so sure they read the forums: do you have any evidence to back this up or are you just paranoid?

i'll admit i like to maintain my anonymity here just in case, but i also feel sort of stupid about it cause i don't think they would be reading this.

facts... i want facts... not just paranoid speculation!

 

[Neuronix]

Originally posted by Deuce 007 MD
Say for example you've read all the stuff sns has said when you interview him reading his file you could figure out who he is.

 

[dookbloo]

even if they do read it, its not for the purpose of finding out who people are and what they say. we do play a significant role in their professions, so why not check out a forum like this. i can tell you they have much better things to do than sit around and try to guess who people are, which, by the way, would take quite a bit of time, effort, and persistence. i think they would rather read some essays, have a beer, or watch moises alou cry over that foul ball. waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.

 

[JM.]

HOLY CRAP HE HAS MY ISP!

 

[Tezzie]

I don't have a reason to be scared about it. So what if adcoms are lurking on SDN! Actually i would be glad if they found out who i was cause then they would get a more realistic part of me (contrary to the one during the interview).

The people who should have something to fear are people like Thakur that come here and talk about racist crap.

 

[Jalby]

Originally posted by Deuce 007 MD
Think about it, some of us are in med school right now. When you go to interview one of those interviewers might be a student. That student probably reads this board cuz he/she found the 411 useful when they were premed, e.g. jalby used to post regularly now that he is on the adcom at USC he doesn't give advise anymore. But I'm sure he still reads the boards from time to time. Say for example you've read all the stuff sns has said when you interview him reading his file you could figure out who he is. SnS you should ask darkchild or DW if they have read your file. 😀

Ears burning. But you do make a good point. And on a side note, I'm not an adcom.

 

[Squat n Squeeze]

Originally posted by Deuce 007 MD
Think about it, some of us are in med school right now. When you go to interview one of those interviewers might be a student. That student probably reads this board cuz he/she found the 411 useful when they were premed, e.g. jalby used to post regularly now that he is on the adcom at USC he doesn't give advise anymore. But I'm sure he still reads the boards from time to time. Say for example you've read all the stuff sns has said when you interview him reading his file you could figure out who he is. SnS you should ask darkchild or DW if they have read your file. 😀

Holy crap, it would be ironic if I ever get interviewed by a SDNer. Just out of curiosity, if one of you from the adcoms were to interview me, knowing all that you do about me, would I get your vote?😀

 

[want$it$bad]

Originally posted by Megalofyia
*******.com

Test to see if this shows up..

How 'bout throwing in some punctuat!on or random $ymbols or something -- or PM me. Now I'm very curious...

 

[Super Rob]

My undergraduate experience wasn't typical for that of a premed, probably because it took me until I graduated to decide that I wanted to steer my life in this direction. I could never understand why people like my roommate were so fussy and competitive - they were excellent students but they were obsessed with getting into med school!

And now, I'm filling out secondary applications myself and talking to people who develop mathematical algorithms to determine if Hopkins will interview them. I get a kick out of this "adcom suspicion." Here's my two cents:


My guess is that admissions committee members have busy schedules like everyone else.

I wouldn't doubt that if I were a committee member I'd check this site to get feedback on the interview process and on how students feel about my school, but I could think of about a thousand other things that would be more of a priority in my life.

Aren't committees composed of physicians and their students? These people don't have time to play on the internet and I highly doubt that any of them would take offense to the sort of discussion carried out on this forum... unless you're completely blasting someone, which is never appropriate.

 

[woolie]

I don't know, I think people in offices are busy but also take plenty of "mental breaks" on the internet like anyone else. If I was an adcom at XYZ school, I would definitely want to get a sense of how people feel about us. I mean, it's like free marketing feedback.

So for the good schools that are decent to their applicants then that's what they'll hear. Schools like BU will hear people complain about their 'secondary' (send $$) and that we student don't really like that. Maybe, they'll actually do something about that.

I think most people are vague enough and are polite enough about their schools tho. I don't think anyone is ever really saying trash about a particualr school or is way out of line.

 

[EvoDevo]

I interviewed at a DO school last year, and the admissions staff managed to put the pieces together for not only what I said on SDN, but also another interviewee.

They thought that it was funny, while he and I thought it was scary. 😱

Do be careful about what you post.

Evo

 

[calebho501]

When I was at SUNY Upstate's interview, the director of admission told us that if we felt unhappy about our interviewers, we should let her know, instead of her finding out about that on www.studentdoctor.net

I think she referred to the interview feedback section, so yes, I do think some schools check out this site periodically

 

[want$it$bad]

Originally posted by want$it$bad
How 'bout throwing in some punctuat!on or random $ymbols or something -- or PM me. Now I'm very curious...

thx meg, but that site's been "under construction" since the pm. any others out there?

 

[Megalofyia]

Under construction? It isn't when I go to it. That's weird.

 

[redrocky]

At our white coat ceremony, a speaker used quotes from SDN. It was pretty funny. So I guess they do check it out from time to time.

 

[MDmiracle]

I interviewed at U of Wash. in talking to the dean he referenced things almost verbatim off of the interview site. A specific entry in the feedback section talked about them not "marketing the school" to interviewees last year. So they put in a marketing shpeel. I have also benn told by members of the school that the committees use the site to evaluate their interview policies. The dean also spoke to us on the issue of a panel interview using quotes directly off of the site. He didn't attribute them directly to SDN, but it was clear as to where he got the info.