Adcoms browsing on SDN

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How often do you think adcoms browse this site?

  • infrequently (a few times per year)

    Votes: 65 40.1%
  • occasionally (a few times per month)

    Votes: 75 46.3%
  • frequently ( every day)

    Votes: 14 8.6%
  • too dang often (several times per day)

    Votes: 7 4.3%

  • Total voters
    162
  • Poll closed .

riceman04

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  1. Medical Student
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SO after reading that adcom's just may be browsing around this site I wanted to ask yall how many different committee members you think may be members of this site?

Do you think they are taking notes?
 
Where's the option for never? I think they have bigger fish to fry.
 
AStudent said:
Where's the option for never? I think they have bigger fish to fry.


oh yeah huh....... 😳
my first time.....messed up.....dud dud dud 😳 😳 😛
 
I'm sure some do on occassion but I don't think it's as often as one would think. I honestly think that they'd check out the resident forums more since the information there is a bit more interesting.

But I do know that the guys at Albany Medical College check out the website, especially the interview feedback. One of my intervieweres asked me point blank if I had visited the website and to tell him the questions that I had seen.

And I think the dean of Admissions at SLU mentioned the website during lunch, as well as one of the people from UIowa during one of her presentations.

But the majority of what people say in the pre-allo board is pretty tame and it really shouldn't matter.
 
I used to post like crazy on the Princeton Review college board senior year of HS. I talked to my Duke adcom member and she was able to identify who I was based on my username and my SAT scores and she said I had some very nice comments about the school.

Freaked me out.

(No, I didn't get in.)

Out of the hundreds of adcom members out there, I'm sure there's at least one or two browsing the forums every day. Maybe not to identify specific users but they probably use the Search function to read threads about their respective schools.
 
I know that the people from MCW and UCIrvine browse the site. They flat out told us at the interview.
 
At one of my interviews, a member of the adcom mentioned this site while rolling his eyes and expressing his disgust for it :meanie:
 
Last year when I obsessively spent time on collegeconfidential.com (an undergrad admissions site like this one), I for a fact knew that adcoms frequently browsed the site. From MIT, they adcoms would try to guess which user name matched up with which real name applicant (which they did pretty well). At this point, they have begun to actually post themselves on the site answering questions of frustrated and confused applicants. Maybe there is a way to invite med school adcoms to the site so that they could offer advice straight from the source. Just a thought.
 
AStudent said:
Where's the option for never? I think they have bigger fish to fry.


Not true at all. USF admissions director posts on here under the username REL.

Dr. Robert Hinkley of UMiami SOM posted on here recently about the alternate waitlist movement. He's admitted to me that he's viewed posts on here on many occassions.

A lot of adcoms know about this site and often promote students going to it because of its vast resources. Often times the ones that promote and know of this site have viewed it.

I believe the poster Rayhan, recently said some adcoms from one of the NY schools were also posting on here.

So believe it or not, many schools do have adcoms that visit this site.
 
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nebrfan said:
At one of my interviews, a member of the adcom mentioned this site while rolling his eyes and expressing his disgust for it :meanie:

Really???? The adcom didn't like this site???????

Our adcoms promote and encourage using it as a source of info and often post here.
 
some schools do it more than the others.....some do it frequently and some don't bother at all...that is my understanding e.g. ECU people do it occasionally to see what people are saying about their school not so much to figure out who is saying it but what are they saying and can they improve the shortcomings.
 
i know for a fact that GW and SUNY Upstate looks. SUNY Upstate even has a screen name and posts and answers questions.
 
Gtown hates this site.... they mentioned it at the interview
 
Dallenoff said:
I used to post like crazy on the Princeton Review college board senior year of HS. I talked to my Duke adcom member and she was able to identify who I was based on my username and my SAT scores and she said I had some very nice comments about the school.

Freaked me out.

(No, I didn't get in.)

Out of the hundreds of adcom members out there, I'm sure there's at least one or two browsing the forums every day. Maybe not to identify specific users but they probably use the Search function to read threads about their respective schools.
ha pr rocked back in the day.. when were you on it
 
rugirlie said:
Gtown hates this site.... they mentioned it at the interview


That's probably because people BASH GTOWN to death on here!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
tulane mentioned SDN at my interview and the guy said that Dopaminaphile (sdn user) was a liar.
 
Unless you are trolling under an obvious name or have extremely negative things to say about schools/people then who cares. I think plenty of people could be ID'ed but for the most part we talk about pointless speculation.

If an adcom is going to penalize me for being pro-active about my medical education then I don't understand admissions what so ever.
 
indo said:
tulane mentioned SDN at my interview and the guy said that Dopaminaphile (sdn user) was a liar.

Really? What did he/she/it lie about?
 
Oh, I wish I could remember which school it was, but the admissions lady threatened our interview group regarding SDN. "Don't be so sure that you're anonymous when you post those interview comments," she said. I didn't take much notice then because I wasn't posting on SDN, but in retrospect, that's kind of creepy.
 
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Like I said unless you are consistently ripping on schools or people I dont see how it could be harmful.

Also, if you post really negative feedback, would you want to go to the school anyway?
 
SDN was mentioned at each of my interviews.
 
I love the following medical schools with all my heart: [insert medical schools applied to here]
 
I helped start a website called studentdonor.org (about organ donation), and an ADCOM friend of mine has mistakenly referred to it a few times as the studendoctor site. I'm guessing he's been here once or twice 🙂
 
If I were an Adcom, I'd be pretty interested in what people were saying about my school - what interest it was drawing, and what concerns were coming from the applicants.
As for patrolling for applicants, it's probably not easy to try to match avatars to one of thousands of applications.
 
Dallenoff said:
I used to post like crazy on the Princeton Review college board senior year of HS. I talked to my Duke adcom member and she was able to identify who I was based on my username and my SAT scores and she said I had some very nice comments about the school.

Freaked me out.

(No, I didn't get in.)

Out of the hundreds of adcom members out there, I'm sure there's at least one or two browsing the forums every day. Maybe not to identify specific users but they probably use the Search function to read threads about their respective schools.

yikes!! btw who were you on the PR board and how long ago was this? This is why I never post information there or here that would indicate who I am.
 
ingamina said:
If I were an Adcom, I'd be pretty interested in what people were saying about my school - what interest it was drawing, and what concerns were coming from the applicants.
As for patrolling for applicants, it's probably not easy to try to match avatars to one of thousands of applications.
i'd definitely check this out if i had anything to do with admissions 😛
 
MedicineBird said:
SDN was mentioned at each of my interviews.
by you or the interviewer????
 
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Hook17 said:
ha pr rocked back in the day.. when were you on it
hahaha i know who you were there considering you used the same name 😀 I've even seen pictures of you in front of your house and sports cars. 😛
 
indo said:
tulane mentioned SDN at my interview and the guy said that Dopaminaphile (sdn user) was a liar.
oh come on, i find it hard to believe they mentioned a username. what did he lie about...their school???
 
Psycho Doctor said:
oh come on, i find it hard to believe they mentioned a username. what did he lie about...their school???


..didn't mention user name but did mention a specific post in which a person said they spoke to the assitant dean and he said the school was full.
 
indo said:
..didn't mention user name but did mention a specific post in which a person said they spoke to the assitant dean and he said the school was full.
so you just checked back on sdn and found out it was Dopaminaphile who said that? Because you mentioned a specific name in your post as if the adcom said he was a liar.
 
gujuDoc said:
Not true at all. USF admissions director posts on here under the username REL. ....


Guju,

Telling us his username is akin to telling the whole city of Metropolis that Clark Kent is really SUPERMAN!

lol 😛
 
To any ad-com currently reading this site:

I am a hard worker and I think I would be a great additon to your school. I messed up a bit back as an undergrad, but isn't that what youth is for?

I have since matured. I have been working in the healthcare field for many years, scrubbing next to some of the most well-known surgens in the country.

I am not above begging. PLEASE LET ME IN!!!!

If you would like specifics, PM me. I can send you my CV.

Thank you for your support.

😀
 
sunnyjohn said:
Guju,

Telling us his username is akin to telling the whole city of Metropolis that Clark Kent is really SUPERMAN!

lol 😛

:laugh: :laugh: :meanie: :meanie:

Yah but he's posted on here telling others who he is too. So he doesn't make any secret of it. Actually.........

Mr. Larkin is one of the more transparent and straightforward people in an admissions office, that I have ever met.

I remember some years back when I was at UF's Medical College Forum where they bring out 15 MD schools to talk on med school admissions. Generally this include the 4 MD schools in the state, the armed services school in Md, Mayo Med school because of their ties to Fl., and a few other out of state schools. They generally bring 1-2 other top 20 schools besides Mayo, and a few other random top 50 schools.

Anyhow, we were allowed to choose 5 schools to hear from, and I remember the only direct people being UMiami and USF. To this day, that is what impresses me the most about their admissions. They are straightforward in so many more ways then a lot of other schools. I remember UF dancing around each question while the other two schools just got to the point.

The more you get to know REL, the more you'll see that he isn't out to try to catch people who may be saying something bad so much as to help the students out and do what he can to help them.

USF's motto is that they'll help us any way they can even if they can't guarantee us a seat in their own med school. In other words, they'll try to advise us to do what they can to help us get in a med school somewhere in the states, even if it doesn't necessarily mean USF admissions. Its real nice to have them nearby because our actual PREMED ADVISORS suck major time and are of very very little help. Or at least the previous premed advisors were of little help. The newer advisors at least promote and send out better emails of the opportunities, etc.
 
Psycho Doctor said:
so you just checked back on sdn and found out it was Dopaminaphile who said that? Because you mentioned a specific name in your post as if the adcom said he was a liar.


Yup. The admissions dean mentioned the post specifically but didn't say the screen name of the person who wrote it.
 
rugirlie said:
Gtown hates this site.... they mentioned it at the interview

Really? Did they say why? Wasn't there a thread a while back about "Why the hate for Georgetown" or something like that? I wonder if they started it. 🙂

I wonder if it is really true that some schools pay (or someone volunteers) to read the site for admissions purposes. If so, I would like to express my continued, and undying 😍 love 😍 for UC Irvine (see my many posts from this past year for details. I'm sure you know who I am by now; the fact that my initials and last name are in my username notwithstanding).
 
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Because they have what time to jag with neurotic pre-meds? Think about it.
 
indo said:
Yup. The admissions dean mentioned the post specifically but didn't say the screen name of the person who wrote it.



Damn it, Janet
It's Miss Jackson if ya nasty!!!!!!!!!!
nasssstyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy boy.........dun dun dun....... dun.....dun.....dunalan dun...dundundundun.... oh you nasty boy..... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
 
riceman04 said:
Damn it, Janet
It's Miss Jackson if ya nasty!!!!!!!!!!
nasssstyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy boy.........dun dun dun....... dun.....dun.....dunalan dun...dundundundun.... oh you nasty boy..... :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:


.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................i don't get it 🙁 😳 👎
 
tacrum43 said:
I wonder if it is really true that some schools pay (or someone volunteers) to read the site for admissions purposes.
This is DEFINITELY the case for at least one ranked medical school. I know a current med student who will be serving on this school's admissions committee next year and she along with a few other students give reports about what's being said on SDN about the school, among other things. She also told me that even during non-interview portions of the interview visit (i.e. student-led tours), she and other students are told to observe prospective students' behavior/participation and give reports on things like that, too. She gave me a specific example of a prospective applicant who was being rude and obnoxious on the tour and how that was reported to the ADCOM.

...which should lead you to the obvious conclusion that if you're going to talk trash about a school on SDN...make it as anonymous as possible. And don't be an idiot at your interview.
 
it. said:
.............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................i don't get it 🙁 😳 👎
glad to hear it since i don't either
 
tacrum43 said:
Really? Did they say why? Wasn't there a thread a while back about "Why the hate for Georgetown" or something like that? I wonder if they started it. 🙂

I wonder if it is really true that some schools pay (or someone volunteers) to read the site for admissions purposes. If so, I would like to express my continued, and undying 😍 love 😍 for UC Irvine (see my many posts from this past year for details. I'm sure you know who I am by now; the fact that my initials and last name are in my username notwithstanding).
well in that case, they also know when you attack others on this board, not a positive sign
 
I'm more interested in whether or not they frequent the lounge. :meanie:
 
E.S.Weatherton said:
I'm more interested in whether or not they frequent the lounge. :meanie:
that would be dangerous for any applicant whoever steps into there 😱
 
Psycho Doctor said:
that would be dangerous for any applicant whoever steps into there 😱

Tell me about it. That place is craaaaaaaaaaaaaazay. 😱 :laugh:
 
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