Am I brainwashed by SDN??

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Doctor246853

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Ok.. My gf is a nurse for JPS hospital,im a PCA at Parkland and we both are premeds. Im a faithful member of sdn and believe that you have to have all your bases covered so im pretty much involved with everything.( volunteer with nuerosurgeon,UTSW research, leadership, homeless shelthers, communityservice,teaching, ect I mean you name it Im involved in it...entire undergrad too.) She says im doing way too much for nothing and shes just taking classes and enjoying weekends with her friends. I also have another coworker who says the samething and has NO ec's at all!!! I know sdn is bias:rolleyes: but am I truly doing too much? I manage school and ec's great but I have a FULL schedule. They say you can get in without all that stuff and point out how "Jane Doe and John Doe got in without it "and I think their in for a big disappointment soon.:eek: Just wanted to see some honest opinions.:)

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i disagree.

Granted there are plenty of gunners on sdn, but I think sdn makes pre-med students like us better informed, and have all the bases covered, which in turn means better chance of getting accepted when time comes.

btw, i'll start volunteering at parkland next week. How's your experience overall? any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Ok.. My gf is a nurse for JPS hospital,im a PCA at Parkland and we both are premeds. Im a faithful member of sdn and believe that you have to have all your bases covered so im pretty much involved with everything.( volunteer with nuerosurgeon,UTSW research, leadership, homeless shelthers, communityservice,teaching, ect I mean you name it Im involved in it...entire undergrad too.) She says im doing way too much for nothing and shes just taking classes and enjoying weekends with her friends. I also have another coworker who says the samething and has NO ec's at all!!! I know sdn is bias:rolleyes: but am I truly doing too much? I manage school and ec's great but I have a FULL schedule. They say you can get in without all that stuff and point out how "Jane Doe and John Doe got in without it "and I think their in for a big disappointment soon.:eek: Just wanted to see some honest opinions.:)

I think that you need to have your basics covered: good grades, a desire to enter the profession (shown by altruism through your volunteering opportunities, either medical or non-medical--preferably both). It'd be also nice to get in some research, but that's semi-optional (depending on your background/education/etc). Shadowing will help show that you're serious about the profession if you haven't had exposure or "proof" that you know what this career is about.

I think a balance in between what an "SDN" premed is and your friends would be sufficient. It might not be "ideal"..but there really is no "ideal" in medical school admissions. you just need to "stand out" from the rest of the crowd with your "activities", whatever they may be.
 
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i disagree.

Granted there are plenty of gunners on sdn, but I think sdn makes pre-med students like us better informed, and have all the bases covered, which in turn means better chance of getting accepted when time comes.

btw, i'll start volunteering at parkland next week. How's your experience overall? any advice or suggestions would be appreciated.
yeah cool I can give you advice...Just let me know what you interested in...trauma, infants, icu setting, ect... and we can go from there
 
I think a balance in between what an "SDN" premed is and your friends would be sufficient.
Why between them? They do nothing and I mean nothing. No volunteering, shadowing nothing. Yeah they work with docs but 80%+ premeds do. They say premeds who do "that stuff" are taking it wayy too serious. I replied" Uhh this is our lives it is serious" well to me anyways:rolleyes:
 
Parkland is a pretty big poop hole. Fortunately they're moving into a new tower relatively soon, or so I've heard.
Dude it is a **** hole but I love it! I will never again go outside of Parkland at night on my break..Its deadly and sad... Yeah their building a new building and just cleared out this lot for the new parkinglot last week. They moving pretty dam fast. But I think this new building will really put Parkland on the map.
 
I think a balance in between what an "SDN" premed is and your friends would be sufficient.
Why between them? They do nothing and I mean nothing. No volunteering, shadowing nothing. Yeah they work with docs but 80%+ premeds do. They say premeds who do "that stuff" are taking it wayy too serious. I replied" Uhh this is our lives it is serious" well to me anyways:rolleyes:

In between--the reason I say that is because you don't necesarily need to do ALL the things a typical SDN premed does, but you certainly can't do NOTHING and get away with it.

If you're already in the healthcare profession, and it sounds like they are, then the "requirements" change a bit. As long as you have had exposure to the profession and can justify/defend your reasons for going into medicine, I don't see what the problem is...You do need to have some sort of "experience" with it though and can't just "do nothing".
 
Well, I'm sure there are 4.0s with 40+MCAT scores and first author publications in Cell and NEJM who get into school. The majority of people aren't 4.0s with 40+ MCAT scores with publications. Become involved in ECs or you'll be bery bery sowwy that you didn't. ;)
 
In between--the reason I say that is because you don't necesarily need to do ALL the things a typical SDN premed does, but you certainly can't do NOTHING and get away with it.

If you're already in the healthcare profession, and it sounds like they are, then the "requirements" change a bit. As long as you have had exposure to the profession and can justify/defend your reasons for going into medicine, I don't see what the problem is...You do need to have some sort of "experience" with it though and can't just "do nothing".
well that makes since. Both of them already know surgical procedures and all. I just want to be on the safe side I guess.
 
Regardless of what people tell you, the two most important things you can do for your application is get the best grades possible and a solid MCAT score. Now with that in mind, if you just have these you are probably not going to be as competitive as someone who has additional experience. So, you should do what you can in terms of EC's, but they should never negatively impact your grades.

Your gf and her friend are going to be in for a rude awaking.

Keep up the good work, but don't forget to live a little. ;)
 
Well, I'm sure there are 4.0s with 40+MCAT scores and first author publications in Cell and NEJM who get into school. The majority of people aren't 4.0s with 40+ MCAT scores with publications. Become involved in ECs or you'll be bery bery sowwy that you didn't. ;)
I totally understand if they got 4.0/45t but my gf have about what I have 3.5gpa/3.9sgpa and my coworker has a 2.1gpa/2.5sgpa. They are hispanic women and Im a black male so we all have the URM status but Im the only one with ec's. Assuming we all get mid30 mcat; I think if it comes down to us three for the last set then.....:rolleyes:
 
Honestly, I found out about this site from a book I'd picked up called "How to Get into Medical School", and this place has WAY more information than the book. I'll be/I am using both to my advantage.

Yes, there are a lot of people on here who make it seem like if you do not do the standard things, you will not get into medical school, but like others have said, you are not trying to be like a robot, you are trying to stand out. You are not doing too much by volunteering, shadowing, and all of that. It's supposed to be done. Getting into medical school isn't easy, so why should preparing for it be?

IMO, just focus on you, and use whatever resources to your advantage. If your friends aren't doing what you are, then let them not do it, and get screwed over when they apply. Obviously, you don't want to get to the point that you've overworked and it is interfering with your studies, but what you're doing now is fine. We're doing all this for a reason. The hard work will pay dividends at the end.
 
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I totally understand if they got 4.0/45t but my gf have about what I have 3.5gpa/3.9sgpa and my coworker has a 2.1gpa/2.5sgpa. They are hispanic women and Im a black male so we all have the URM status but Im the only one with ec's. Assuming we all get mid30 mcat; I think if it comes down to us three for the last set then.....:rolleyes:


Your coworker is going to be SOL... But you and your gf are in a good spot.

Don't neglect the URM status. It's a powerful motivator for medical schools to interview and accept students. Your gf also has her nursing background and can easily garner some shadowing experience.
 
Your coworker is going to be SOL... But you and your gf are in a good spot.

Don't neglect the URM status. It's a powerful motivator for medical schools to interview and accept students. Your gf also has her nursing background and can easily garner some shadowing experience.
Yeah you right. I dont think we are going to last anyway cause she wants me to spend more time with her and I cant. This might sound dumb but im pretty darn happy with my full schedule and busy life. A relationship can kill your attention and concentration (or course not all)..trust me I know
 
im brainwashed too.

someone today told me they were planning on submitting their application in late august and i shot them dead on the spot right after screaming about how thats too late.

then someone else said they feel confident about applying to an MD school in the US after scoring an average of 28 on their MCAT and I stabbed them with a paper clip while shouting you MUST have a 39+ to get into us med schools. i then explain that no med school has ever accepted an mcat lower than 37

someone then told me they plan on not obsessing about this whole med school thing and i stuck some trinitrotoluene up their ass and blew them up.
 
im brainwashed too.

someone today told me they were planning on submitting their application in late august and i shot them dead on the spot right after screaming about how thats too late.

then someone else said they feel confident about applying to an MD school in the US after scoring an average of 28 on their MCAT and I stabbed them with a paper clip while shouting you MUST have a 39+ to get into us med schools. i then explain that no med school has ever accepted an mcat lower than 37

someone then told me they plan on not obsessing about this whole med school thing and i stuck some trinitrotoluene up their ass and blew them up.
WOW. There are schools that accept a mcat below 40?
 
OP, yeah the coworker has NO chance. The only thing that could make up for her gpa is a ridiculous mcat score, extracurriculars that make her unique, and covering all her bases. As for your gf, although she has a solid gpa, I don't see who is going to accept her without not one EC, no community service, no research, no leadership positions, etc.. You are doing what you need to do to get accepted. I understand what you are saying about relationships getting in the way, but hopefully you don't feel the same way about friendships too because you will be lonely and miserable if everything you do while in med school is devoted to helping your chances for residency. You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you do that.
 
in my opinion I think the balance you're looking for is where you can do all these activities because you like them, AND then, because they're relevant to medical schools

honestly I don't think I'd want to overload myself with a whole bunch of ECs I can't stand for medical school because I'm pretty sure it'll show through in the interview.
 
OP, yeah the coworker has NO chance. The only thing that could make up for her gpa is a ridiculous mcat score, extracurriculars that make her unique, and covering all her bases. As for your gf, although she has a solid gpa, I don't see who is going to accept her without not one EC, no community service, no research, no leadership positions, etc..
See thats what I said! My coworker is superhot and think shes gona get in off her looks and urm:thumbdown: and got c's and most medical school prereqs. My gf is not trying to hear me at all. She goes to work 3days a week and school. Thats it. I feel like im going against premeds with high gpa/mcat , both parents are docs, tons of ec's ect. I just dont want to get to the end of this road and crash into a deadend. They swear im nuts.
 
in my opinion I think the balance you're looking for is where you can do all these activities because you like them, AND then, because they're relevant to medical schools

honestly I don't think I'd want to overload myself with a whole bunch of ECs I can't stand for medical school because I'm pretty sure it'll show through in the interview.
I get what your saying. Im not padding, I really enjoy what im doing. I believe when its time for interviewing I will have alot to talk about. Im pretty good at interviews anyways...its always just getting to that point
 
I understand what you are saying about relationships getting in the way, but hopefully you don't feel the same way about friendships too because you will be lonely and miserable if everything you do while in med school is devoted to helping your chances for residency. You're gonna drive yourself crazy if you do that.
I only feel like that depending on who im dating and how they support what im doing for a better future. My last gf when I started school..:confused: it was bad. I talking argurments, school probation, 1.7gpa you name it. This one is starting to stress me out too. I can date and have friends but as far as a serious relationship for now---->:cool:
 
ECs are not any less important than GPA/MCAT. Without all 3 at sufficient levels you aren't getting in anywhere. Obviously your GPA/MCAT need to be above certain thresholds, but beyond that it's largely ECs that make the difference at particular schools.
 
Had a guy I knew with a 42, 4.0 who only had research as an EC and wound up with ONE acceptance to his state school. So yeah, I think well-rounded ECs will serve you well, lol
 
Obviously your coworker has a job which is an EC (the AMCAS labels the EC section "Experience" not "extracurricular" so a job should go on that list if you've had one). That said, keep in mind that over 17,000 applicants each year, out of more than 35,000 do not get in anywhere. Who are those folks who can't manage even one offer of admission? Obviously, the higher the MCAT and the higher the gpa, the better but even at the highest levels there are about 15% who don't get in and I'll lead you to make your own conclusions of why that happens.
 
From the advisors I've talked to and the doctors I know, I don't think that medical schools are looking for medicine zombies, people that have devoted all of their time to medicine with the goal of being a doctor, because how will you know that's what you REALLY want if you haven't tried anything else? Yeah, it's good to have experience in a clinic. It's also good to have other interests like being in a kickball league, or working with habitat for humanity. I will take the schools at face value: they're looking for well-rounded mature individuals who aren't just looking to get into school just because they just "want to help people". Part of it is about going into medicine for you.

From what I've experienced so far, I would say that there's a fair amount of unsubstantiated speculation on this forum. I look around and I don't see many posts from anything but pre-medical students. I received a fair amount of advice the other day from someone with a stellar medical background who's already been rejected twice. Why would I want to take that advice?

I'll tell you what I think, though. I think that the MCAT is a fair judge of how knowledgeable you are and how well you'll likely do in school but won't say much about your motivations. I think your GPA shows your willingness to work hard but doesn't say much about you. I think that your extra-curricular activities won't mean anything if you can't show that not only have you learned from it but you also actually enjoyed it. And I think your personal statement will make or break you. I also believe that in the end, it's all a numbers game, and that you should really speak from your heart, and not just give the admissions committees what they want to hear.

I'm done with my rant. Have a good day, everyone.
 
you should really speak from your heart, and not just give the admissions committees what they want to hear.

Good luck with that, if I had done this I would have been thrown out on my ass about 2 minutes into my interviews
 
Yeah you right. I dont think we are going to last anyway cause she wants me to spend more time with her and I cant. This might sound dumb but im pretty darn happy with my full schedule and busy life. A relationship can kill your attention and concentration (or course not all)..trust me I know
a future neurosurgeon in the making. most excellent
 
I need to quite SDN! Everyone is like a freking genius on here. It's making me discouraged.
 
ECS don't mean anything either when everybody is doing it for medical schools.

That's a ridiculous statement. ECs mean a lot if they show you are unique, meaning they are quality ECs. Although my GPA was about average for matriculants with a very strong upward trend, my mcat score sucked. The thing that saved my mcat score was my ECs, which the health professions advisor told me were some of th best he'd seen in quite some time. It didn't hurt that he said the same about my personal statement. I start med school next week. So ECs def can help you and without them, can def hurt you considering all the people we see on sdn with ridiculous gpa/mcat scores and no acceptances.
 
the neurosis projected on sdn is justified by the depression that not getting into med school would cause.
 
Now that's what I'm talking about.

mdbound1987, what were your extra-curricular activities?
 
well that makes since. Both of them already know surgical procedures and all. I just want to be on the safe side I guess.
Nothing wrong with that. I was a gung-ho pre-med who got involved in everything. I got into med school. Some of my friends didn't do as much as I did.....and they got into med school. Some of them were rejected too. There's no perfect way into med school, but it's judicious to cover your bases.

It's easy for me to say now that I wish I had partied more in college and done fewer ECs, but I wouldn't be saying that if I'd gotten rejected. Do your best, don't worry about everyone else.
 
If you think SDN is bad you should meet my dad.

When I was young he made it seem like that everyone and I mean everyone had 4.0, perfect SAT/MCAT/(any other standardized test) scores, and that everyone eventually got a Ph.D or MD (since it's not a big deal). And I was the the lazy kid who could do anything right.

Even though I realize now that it is not completely true, in my group of friends everyone has a high GPA and test scores and is either going to graduate school/medical school/law school. So I guess there is a ounce of truth to what my dad said.

That said, there is a ounce of truth to most of what you may read on SDN, no matter how skewed it may be.
 
If I'm correct, the average stats of matriculants were ~ 3.6 cGPA / 30 MCAT. This means that not everyone has a 35+ score or 3.9. I think that sites like SDN or even college confidential have patrons fallaciously preoccupied with prestige, i.e. USNWR. Typically, these are the "gunners" and you can't escape them. It's your choice whether to feel one way or another about yourself/your chances because of them (not you specifically OP).

The best advice is to always do your best and let luck do the rest. This is the interwebz... not everything you read here is fact. Advice on various issues changes from thread to thread, presumably the truth is somewhere in between. I have to agree with LizzyM that working in a hospital as a nurse is sufficient EC experience. If acceptance to med school was based on a specific formula (x leadership/volunteering + 2 years research...) then everyone who checked these things off would get in and the rest of us wouldn't have to suffer through the 4.0/40 rejectees bitter threads. I keep reading that adcoms are looking for sincerity and genuine interests (read: dynamic people). Of course, if you are interested in lab work and ER volunteering et cetera then your sincerity will shine through. JMHO.
 
If I'm correct, the average stats of matriculants were ~ 3.6 cGPA / 30 MCAT. This means that not everyone has a 35+ score or 3.9. I think that sites like SDN or even college confidential have patrons fallaciously preoccupied with prestige, i.e. USNWR. Typically, these are the "gunners" and you can't escape them. It's your choice whether to feel one way or another about yourself/your chances because of them (not you specifically OP).

The best advice is to always do your best and let luck do the rest. This is the interwebz... not everything you read here is fact. Advice on various issues changes from thread to thread, presumably the truth is somewhere in between. I have to agree with LizzyM that working in a hospital as a nurse is sufficient EC experience. If acceptance to med school was based on a specific formula (x leadership/volunteering + 2 years research...) then everyone who checked these things off would get in and the rest of us wouldn't have to suffer through the 4.0/40 rejectees bitter threads. I keep reading that adcoms are looking for sincerity and genuine interests (read: dynamic people). Of course, if you are interested in lab work and ER volunteering et cetera then your sincerity will shine through. JMHO.

wasabid, PM me if you want a list of my ECs because I don't have access to my resume right now and I will forget you asked by the time I do have access to it later tonight. As for the coworker, I do agree that being a nurse is an EC; however, one EC (no matter how related to the health profession it is) is not going to cut it, especially considering the coworker has a 2.1cgpa and 2.5cgpa. There is obviously no particular formula to getting accepted, but it makes sense to cover all your bases and in doing so, do things you are passionate about. This sincerity will be easily apparent in interviews, even on paper.
 
a future neurosurgeon in the making. most excellent
This made me smile:rolleyes: After volunteering with nuerosurgeon and working on the epilepsy/nuerosurgery floors for so long, I actually wanted to go this route. So yeah my ec's are very sincere.
 
Past experience shows that an hispanic applicant with a 2.0-2.19 gpa has a <3% chance of being admitted to medical school. Most applicants in that gpa category score < 15 on the MCAT and even among the 14 applicants who scored >24, only 1 was admitted. Overall about 43% of hispanic applicants are admitted.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-mcatgpa-grid-hbn-morerace.pdf

They might figure that there is no point in wasting free time on ECs if they aren't going to get in anyway and then they can say, "I wasn't willing to jump through all the ridiculous hoops... it is just stacked against us."
 
Past experience shows that an hispanic applicant with a 2.0-2.19 gpa has a <3% chance of being admitted to medical school. Most applicants in that gpa category score < 15 on the MCAT and even among the 14 applicants who scored >24, only 1 was admitted. Overall about 43% of hispanic applicants are admitted.

http://www.aamc.org/data/facts/applicantmatriculant/table25-mcatgpa-grid-hbn-morerace.pdf

They might figure that there is no point in wasting free time on ECs if they aren't going to get in anyway and then they can say, "I wasn't willing to jump through all the ridiculous hoops... it is just stacked against us."
:thumbup: Well I'll just continue. Honestly I dont warn them at all I just smile and inside think "Well thats two less ones I have to compete with":rolleyes: All three of us know medstudents that make you think :confused: They got in? So they us that as an example and I think their more of the exception than the rule.
 
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