Are Pre-Health Forums bad for Pre-health Students?

[DLC9647]

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Just thought I'd throw this out there for a discussion. I don't think there's a right answer to the question. The reason I ask is that I've noticed a few trends...here are few thoughts that lead me to believe that forums can be negative if not used properly:

1. Pre-dental students are getting advice from pre-dental students. I know some dental students chime in, but far less often. Is this the blind leading the blind?

2. The same people generally answer questions. Is a small group defining a much larger community? Possiblity even misrepresenting the community?

3. Your competition is answering your questions. Is there incentive for them to mislead you? In other words, if the Patriots asked the Colts for play calling advice during the game....what do you think the Colts would do?

4. Is there a tremendous bias toward top-tier students? Or bottom tiered? In other words; Are the only people speaking up the 3.9's/28 DAT folks of the world? And the 2.0 "Do I have a chance?" people of the world? Where are all the middle of the packers? More of them get in than top-tiered folks right?

5. Anytime someone is 'testing the waters" to learn about dentistry...like a pre-med student for example...the forum stomps all over them. Why? No one was born to be a dentist....

Just a few points...I've spoken to many pre-dental students and many have offered the sentiment, that they often don't really feel too good after reading these forums....Love to hear your thoughts. Like I said, there's no right answer and all about how you use the info....

 

[FutureDent020]

All are valid questions and good points. I may come back to pitch in, but it should be interesting to hear people's thoughts

 

[alanan84]

Just thought I'd throw this out there for a discussion. I don't think there's a right answer to the question. The reason I ask is that I've noticed a few trends...here are few thoughts that lead me to believe that forums can be negative if not used properly:

1. Pre-dental students are getting advice from pre-dental students. I know some dental students chime in, but far less often. Is this the blind leading the blind? To a certain degree, but there are some with more experience/information that others that can be quite beneficial. But for that reason you DO have to be careful on these boards.

2. The same people generally answer questions. Is a small group defining a much larger community? Possiblity even misrepresenting the community? I'm not even sure how true your statement is. I see a lot of variation and new members posting. Every year it's a different batch of students.

3. Your competition is answering your questions. Is there incentive for them to mislead you? In other words, if the Patriots asked the Colts for play calling advice during the game....what do you think the Colts would do? I don't think this is true. Most people genuinely want to help. The way I look at it is that those on SDN are still a very small pool. If we all get in, that would be great!

4. Is there a tremendous bias toward top-tier students? Or bottom tiered? In other words; Are the only people speaking up the 3.9's/28 DAT folks of the world? And the 2.0 "Do I have a chance?" people of the world? Where are all the middle of the packers? More of them get in than top-tiered folks right? I would consider myself a middle of the packer as well as a lot of people on here.

5. Anytime someone is 'testing the waters" to learn about dentistry...like a pre-med student for example...the forum stomps all over them. Why? No one was born to be a dentist.... I haven't seen the forum stomp on someone that is asking legitimate questions about dentistry. It's when they start patronizing the profession that they get into trouble.

Just a few points...I've spoken to many pre-dental students and many have offered the sentiment, that they often don't really feel too good after reading these forums....Love to hear your thoughts. Like I said, there's no right answer and all about how you use the info....

Personally I have found this forum to be extremely valuable to me. My school doesn't have a strong pre-dental society, it's actually mixed with the pre-meds. Apart from that, I work during their meetings. This forum has helped me gleam information off others that know a little more than me.

The DAT Discussion forum is the best. I didn't really get down when I read the awesome DAT scores that were posted. It actually helped me work harder and introduced me to very valuable study tools.

You have to take everything with a grain of salt but if you can do that successful, there's a lot of good stuff on here.

 

[DLC9647]

Alan, thanks for your thoughtful response...good points on all questions.

 

[silverswimmer]

I want to agree that this forum can be very helpful. I am the only person at my small liberal arts college applying to dental schools this year, and without things like this I would have no idea what other applicants look like statistically or otherwise. It's nice to see the points that other people bring up, and it's nice to have a large group of people who are in a situation similar to mine.

 

[DLC9647]

Absolutely I would agree that there are tremendous positives about forums and they can be very helpful. My thoughts were to mention some potential pitfalls and hear others thoughts so that new members can use the forums wisely. Perhaps, a better phrasing for my question would be: "What are the potential pitfalls of relying on the pre-dental forum?"

 

[Aceofspades]

Just thought I'd throw this out there for a discussion. I don't think there's a right answer to the question. The reason I ask is that I've noticed a few trends...here are few thoughts that lead me to believe that forums can be negative if not used properly:

1. Pre-dental students are getting advice from pre-dental students. I know some dental students chime in, but far less often. Is this the blind leading the blind? Yes, most of the time. It's pretty ironic that the first few replies to your post were from other pre-dental students . But there is good information amongst the garbage as well. For every "I know a guy who makes $500,000" there are useful posts with factual information and references.

2. The same people generally answer questions. Is a small group defining a much larger community? Possiblity even misrepresenting the community? YES. You will notice many SDN specific "realities" here. Just look at the threads about dental school rankings if you need an example.

3. Your competition is answering your questions. Is there incentive for them to mislead you? In other words, if the Patriots asked the Colts for play calling advice during the game....what do you think the Colts would do? I actually don't believe this is happening too much. With the exception of some DAT score posts I would say it isn't a problem. There have been threads where people were caught red handed lying about their score. Apparently to intimidate others. I think this has the opposite effect and makes people work even harder so you don't see this too much.

4. Is there a tremendous bias toward top-tier students? Or bottom tiered? In other words; Are the only people speaking up the 3.9's/28 DAT folks of the world? And the 2.0 "Do I have a chance?" people of the world? Where are all the middle of the packers? More of them get in than top-tiered folks right? Yep. The amount of "What are my chances?" threads is almost as annoying as the 4.3 35 DAT ones.

5. Anytime someone is 'testing the waters" to learn about dentistry...like a pre-med student for example...the forum stomps all over them. Why? No one was born to be a dentist.... The less competition available the better it is for them.

Just a few points...I've spoken to many pre-dental students and many have offered the sentiment, that they often don't really feel too good after reading these forums....Love to hear your thoughts. Like I said, there's no right answer and all about how you use the info....

Take it all with a grain of salt.

 

[MTD52]

Take it all with a grain of salt.

Problem solved.

I will say that I wouldn't have known the best books for DAT (that I think are the best after using them) to get without this site. I also wouldn't have had the quick access to questions being answered when studying, so in that regard, it helped me a lot.

 

[sketo43]

things from SDN that have been very helpful for me:
-deciding what DAT study material to buy. Without SDN, I probably would not have found DAT Destroyer or Crack DAT PAT
-deciding which schools to apply to. My state does not have a public dental school, and SDN helped me find a few schools that offer in-state tuition after the first year
-the interview feedback
-doc toothache's statistics

what is not helpful about SDN:
-all the different "rankings" of schools, and using the forum to decide which school to attend. You have to figure this out on your own. Don't pick a school based on how popular it is on SDN. And don't reject a school just because some random person bashed it on SDN.

It's an anonymous forum, so there will be valuable advice mixed in with bad advice.

 

[cmills66]

its not the people that are giving advice you should look out for (referring to the colts/pats example) in dental school, but rather the 70 or so guests that are always browsing the dental forum and not putting in any input. 😀 (i admit i was a so called lurker for a little while)

 

[MusicJunkie]

things from SDN that have been very helpful for me:
-deciding what DAT study material to buy. Without SDN, I probably would not have found DAT Destroyer or Crack DAT PAT
-deciding which schools to apply to. My state does not have a public dental school, and SDN helped me find a few schools that offer in-state tuition after the first year
-the interview feedback
-doc toothache's statistics

what is not helpful about SDN:
-all the different "rankings" of schools, and using the forum to decide which school to attend. You have to figure this out on your own. Don't pick a school based on how popular it is on SDN. And don't reject a school just because some random person bashed it on SDN.

It's an anonymous forum, so there will be valuable advice mixed in with bad advice.

+1.

I actually just became a member of the forum, but I have been reading it for a while now. Without it, I think I would have been extremely lost. There are so many resources for other pre-professional students, but I have such a difficult time finding information on dentistry! I'm glad I found it. Its been a great resource. and plus, it's sometimes good to hear a different perspective or personal experiences.

 

[sassykat]

I admit I felt like crap when I first came onto this site. Seeing everyone talk about their success is really discouraging when you're not one of the "top tier" applicants. I'm not sure how realistic people on SDN are, but it makes me feel like I'm not going to get in anywhere! I wish I knew about this site before I applied, but I think it's still helpful. With the discouragement there is still some support out there!

 

[sugarsting]

I've learned a lot from this forum...largely about what questions to ask the people who actually know (adcoms/dental students). Starting out applying I really had no idea what to look for in a dental school and the forum helped with that. Obviously members responses are opinions, so like Ace said, take it with a grain of salt. I don't think anyone has the time, energy, or malice to try to sabotage the little "comptetition" that the members of this forum are. For DAT prep, this site definitely produces a lot of stress for good candidates who feel sub-par comparably, but it's also a great resource to get advice and questions answered from those who got 30's...this answered like half of one of your questions but anyhow, it's been a good thing for me.

 

[KitKat09]

agree with most said above.
it helped to reduce feeling of sending application into great black hole and not knowing/ hearing what is going on after...gave some sence of framework which school has started invites, which AADSAS batch is being reviewed, which school is late and which is early etc...

 

[skiphotsauce]

I didn't know any other pre-dents before finding this forum, so this makes me feel like I'm not alone in the complicated process of applying to dental school. And for all the other positives mentioned above-- the DAT breakdowns are particularly helpful. Whether they come from great scores or mediocre scores, they all provide valuable insight.

So yeah, even if people are lying are misleading or whatever, this still feels likes a community where people are in the same situation as you. Which is better than going at it alone (for people that don't know any other pre-dents)