"Complete Date?" "LizzyM?" Questions: (Un)necessary?

[FuturePediatricNeurosurge]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Almost every MD-specific thread I watch, there are users who ask people invited for interviews these questions incessantly.

Maybe I am missing something, but what is the point of these questions? How will knowing when someone submitted their secondary or what their LM score is have any impact on one's own application?

Why ask individual users for their LM score when schools publish their entire entering class' statistical data as an aggregate on the MSAR or admit.org?

Interested to see what others think.

 

[wysdoc]

They are merely a way for waiting applicants to compare themselves to people who already got interviews
It’s perplexing to me too how this helps because whether their stats are lower or higher, they will still wonder “why not me?”
People are free not to answer

 

[FuturePediatricNeurosurge]

They are merely a way for waiting applicants to compare themselves to people who already got interviews
It’s perplexing to me too how this helps because whether their stats are lower or higher, they will still wonder “why not me?”
People are free not to answer

Right -- the problem is the LM comparison is too shallow for it to offer any significant value.

There's so much else that goes into an application that an LM score misses, so the comparisons aren't even worth making imo. No one ever asks: "clinical hours? "research pubs? "volunteering hours?" "compelling story?" "was your family poor or wealthy growing up?"

 

[MrM45]

I think it's the same reason when people hear that someone died and they ask "how old were they?" and "were they sick?". Your mind is trying to show you that you're okay. So if someone dies and they're old/sick, then it calms the person down; here, they hope to find out that the LM score is lower and/or the person submitted before them, and they convince themselves that they're okay.

However, when the other person has a higher LM or submits later than them and gets the interview, it creates this toxic premed anxiety.

My thoughts

 

[FuturePediatricNeurosurge]

I think it's the same reason when people hear that someone died and they ask "how old were they?" and "were they sick?". Your mind is trying to show you that you're okay. So if someone dies and they're old/sick, then it calms the person down; here, they hope to find out that the LM score is lower and/or the person submitted before them, and they convince themselves that they're okay.

However, when the other person has a higher LM or submits later than them and gets the interview, it creates this toxic premed anxiety.

My thoughts

🙋🙋Ooh ooh! Just world hypothesis! … sorry, mcat studying flashback

Good points though.

 

[Butalbusaur]

Neurosis lol

 

[Rachapkis]

Right -- the problem is the LM comparison is too shallow for it to offer any significant value.

There's so much else that goes into an application that an LM score misses, so the comparisons aren't even worth making imo. No one ever asks: "clinical hours? "research pubs? "volunteering hours?" "compelling story?" "was your family poor or wealthy growing up?"

I disagree--the LM score is a useful, albeit imperfectc, heuristic. It is no substitute for in depth analysis, but gives one a general sense of the applicant's strength.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I'm more critical of people asking for LM/WARS without sharing their own progress/numbers. Those of you who do, thank you, but it also underscores the fact that these indices provide some value.

 

[CDaFutureDocMan]

I think people want to decipher the pattern of the ever enigmatic medical school admissions process. Asking for the LM and the completion date is just gathering information to form an idea of what that pattern is. Ultimately, most of us are aware that searching for a pattern is futile because every school is different, and it doesn't really matter either way.

Comparison is the thief of joy after all.