Does SDN discourage you?

Started by Planet Ocean
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Planet Ocean

Planet Ocean

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So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
 
Planet Ocean said:
So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
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There are a lot of neurotic people on this site just tune them out, most of them are drama queens. There are way more helpful sane people on this website than neurotic ones or trolls. You'll learn to weed them out
 
Planet Ocean said:
So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
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No, cause when I see a person get a 3.4 one semester ... another one bites the dust.

But, really you should "NOT" let this worry you. Pre-meds in general are pretty type a, people on sdn are generally a tad worse. But, you can look up the numbers yourself and see where you fall.

If have average stats, you are average there is no getting around that, if you are above good for you, if you are below average, when you ask for help on sdn be honest and don't be a dick about feedback no matter how hard people are wailing on you, some people on here do want to help.
 
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Yes, this forum is a bit depressing at times if you aren't a "high end" applicant (at least it is for me). It can also make you a bit neurotic. However, it really is a valuable resource if you can sift through all the crap. Some of the posters on here are incredibly knowledgeable and are willing to help out, which makes up for some of the negative aspects IMO.
 
SDN is realistic at least.. in real life people think they can get into MD programs with a 3.3- yeah i dont think so
 
Yeah this forum can add to my worries at times, but as stated, it does provide for enormous amounts of information and help.

A fellow pre-med of mine has spoken about how he used to log on and become so depressed at times and feel he would never make it to medical school. It would really psyche him out seeing some of the comments people make and threads people start. Just take everything with a grain of salt.

That friend is going to med school in the fall, btw.
 
Definitely alot of crap to sift through.

That said, I found the forums to be most useful DURING the application cycle. The school specific threads will be a tremendous resource for you during the season and will save you plenty of calls to admissions offices.

Using them before the MCAT just freaked me out. Too many "oh god I got a 34 on a practice test how will I every get in!" type threads/posts.

Keep an eye out for threads by current residents or where residents/med students/adcom members are posting. Those are almost always useful.
 
TheWeeIceMan said:
Yes, this forum is a bit depressing at times if you aren't a "high end" applicant (at least it is for me). It can also make you a bit neurotic. However, it really is a valuable resource if you can sift through all the crap. Some of the posters on here are incredibly knowledgeable and are willing to help out, which makes up for some of the negative aspects IMO.
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Yeah I'm not a "high end" applicant either but when all is said and done I'll be competitive for state school which I am very content with. I say this statically speaking of course. I just wish I could tell whether or not these reservations and insecurities that come from reading posts on this forum are justified. I'm starting to feel that they're not as I am finding that a lot of people who get in somewhere weren't these academic "superstars". Thanks for the input. That goes for everyone.
 
The bottom line is this: if you really want something, you should not let the 'advice' of others discourage you in your pursuit of it. To be sure you should listen to advice, but don't ever let somebody tell you what you can't do. If you want it badly enough, you'll find a way to make it happen.

This forum is rich with experience and knowledge, but by-and-large advice is doled out in generalities. You cannot determine a person's worth with some grades and an MCAT score. It can certainly dictate immediate possibilities, but in the long-term anything is possible.
 
Just do your best OP. As long as you are doing your best, it shouldn't matter to you what other people are doing. That's the way I view it, so I'm not bothered when people are complaining that they only have 4 publications and tragically none of them are first author...
 
i will be an md said:
Oh, well good luck getting in anywhere! 🙄 In all seriousness, things tend to get a bit tense around June, but we're a pretty decent bunch here on SDN overall.
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Definitely, whenever people ask me where I want to go I kinda laugh to myself and tell them "anywhere they take me".
 
I've been on here a few weeks and have found a plethora of information that would have taken me forever and/or I simply wouldn't have found with google alone. But, just like any other networking/blogging site you have to take it all with a grain or few of salt. Know your abilities and have confidence in yourself, strive to do everything you can to get the best numbers you can and call it a day. Thats really and truly all you can do.

But... it has been enlightening, and not necessarily in a positive way on certain aspects of things. It's made me question the path I was considering, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing either. SDN definitely puts it out there for you- the good, the bad, and the ugly.
 
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If someone in real life asks me about SDN, I respond with
"Ew, is that some sort of new STD?"

The one rule about SDN, you don't talk about SDN. Theres a lot of crazy people here. Don't let it get you down, just use the resources and don't get too emotionally invested.
 
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Encouraged me to think a 37+MCAT was no big deal. Discouraged me when I only got a 33.
 
MedPR said:
Encouraged me to think a 37+MCAT was no big deal. Discouraged me when I only got a 33.
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Relatively, I think 33 is a bigger deal than 37, since you now have entered the 90+ percentile.

Once you get 37-38, you are kinda competing with the 39+ group.

For example a score split of 13-11-13 (37) is on a bad day (or good depending how you look at it) 4-6 wrong answers away from a 15-11-15 or a (41).
 
Planet Ocean said:
Definitely, whenever people ask me where I want to go I kinda laugh to myself and tell them "anywhere they take me".
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Be confident in yourself (while being humble) and sell yourself once you start the application process. The whole interview is marketing yourself to a few people who can either be on your side by the end, or not.. and anywhere in between. People are relational. If you give them a good reason for your desire to go med, and really connect with them through it, I would say you can increase your chances a lot. Due to this heavily subjective screening technique, some schools are starting to do multiple mini interviews.

Don't get discouraged by the people who cry about 3.4. Honestly, I think it's because of the environment set up at certain undergrad schools where they perpetuate the lie that you need a 4.0 and 35+ MCAT to get into a school. That's not the case, just go and look up the statistics.

When I began the cycle, I was scared out of my onesies. But now, I can look back and say it wasn't too bad. Best of luck.
 
Personally, SDN is not my favorite site to be on either. I did get some good information when I was early in my undergrad years, but now I see that for the most part I don't necessarily like the common personality traits I see on here. I can reflect the neurotic characteristics from this forum to at least one girl I know and have worked with, and god help me if I have to be surrounded by a few hundred of her for the next few years.
 
No. Made my stress worse during the app cycle. Gained a lot of good info though. Being an average applicant, sdn was like heroin to me. Couldn't stop using despite the damage done
 
You have to understand that the people who post on internet forums tend to be the "extreme" ends of the spectrum. Whether it is the 35+ MCAT people or the 250+ Step 1 people. A very small selection of people post on these boards. Take everything here with a grain of salt. Each person's situation is different. Use this for what it is... a helpful tool.
 
tenndoc said:
No. Made my stress worse during the app cycle. Gained a lot of good info though. Being an average applicant, sdn was like heroin to me. Couldn't stop using despite the damage done
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👍

To the OP. Yes, there is a lot of crazy people on SDN. People on SDN motivates me to work harder, harder then I would. In the end, I benefit from it because my performance gets better and better in school. :luck:
 
YES! You are not alone! Overall, SDN was discouraging for me. (Disclaimer: I was a pretty marginal applicant and I go to a lower ranked US allo school but I do have usmle scores on the higher end). I used SDN minimally to read about schools as a pre-med - I never read any of the forums. I began looking at SDN when I started M1 year thinking it'd provide some nice advice. But sometime halfway through my M1 year, I forced myself to almost never log into SDN. You think pre-meds are bad, just wait until you see the huge worriers in medical school. I realized that people on SDN are usually people that are very paranoid about failing or not being at the top of their class. Reading any USMLE forum made me freak out that I wasn't doing enough. Reading M3 forums on rotations made me freak out that I wasn't reading enough books. During residency interview season, I began reading SDN again for different residency reviews and advice. Again, I found it very discouraging with all the people and their worrying all the time about interviews and halfway through the season I stopped reading SDN and became happier. I was much happier relying on the successful people in the classes ahead of me at my school for advice. For me, hearing stuff in person was much more encouraging than getting info online.

I know many other people find SDN helpful, and it can be at times, but for the most part the more I avoided it, the more relaxed I was throughout med school ("relaxed" being a relative term, of course). I know many people in med school feel the same way I do. Keep in mind that only a certain subset of the med student population uses SDN and if you find it discouraging, there is no harm in ignoring it. (I'm on here now since I'm an M4 waiting to graduate and have a lot of time on my hands and no worries in life right now).
 
this site does stress me out a lot...when ppl are nervous after one B or when they did not get a 40 i feel hopeless haha. trust me you're not alone
 
I go to a half way decent CC and reading the things people put on here about CCs make me feel worthless sometimes...
 
Planet Ocean said:
So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
Click to expand...

There is some useful advice here, but if you start to get overly neurotic you should just lay off SDN. It's most helpful right when you're starting pre-med, and the year you apply. In between, STAY FAR AWAY.
 
Of course it does. SDN is overly neurotic, psychotic, brutal, and flat out wrong at times. But it, undeniably, gets you "ahead" in the game. I would not be in the position I am now without SDN, and I started SDN very late. The people here have helped me in ways I would not imagine, look at my signature. I doubt a large majority of us would get into medical school, if standards are the way they are now, without SDN's help.
 
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Planet Ocean said:
So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
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yeah but wouldn't you rather posters gave you real advice than sugarcoated bs?
 
pfaction said:
Of course it does. SDN is overly neurotic, psychotic, brutal, and flat out wrong at times. But it, undeniably, gets you "ahead" in the game. I would not be in the position I am now without SDN, and I started SDN very late. The people here have helped me in ways I would not imagine, look at my signature. I doubt a large majority of us would get into medical school, if standards are the way they are now, without SDN's help.
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Exactly.... it gets you ahead and lights a fire under your behind.
 
Holy FranZ said:
who are you referring to?
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1307920884001.jpg
 
Planet Ocean said:
So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
Click to expand...

Having been on this forum as a pre-med for way too long, I'd say that the majority of SDN are people are mostly normal. It's just usually those who post the most are the one's who like stroke their own ego's or need reassurance. As in life, the loudest ones have their voices heard even though they may or may not be the majority.

I personally tune out those who aren't really there to help or give constructive criticism. At the end of the day, you make your own path to where you want to be.
 
I can see why you would get discouraged by pre-meds who have a 50% chance each cycle to get into med school.
 
I didn't discover SDN until I got my first waitlist position in January, and as much useful info as there is on here, I have to admit that sometimes seeing people's mdapps is pretty discouraging. I try not to let it get to me because there are people with mcat scores 5+ points higher than me who got rejected from some of the schools I interviewed at, Im certainly not trying to brag or make anyone feel bad about their success I'm just encouraging everyone to be confident in themselves and their credentials! You'll drive yourself nuts comparing yourself to everyone else on this site..
 
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Planet Ocean said:
So I've been off and on SDN essentially since I began undergrad 2 years ago and I wanted to get some opinions about this forum. Don't get me wrong, the collective information I have picked up from all of you great contributors has served me well but in the same way I have also become discouraged about my own path towards becoming a physician. To get down to the point, I wanted to ask the many of you if you feel that the population of pre-meds on this forum are representative of the actual ones that get in to med school? To specify, I will log on and I see threads about people freaking out that they ended a semester with a 3.4 gpa instead of their usual 4.0 or that they got a B in chemistry and are wondering if they should retake. In my head, as someone who happens to be an URM and who actually prefers to go to my so-called "podunk" state med school, I find this a bit neurotic. So what I am asking is if many of you feel that this forum if primarily used by pre-meds who are trying to get into the most competitive top tier schools and that I should just disregard the neuroticism or that I am underestimating the weight of the path to medical school? Just wanted to get some thoughts. Thanks
Click to expand...

Have no fear the young one. Those people are classic examples of toxic personality that gets weeded out later in the process. That's why the interviews are so important.
 
Yes, this forum is depressing.

I applied with 3 years of undergrad, an above average GPA, an above average GRE, average ECs, and below average experience hours for vet school. According to SDN I should have had a tough time getting in anywhere. Instead I got 4 acceptances (5 applications), one of which was a school that take 3% of out of state applications, and another which gave me a $40,000 recruitment scholarship.

Thankfully SDN was wrong.

ETA: Okay, clearly I'm bored and browsing non-vet SDN forums. Advice still holds true though. Take the useful bits from SDN to bolster your application, then send it in and get ready to prove that you're awesome to the Adcom. You're 1 step ahead of the game for having read SDN and knowing what an ideal applicant would look like.
 
SDN makes me feel like the one W on my transcript in a nonessential, not required course will be not only scoffed at in the hallowed walls of Adcom meetings, but will be brought up mercilessly in every interview in a mocking tone.

"Look at MDschoolorbust! He had to withdraw from Bayesian Statistics! HA! HA! Get out of our sight." Then they throw my application at me and give me a wedgie.

This is a normal day on SDN for me.
 
I've got bruises from :bang: ...No, seriously though, SDN is great. It's better to know that the bus is running late than to be left standing in the cold.
 
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