I love how people on here talk about SDN compared to the "regular" applicants!

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NotSur

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Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
 
NotSur said:
Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
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I disagree. Lots of people just really dislike computers, even if they know what they're doing on them. Then many people are just not "message board people," even if they're pretty good with computers.
 
Schemp said:
I disagree. Lots of people just really dislike computers, even if they know what they're doing on them. Then many people are just not "message board people," even if they're pretty good with computers.
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I'll agree with you that some people aren't message board people but as for the former claim, how many people our age do you know who don't really like computers? I can't really think of many, especially not pre-meds. I'm not saying every pre-med posts regularly but for the most part, I think most people applying to med school have come across this website.
 
Compass said:
We(my U) were recommended by our pre-med advisor not to use this website. Too dramatic, too "inaccurate."
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Really? I think my pre-med committee is way harsher. I think the problem is more that ppl can be vicious and/or not know what they're talking about.
 
NotSur said:
Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
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While just being a member of SDN does not make you an exceptional applicant, it does show that you have the initiative to research your chosen future profession. That is what can separate an sdn applicant from someone that does not use a resource such as sdn. But you must have some common sense when using this resource. Not every post is accurate and many are OPINIONS. An exceptional applicant (beyond grades and MCAT) is well informed, uses available resources, and takes the initiative to become exceptional.
 
just one said:
While just being a member of SDN does not make you an exceptional applicant, it does show that you have the initiative to research your chosen future profession. That is what can separate an sdn applicant from someone that does not use a resource such as sdn. But you must have some common sense when using this resource. Not every post is accurate and many are OPINIONS. An exceptional applicant (beyond grades and MCAT) is well informed, uses available resources, and takes the initiative to become exceptional.
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But doesn't that description describe most people who want to be doctors?
 
NotSur said:
Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
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I know a number that don't use it.
 
NotSur said:
But doesn't that description describe most people who want to be doctors?
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Take a look at many of the posts by new users on this forum. Many have no idea of how processes work for application, interviews, or even simple information as average matriculation data of their local school. Many premeds are in their late to early twenties and are usd to being spoon fed information. Many premeds I have talked to take zero initiative to find out info.
 
NotSur said:
Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
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Barely anyone at my school has heard of it, and it's one of those schools that send like 15 to Harvard every year.

So...roughly 40k apply every year. Let's just say...5,000 use SDN every cycle. Seems a bit high, but we'll play it safe. That's still only 12.5% of the general applicant pool.
 
mvenus929 said:
It seems a good number of my pre-med friends don't know about SDN, and if they do, they don't seem to care about it much.
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I wouldn't be surprised. 90% of the people don't even know how to Google ridiculously easy questions.
 
ChemEngSoonMD said:
I wouldn't be surprised. 90% of the people don't even know how to Google ridiculously easy questions.
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Which was why LMGTFY was invented XD

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=ridiculously+easy+questions

The easiest way to do this would be to compare the applicant pool (~100,000) with the number of mdapps/SDN profiles made for a year. Not completely accurate, but that would be the closest method.
 
I wouldnt take either side on this but let's just say a higher and higher proportion of applicants are learning about SDN.

With things like Facebook and Twitter becoming so common amongst even adults (forget students, and even more forget pre-meds), online message boards should be no brainer for pre-meds.


I wouldn't be surprised if a Number of new users vs Year graph showed an increasing trend.....
 
I've talked to tons of pre-meds and most don't know of SDN..
 
vin5cent0 said:
I've talked to tons of pre-meds and most don't know of SDN..
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But are you talking about people who will one day apply or people who are going through the application process?
 
OP, when most people compare "SDN applicants" to the "regular applicants" it is typically in relation to grades, MCAT scores, achievement, wing eating contest ability, etc. Right?

In that regard, just knowing about SDN and even using it would not mean that these same people are actually posting their information. This results in a very skewed sample of what constitutes "normal" for these forum boards and the end result = a bunch of near-psychotic pre-meds who are convinced that it really is NORMAL to have a 4.0/37+ and that EVERYONE who gets into med school or even should consider applying better have these numbers. The "average" applicants don't NORMALLY post their stats for fear of not being taken seriously during opinion fests and OMG moments.

This is what makes most of these threads the world's most pointless p***ing match at times.

There are many lurkers among us who, if they revealed their stats and stories, would make our little fantasy land more like reality.

FWIW, MHO.
 
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Everyone you know? Yeah, I'm sure your group of friends are a representative sample of the entire pre-med community. The reason why everyone you know knows about SDN is probably because you all told each other about it. 🙄
 
zipmedic said:
And the majority of pre-med advisors aren't exactly "accurate" either.
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👍

And I really love hearing this advice from pre-med advisors that have never placed an applicant (at least in the past 10-20 years) at some of my top choice schools. SDN has them beat on that account. 😎
 
Schemp said:
I disagree. Lots of people just really dislike computers, even if they know what they're doing on them. Then many people are just not "message board people,".
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I used to meet both those criteria. And then I got bored during my last year of college...
 
Like someone said, most people don't know about it and if they do, they don't use it. There are a lot of pre-meds who think that if they get a 4.0 and high MCAT that they'll get into medical school.
 
NotSur said:
Really? I think my pre-med committee is way harsher. I think the problem is more that ppl can be vicious and/or not know what they're talking about.
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Too many students. Not enough doctors. 🙂
 
mvenus929 said:
It seems a good number of my pre-med friends don't know about SDN, and if they do, they don't seem to care about it much.
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Same with where I am from.

Edit: But you must also take into consideration the amount of people that apply, that have no clue what they are doing.
Sub par GPA mid 20 MCAT with hardly any extracurricular work.
 
Compass said:
We(my U) were recommended by our pre-med advisor not to use this website. Too dramatic, too "inaccurate."
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i can't take a pre-med advisor seriously who doesn't recommend SDN.

the quality of information that can be obtained here far outweighs the BS that comes with it.
 
BigScoop said:
Many of my fellow applicants have expressed distaste for some of the mean-spiritedness on this site
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+1

I know that most of my premed friends when I was in undergrad were aware of SDN but didn't post on it for exactly this reason. (I have a particular distaste for most premeds though and SDN only seems to magnify the characteristics that raise my ire, and my friends hated premeds even more than I did) There are some forums on SDN that are a little less crazy than preallo though. I prefer to stick to them.
 
BigScoop said:
Many of my fellow applicants have expressed distaste for some of the mean-spiritedness on this site, as well as feeling extreme anxiety from some of the posts. I think that if ever poster posted with a little bit more encouragement, SDN could become the lift that we all need!

Lets brighten this message board up. It takes a community to build a village!

Cheers,

BS
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shut up.
 
Compass said:
We(my U) were recommended by our pre-med advisor not to use this website. Too dramatic, too "inaccurate."
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My school's the opposite. It's the first link on our Pre-Med page!
 
I would venture to say that over half of my class is not using this website.

This is NOT an accurate pool of applicants. Sorry. It's not. Generally, the people on this site sharing their scores have really great MCATs and GPAs. People with 3.1s and 22s on their MCATs aren't running around displaying it on the internet.

Now, there are exceptions. I was one. My MCAT is not stellar and my GPA is average, but I had no problem sharing it on here. However, if you averaged the GPAs and MCATs from this site I have a hard time believing they would come out to the average for applicants applying all over the country.
 
i'm not a fan of the site much besides the c/o 2014 thread and a couple of school specific threads (like case), but since im busy at home or either at work, it just gives me a distraction at all times.

however, there are students with ridic stats that are not on this website. tons of them. i think, though, SDN kids have a lot of ECs
 
SirGecko said:
+1

I know that most of my premed friends when I was in undergrad were aware of SDN but didn't post on it for exactly this reason. (I have a particular distaste for most premeds though and SDN only seems to magnify the characteristics that raise my ire, and my friends hated premeds even more than I did) There are some forums on SDN that are a little less crazy than preallo though. I prefer to stick to them.
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the best part about sdn is that you don't have to be an active posting member to get access to information. you can still get quality pre-med application advice through lurking.
 
brooklynblunder said:
i'm not a fan of the site much besides the c/o 2014 thread and a couple of school specific threads (like case), but since im busy at home or either at work, it just gives me a distraction at all times.

however, there are students with ridic stats that are not on this website. tons of them. i think, though, SDN kids have a lot of ECs
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Keep in mind that some EC's are probably fictitious or exaggerated. It's hard to verify these things, you know.
 
TopSecret said:
Keep in mind that some EC's are probably fictitious or exaggerated. It's hard to verify these things, you know.
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The biggest BS I've heard has come from non-SDN people. People saying bull**** like how they partook in medical procedures (without having any sort of licensing).

At least posters here know when not to bull****.
 
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i think mdapps is still very useful. if you look at the mdapps for a school, the accepted #s should equal to the actual values given by the school (or have no difference)

the thing is, you are trying to get into medical school, not fit into sdn. take the good out of it = being proactive, finding opportunity
 
NotSur said:
Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
Click to expand...

Idk what school you go to, but at my institution (large, public school w/ a crapload of pre-meds) not very people know about sdn. you really have to be one of those forward kinda people who really like to figure stuff out on their own if you wanna stumble upon sdn. otherwise you're just gonna hitch a ride on "normal" train to med school.
 
NotSur said:
Every pre-med I know knows about SDN! We are the "regular" pool of applicants! Unless a pre-med has never heard of the Internet or is somehow super nontrad, he/she has heard of SDN. I'd bet money on it.
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Half the pre-meds I knew as an undergrad seemed to think they'd finish med school and start working the next day as a trauma surgeon or family doc. You'd say the word "residency" to them and get a blank stare. They had ... no ... idea ... at ... all how medical education worked.

I have no trouble believing there's a large gap in cluefullness between the average SDNer and the average applicant.
 
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