Lets Provide SDN Peer Mentors

[jmejia1]

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There's been an influx of new SDN members, many that could benefit from people who have been through the process and have actually gained admission to medical school.

To be a peer SDN mentor, the requirement would obviously be a desire to help, but also, having been admitted to medical school, and to have 350+ posts.

We can have three mentees (sp?) to one mentor.

We can start a list of those who wish to volunteer as mentors, and a list of those that would like a mentor. Once we have a sizable list to go off, we can decide then to assign mentees to thier mentor.

Mentors can serve to proofread secondary essays, Personal Statements and as someone to look up to. Obviously, SDN is a one GIANT peer advisement type thing, having a specific mentor will add a more personal flavor.

Any suggestions?

 

[leorl]

OMG.

 

[ussdfiant]

Interesting idea, but will never work. For one thing, why would you choose an anonymous, internet person to assist you with the most important process in your life. I could be anyone, I could be lying about everything I have posted here. If I were unscrupulous, I could be a premed, lie and say I had been accepted, become a mentor and while "proofreading" I could totally steal someone's essays and use them as my own. How would one prove that they are who they say they are, and as for the 150+ posts, there are people here who can get that in a weekend. Good intention, but it can never work and I would actually advise that premeds seek out actual mentors at their schools if at all possible and never disclose important info like a personal statement or essays for secondaries to anyone over the Internet.

 

[Sonya]

good idea, and also good point ussdfiant.

well, maybe give out warning and suggestions, but also let it exist if some people would still want it.
anyone have improvisations on the idea?

 

[jmejia1]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by ussdfiant:
•Interesting idea, but will never work. For one thing, why would you choose an anonymous, internet person to assist you with the most important process in your life. I could be anyone, I could be lying about everything I have posted here. If I were unscrupulous, I could be a premed, lie and say I had been accepted, become a mentor and while "proofreading" I could totally steal someone's essays and use them as my own. How would one prove that they are who they say they are, and as for the 150+ posts, there are people here who can get that in a weekend. Good intention, but it can never work and I would actually advise that premeds seek out actual mentors at their schools if at all possible and never disclose important info like a personal statement or essays for secondaries to anyone over the Internet.•••••Yes, this is a very important process, but obviously, the mentors on this thing would NOT be the sole advisors to these students--everyone needs "real-life" people to get advise from (e.g. school premed advisor or other successful students at thier school); however, some may lack such resources.

It would take a sociopath to lie about thier intentions and screw someone over. I really don't see the basis for fearing something like this. In addition, if anyone lacks trust or is paranoid a mentor will screw them over, then they don't need to sign up. premeds aren't stupid, if a mentor does seem to dispense erroneous advise, they won't be sticking around for long.

lastly, we can increase the 150+ post requirement to 350+.

 

[SicVic]

i think having one person to look up to is little factor in the case of "mentoring on SDN"

Beside as you mention - you can get all the help needed from SDN - and the true mentors are the ones who take their time to answer questions each day.

Good idea but I think the SDN thing is doing well.
But worth the try if it floats the boats of a couple of peeps- who knows

 

[Street Philosopher]

isn't posting questions on the forum like having a mentor? this way you get lots of advice, different viewpoints, and others with the same questions can just read what's already been discussed. the idea of having a mentor seems not only superfluous but parasitic on the current SDN dynamic.

please don't take this personally, it wasn't meant to be an attack. i apologize if it seems so. thanks for the ideas though. 🙂

 

[jmejia1]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Street Philosopher:
•isn't posting questions on the forum like having a mentor? this way you get lots of advice, different viewpoints, and others with the same questions can just read what's already been discussed. the idea of having a mentor seems not only superfluous but parasitic on the current SDN dynamic.

please don't take this personally, it wasn't meant to be an attack. i apologize if it seems so. thanks for the ideas though. 🙂 •••••Having one designated person to read over your secondary questions as opposed to posting a whole secondary essay on a thread or asking a bunch of SDNers to read your secondary would be a benefit of having an assigned mentor. I think having a specific person to look up to and follow in thier footsteps is more than a "little" factor.

Also, I never knew that a true mentor was one that answered questions everyday. At school, the mentors met with the students once a week at best. Here, the mentors would actually be availabe everyday VIA email.

" . . . parasitic on the current SDN dynamic."?

But hey, it was just a suggestion.

 

[UrSexyLatinDr]

Hey Jmejia1, how is it going bro? I am with you on the mentor thing. I dont see why people dont agree with you, its a great idea. I would like to have a mentor , any other people? Come on guys!

Eduardo

 

[jmejia1]

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[JMD]

jmejia1,
I think the mentor thing is a good idea, and as a premed who is going through the application process, I'd like to thank you for offering personalized help.
As for ussdfiant's comments, I see your point, but I would like to think that most of us on SDN are alright people and willing to help each other out. Anyone who would resort to doing some of the things you mentioned must have some severe problems, although I realize there are people like that. I think that you would be able to tell who those people are. All you have to do is look at someone's previous posts, and you can pretty much tell if they are legitimate. Maybe I am too trusting, but there are quite a few people on SDN with >150 (sometimes >1000)posts that I am sure are not "lying about everything" they post.

 

[ellerose]

I thinks it's a good idea. I'd be willing to mentor, even though I'm not sure whether I have more than 150 posts yet. I'm still kinda new to SDN, but very well-versed in the pre-med game. I have even mentored a couple of pre-meds at my undergrad institution and I have been known to be almost too honest at proofreading peer essays. I still need to figure out how to set up PM. Anyone?

 

[jmejia1]

We can always make amendments, having had experience as a premed peer mentor at your school, will nullify the 350+ post requirement.

Obviously, this system is based on TRUST. Anyone can say they've mentored before, but I really don't see why anyone would lie, so we'll take people's word. Any objections?

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Volunteer Mentors
jmejia1
ellerose

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UrSexyLatinDr
JMD

 

[Street Philosopher]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by jmejia1:
• •••quote:•••Originally posted by Street Philosopher:
•isn't posting questions on the forum like having a mentor? this way you get lots of advice, different viewpoints, and others with the same questions can just read what's already been discussed. the idea of having a mentor seems not only superfluous but parasitic on the current SDN dynamic.

please don't take this personally, it wasn't meant to be an attack. i apologize if it seems so. thanks for the ideas though. 🙂 •••••Having one designated person to read over your secondary questions as opposed to posting a whole secondary essay on a thread or asking a bunch of SDNers to read your secondary would be a benefit of having an assigned mentor. I think having a specific person to look up to and follow in thier footsteps is more than a "little" factor.

Also, I never knew that a true mentor was one that answered questions everyday. At school, the mentors met with the students once a week at best. Here, the mentors would actually be availabe everyday VIA email.

" . . . parasitic on the current SDN dynamic."?

But hey, it was just a suggestion.•••••Ahhh! Now I see how it would be good. In that case I'm all for it. 🙂

 

[Jedi In Training]

One more mentor added to list.

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jmejia1
ellerose
JediInTraining

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UrSexyLatinDr
JMD

 

[Jalby]

I don't like this idea because it helps the few, not the many. I think the mentors time would be better spent posting their information on the board rather than PMing individual people. While it would help the mentee's a lot., the board will suffer because of it.

 

[jmejia1]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Jalbrekt:
•I don't like this idea because it helps the few, not the many. I think the mentors time would be better spent posting their information on the board rather than PMing individual people. While it would help the mentee's a lot., the board will suffer because of it.•••••Hi Jalbrekt,

I think you may be misunderstanding the purpose of the mentor thing. Being a mentor does not mean you'll stop offering advice, insight, and opinions on individual posts, and thus it won't change the dynamics of SDN.

It is intended to allow mentees and mentors to build personal ties, which is hard to do in a board with tons of people. Mentees will continue to post questions on the board, but when it comes to more personal things, like proofreading secondary essays, it would be nice to count on a specific person.

Also, it would be nice to see the success of your mentee over the process.

In short, this is not about helping the "few over the many", it's about adding an additonal factor for THOSE that want to participate.

 

[Jalby]

I just know that if I had a mentee (and I'm sure this would happen to everyone else) I would have a lot less time to post stuff that might be helpfull to everybody else. I just feel questions should first be asked on the board so everyone can benefit.

 

[Rhiana]

I think it's a great idea. There's no reason why people can't form more personal relationships with individuals and at the same time be responsive to the rest of the board.
Unfortunatly as this board has grown it is no longer the close community it once was. I remember very well before i applied learning about people based on thier posts. People got more of an idea of who these people were and it made their victories sweeter and their losses more bitter.
I would be more than willing to help a "newbie". There are just like us last year and can you imagine how much easier this would have been if WE had mentors.

I personally believe this years group has a responsibility to now reach down and help those that are beginning to climb up the ladder. I for one will live up to this responibility.

 

[Homunculus]

why is there a post requirement? 350 posts of crap doesn't qualify people for anything.

take it easy

homonculus

 

[BlackPuma]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Homonculus:
•why is there a post requirement? 350 posts of crap doesn't qualify people for anything.

take it easy

homonculus•••••u just jealous cuz u dont have 350 😎 🙄

🙂

 

[Jonkst]

This is a great idea. Next year when I'm applying, I would love to have a mentor, and after that, pay your dues, and mentor someone sles. THe way I see it, the more people you have helping you through this, the better.

Jonkst

 

[jmejia1]

•••quote:•••Originally posted by Homonculus:
•why is there a post requirement? 350 posts of crap doesn't qualify people for anything.

take it easy

homonculus•••••Ok, I'll make sure to "take it easy". thanks for the tip.

There's a difference between constructive critisism and being a straight punk-ass, homonculus.

about the requirement, initially it was 150+ so it would not discriminate against knowlegable people that may not have posted alot. i assumed that those that have a certain amount of posts would have been around to garther the massive info given on this site in the past. it's not set in stone, as there are quite a few volunteers that may not meet the requirement but would serve great mentors, such as Rhiana.

 

[Homunculus]

Jmejia-- no problem.

I hardly think it was punk-ass. I could have candy coated for you, but I decided for the sake of brevity to word it like I did.

To rephrase for the sensitive folks out there.

Being that some people may be able to get 350 posts in a few weeks without adding any relevant information to the boards, do you really think that this is a good criteria to use when
selecting mentors?

that help?

I think watcha is closer to the truth-- I'm really jealous of all the people with over 1k posts. 🙂 I *could* have that many by now easily if I had done what many others do and post-pad in the lounge. 😛

take it easy

homonculus

 

[relatively prime]

Oh come on this is silly... why can't we all just be one big happy family? Also, I wouldn't suggest that anyone to take advice from ONE anonymous person over the internet.

The beauty of SDN is that there are so many members that whenever a topic comes up, at least one person is bound to know what they're talking about. However, I've seen TONS and TONS of really bad advice given on SDN. I've also seen a lot of good advice! The purpose of this forum is to give people ideas... not to tell them what to do.

Also, just because you got into medical school doesn't mean that you know enough about medical school admissions to help someone else out.