My Meeting with an Admissions Officer:

[Narmerguy]

Also claiming that this site is a nonprofit does not make it anymore trustworthy. The aamc is considered a nonprofit yet it has a monopoly over the admission process, mcat, etc.

Just because something claims to be a nonprofit does not mean they ate not making some sort of profit. It is highly unlikely that the admins are in fact doing this out of there heart, there probably is at least a good tax exempt somewhere in there. All the donations are tax deductible should already bring some suspicion.

Basically nonprofit does not mean there is in fact 0 profit.

Why is it highly unlikely? I think the admins could very much do other things that are both easier and better paying, if they get paid at all. Why is a tax deductible donation suspicious? That's standard practice for a non-profit.

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Members don't see this ad.

 

[Medicine4Bruhs]

Let's not act like even the majority of the info on SDN results from LizzyM. The vast majority of the advice here is the same whether you're shooting for a top 20 or you just need one. LizzyM adds some excellent nuanced advice, especially for the applicants that are shooting for institutions that may accept less than a fifth of their applicants. You should master all the basics here first before worrying about that kind of stuff.

The vast majority of medical schools accept less than a fifth of their applicants, but thanks for your input my premed friend.

 

[deleted393595]

Just because something claims to be a nonprofit does not mean they ate not making some sort of profit. It is highly unlikely that the admins are in fact doing this out of there heart, there probably is at least a good tax exempt somewhere in there. All the donations are tax deductible should already bring some suspicion.

Impossible. If SDN was pulling off stuff like that, the IRS would be on them faster than Charlie Sheen getting high.

 

[isoquin]

The Administrative clerk gave me these numbers:

~3800 applications
~950 interviews
~240 admits..

I am interested in learning how other schools (top 20 etc, more research oriented schools) differ. In some ways, I do think that they are very similiar. The biggest thing I learned was: getting an interview doesn't mean that you are "in", it means that they are willing to spend more time examining your application. Remember time is money and no school devotes a lot of time in hiring admissions folks.

I'm not going into my specifics, but getting an interview by me, per the admissions director, means you have what it takes to be accepted. The interview is just to assess whether the person is sane and has reasonable interpersonal skills, as well as meaningful reasons behind their actions.

If over 75 to 80% of those seeking to get into medical school get in, what's the strategic reason of SDN posters in discouraging so many by conveying the process is so incredibly complicated?

Becuase it is incredibly complicated. You're looking at the end result, being lots of med students accepted, and assuming it is therefore easy to become a med student. Head over to the non-traditional or Caribbean areas of this forum to see how "easy" it is.

The same thing happens during med school. The majority of med students pass the USMLE Step 1. Calling it uncomplicated would produce laughter from anyone who's taken it.

So am I correct in my assumption that there is a lot more luck in this process than people care to admit? I mean, a lot of it is luck of the draw. All it takes to get an interview might be a hobby on your AMCAS that an adcom loves. If another member were to read your app, he/she might not find you very interesting, and give you a rejection. It seems like your entire future can depend on luck because of how differently different adcoms might view your app. All it takes is a specific experience, hobby, or even just a sentence that an adcom particularly loves...

This reasoning is not correct, although a lot of people propagate it. I've commonly heard things like "yeah but if the person reading your application has a headache, you're screwed." or "if you share the same name as their daughter, you're in!" No. Just, no. There is some wiggle room in probability, but we're still talking in probability, not random possibility. A lot of non-trads have this assumption that applying to more med schools greatly increases ones chances, as if it were the state lotto and they're just buying more tickets. You can apply to them all, few MD programs will even make a printout of someone with a 25 MCAT.

If you want to increase your chances, don't rely on luck, or apply to 40 schools. Increase your stats and experience, ya?

 

[LizzyM]

The solution is simple. We just need another LizzyM. Someone not in the top20 or at the very least is an MD themselves to have had experience from both sides, so as to formulate more rounded opinions and not only ones coming from one perspective.

Nothing against her, we just need more people to come forward to trust and help us. And not just rely only on one person's opinion.

Catalyst is a gem and has really taken over the many questions about ECs that pop up at this time of year.

Catalyst has also chimed in on other threads. Catalyst is a physician.

We also have a helpful voice with experience on the Temple adcom. (My apologies for forgetting your handle.)

 

[paul411]

Catalyst is a gem and has really taken over the many questions about ECs that pop up at this time of year... We also have a helpful voice with experience on the Temple adcom. (My apologies for forgetting your handle.)

Catalystik

MedAdComMD

 

[Big Dog]

If you want to increase your chances, don't rely on luck, or apply to 40 schools.....

It doesn't take much research to find all of the summer posts for those applicants still praying (to whatever deity that they believe in) for just ONE acceptance. Then, pulling up their profile, it becomes clear that they have a <70 lizzy score but applied to only schools with 70+ numbers, and/or they are from highly competitive California. Even Homer would say, 'Doh!'.

(My point is that lizzy and others offer great advice, which is applicable to all applicants. Ignore them at your own risk.)

btw: to those that don't understand the non-profit world...think Universities (such as Harvard, which is wealthier than the US Government); think most hospitals. Now do you still think they have zero "profit" (which the IRS terms "Revenues less Expenses")?

btw2: the tax filings for non-profits are publically-available.

 

[Narmerguy]

The vast majority of medical schools accept less than a fifth of their applicants, but thanks for your input my premed friend.

Hmm, that's probably a good point but it only proves my point further since I'll just change the number to one eigth or one tenth...does it matter?

 

[leavitt]

You can discount anything I say since I don't have an advisors or physician badge - but MSAR numbers don't lie. 1,500 + applies to Temple, 300 interviews, and 200 something acceptances.

I am going only to read and respond to the big trolls and similar people from now on like LizzyM or MedAdComMD, who are allegedly "adcoms". You are implying above that only 200 of 1500 are accepted. But that is true only for Temple. People get multiple acceptances because they apply to multiple universities. If you look at the AAMC data, 45% get into allo schools. That's almost half of all applicants. If you consider osteo, Caribbean, re-applicants, almost 85% get into one medical school or the other. If you contrast this to countries like India or China, you have millions applying to get into a government cadre and only a few hundred getting in. Their % is more like 0.0001% and that is competition! This is more like a cake walk and justifies the existence of an unethical monopoly like SDN.

 

[bucks2010]

This is my last post in this thread, whether you misquote me or say anything else about me. Because I won't even be reading this thread again.

I am going only to read and respond to the big trolls and similar people from now on like LizzyM or MedAdComMD, who are allegedly "adcoms". You are implying above that only 200 of 1500 are accepted. But that is true only for Temple. People get multiple acceptances because they apply to multiple universities. If you look at the AAMC data, 45% get into allo schools. That's almost half of all applicants. If you consider osteo, Caribbean, re-applicants, almost 85% get into one medical school or the other. If you contrast this to countries like India or China, you have millions applying to get into a government cadre and only a few hundred getting in. Their % is more like 0.0001% and that is competition! This is more like a cake walk and justifies the existence of an unethical monopoly like SDN.

...

 

[leavitt]

To anyone who thinks LizzyM is a real adcom at a top school - go down to a top school and see their faculty in any discipline. Or just go down to your local family practice and ask to see a doctor and you will realize how busy they are! This LizzyM handle has close to 10,000 posts on SDN and follows every thread. An adcom at a top school? Yeah right! More likely an intelligent person working for an unethical SDN monopoly! (Go ahead ban me because you'll do me a favor). How many handles do you SDN TROLLS have? 75? 85? 260? Look, my family operates a small local newspaper and a small TV station - and I know how such forums work! There was a time we pre-meds used to apply to only 4-5 schools. And then these SDN TROLLS come along and change everything. My biggest problem is that these SDN TROLLS are misleading people, instead of giving them hope cause hopelessness, making everyone neurotic.

 

[410322]

To anyone who thinks LizzyM is a real adcom at a top school - go down to a top school and see their faculty in any discipline. Or just go down to your local family practice and ask to see a doctor and you will realize how busy they are! This LizzyM handle has close to 10,000 posts on SDN and follows every thread. An adcom at a top school? Yeah right! More likely an intelligent person working for an unethical SDN monopoly! (Go ahead ban me because you'll do me a favor) There was a time we used to apply to only 4-5 schools. And then these SDN TROLLS come along and change everything. My biggest problem is that these SDN TROLLS are misleading people, instead of giving them hope cause hopelessness, making everyone neurotic.

9100 posts in 6 years. That's oh so much.

You seem awfully worked up. I'm going to guess 2.0 gpa 22 mcat hating on life?

 

[leavitt]

Like I said, my family operates a small local newspaper and a small TV station - and I know how such forums work! How many handles do you SDN TROLLS have? 75? 85? Jeez over 250? How many employees manning these handles? How do you decide when to sacrifice a handle? Or have one handle talk to another? My family is in the media business too and we do such things too, so I know how it works. Then when things get out of hand and the audience complains, we publicly "fire" the offending employee, apologize to the public and make quiet arrangements for that employee to get a better paying job at another media outlet while making him sign a non-disclosure agreement. What kind of games do YOU SDN Trolls play with the lives of students and our careers? You have been trolling the pre-med community big-time for years now! It's time to end such rackets. And if you use your brains it is not difficult to guess which handles are always on, which handles support one another, which handles jump on a poster and call him a troll, etc. These are the SDN OFFICIAL TROLLS. We need AAMC to step in and start a formal and ethical alternative to SDN where only those with .edu email addresses will be allowed to post on their real names. And while AAMC is at it, they need to end other rackets too. Like the secondaries. Look at medical schools sending everyone secondaries! Give me a break! They just want our $$$$ (By the way, I have added most of you to my ignore list, so I don't read what you're posting).

 

[aSagacious]

There was a time we pre-meds used to apply to only 4-5 schools. And then these SDN TROLLS come along and change everything. My biggest problem is that these SDN TROLLS are misleading people, instead of giving them hope cause hopelessness, making everyone neurotic.

What kind of games do YOU SDN Trolls play with the lives of students and our careers? You have been trolling the pre-med community big-time for years now! It's time to end such rackets. Look at medical schools sending everyone secondaries! Give me a break! They just want our $$$$

Oh, so you're suggesting that SDN rakes in a cut of secondary application fees from med schools nationwide, which is why they encourage applicants to apply to so many schools? Gotcha Flawless logic.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

This is all bullshiit. You're all the same person employed at SDN with different handles. The Temple adcom? Right, someone who served 4 years as an adcom at Temple has the time to post here? What nonsense! Even an ordinary MD at your local family practice has no time for his family. And you LizzyM claim to be an "adcom at a top medical school" and you have the time to read every post and follow every thread? You can fool some people all the time, you can fool all people some of the time but you cannot fool all people all the time. If you are really an adcom at a top school, you need a shrink!

oh hai! you're back!

 

[Caesar]

oh hai! you're back!

I forgot to ban you. Sorry about that. Next time?

 

[IlDestriero]

 

[Simplify]

 

[MrBird]

I agree with leavitt. Let's keep this going

 

[NewYorker9]

so remember the time some of us actually wanted to get into med school . . .

 

[docbrill]

me too

Me three!

 

[dbeast]

Everyone go back to the beginning and imagine leavitt's posts being read in Charlie Sheen's voice, you won't be disappointed.

 

[Frazier]

Everyone go back to the beginning and imagine leavitt's posts being read in Charlie Sheen's voice, you won't be disappointed.

triumphing.

 

[Truzzi]

The entire argument I was considering whether or not to derail the thread even more by asking leavitt's thoughts of conspiracy on 9-11.

Oh, what could have been...

 

[gettheleadout]

The solution is simple. We just need another LizzyM. Someone not in the top20 or at the very least is an MD themselves to have had experience from both sides, so as to formulate more rounded opinions and not only ones coming from one perspective.

Nothing against her, we just need more people to come forward to trust and help us. And not just rely only on one person's opinion.

Catalyst is a gem and has really taken over the many questions about ECs that pop up at this time of year.

Catalyst has also chimed in on other threads. Catalyst is a physician.

We also have a helpful voice with experience on the Temple adcom. (My apologies for forgetting your handle.)

How now MeowMeow?

 

[donaldpeters]

I did a survey in my OChem-2 class (big-10 university). Of the 139 students, only 2 had even heard of SDN. No one had posted here. I polled them on 20 different questions to disguise my real interest in SDN. My reason for doing the survey was that I had become suspicious when I noticed that most people who posted in the 30+ MCAT thread had only 1, 2, 3 or few posts. Could TPR, Kaplan and others be merely trolling with an intent of promoting their products? Or do you think it is the work of some SDN insider?

 

[donaldpeters]

Could the rest of you survey your classmates and find out if people even know about SDN? Ask like 20+ assorted questions and let the SDN question be just one of them. Because from my survey, SDN usership is almost nil at my university (big-10).

 

[Melomare17]

questions on what? just because they say they don't know about SDN doesn't mean they don't use it. many people go on and just dont feel like making an account . some people make an account a while ago and only post in the 30+ section if they do well (for the most part) and that is usually their only post.

 

[paul411]

SDN threads show up in Google for a lot of searches relating to medical school applications. A lot of people probably visit the site but don't care enough to sign up or even remember the name of the site.

 

[gettheleadout]

SDN threads show up in Google for a lot of searches relating to medical school applications. A lot of people probably visit the site but don't care enough to sign up or even remember the name of the site.

I totally think this is spot on.

It's not like SDN is hidden; if you Google "MCAT study" the very first result is one of the 30+ Study Method threads here...

 

[Stumpyman]

And that getting into medical school is EASY.

Gunner, troll, or both?