Potentially controversial blog

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wanderer

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I'm posting this question for a friend. My friend has a blog where he posts about research regarding many different supplements as well as compounds found in the diet. As part of his blog he also experiments with these supplements to see the effect they have on him. What will adcoms think about this?

Edit: Here is the blog: http://selfhacked.wordpress.com/
 
wanderer said:
I'm posting this question for a friend. My friend has a blog where he posts about research regarding many different supplements as well as compounds found in the diet. As part of his blog he also experiments with these supplements to see the effect they have on him. What will adcoms think about this?

Edit: Here is the blog: http://selfhacked.wordpress.com/
Click to expand...

Your friend's blog will show adcoms that he has a poor grasp of sound research design. He might consider taking a basic epidemiology or research methods course.
 
If I was him, I'd be up for discussing the obvious interest in reading the literature on supplements. I would not bring up the blog or that he takes them (fairly willy nilly it seems based on the one entry I skimmed)
 
He started the blog two weeks ago. Seems less than subtle what the purpose is if he is just now applying to medical school.
 
I would choose not to interview anyone self-absorbed enough to have any sort of blog.
 
V5RED said:
That is a strange thing to say. There are lots of really good blogs out there. For example, I have gotten a lot of really good recipes from blogs.
Click to expand...

I shoulda said "any blog like the one above". Certainly some blogs are useful and not vain.
 
HopefulReapp said:
He started the blog two weeks ago. Seems less than subtle what the purpose is if he is just now applying to medical school.
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I didn't mention when he was going to apply. I don't know what his exact plan is but I'd imagine it would be 2014 at the earliest, with 2015 probably more likely. And he's had an interest in this stuff for years.

Thanks for the replies guys. As a current medical student I'm aware of the potential benefits and dangers of using supplements but since we're friends I'm biased so I appreciate all the opinions.
 
I wouldn't mention the blog to ADCOMs, more likely to hurt than help.

Survivor DO
 
I know this forum sees a lot of it, but this is the most hilariously unconvincing "my friend..." thread I've seen.
 
cramajama said:
I know this forum sees a lot of it, but this is the most hilariously unconvincing "my friend..." thread I've seen.
Click to expand...
LOL. When I was posting it, I thought of all the "my friend" posts on this forum and wondered if people wouldn't believe me, but you can look up my post history or find my mdapps. I just took step 1, I have no reason to pretend I'm someone I'm not. My friend never heard of this site so I figured I'd ask for him.
 
I am curious as to why someone with medical aspirations and (it appears) a good understanding of the complexities of medicine would test out a large number of products on himself. Disregarding the safety concern, his experiences on one supplement or another is #1 not statistically useful, #2 not scientifically valid, and #3 just as likely placebo or psychological inflation of effects.

And because he posts them in a way to make the entire thing illegible to non-scientific readers kind of eliminates any audience whatsoever.

TL;DR: Shouting in a large, empty room makes it easy to sound important.

at least my two cents.
 
wanderer said:
I'm posting this question for a friend. My friend has a blog where he posts about research regarding many different supplements as well as compounds found in the diet. As part of his blog he also experiments with these supplements to see the effect they have on him. What will adcoms think about this?

Edit: Here is the blog: http://selfhacked.wordpress.com/
Click to expand...



I am not an adcom. I am applying to medical schools this year and was thinking of starting a blog for myself. I disagree with a lot of what's been said here but notice others (ex. Survivor D.O.) would know more about this matter. I do think this can be read by a non-science audience just like we can read about art history and philosophy on the MCAT. Also, I think blogs are an excellent form of self-expression and a catalyst for ideas. While obviously one should not start one for the purpose of showing it to medical schools, I see no harm in starting such a blog. With that being said, it's kind of weird that he's trying these things himself. Some Adcoms might raise an eyebrow at that lol. As for whether to show it to adcoms or not, I'd vote not to. It's kind of cool and I like it but who knows that they think. It could do more good than harm because while some may see it as a minor + others may overreact and see it as a red flag. Tell him to keep it up though but stop engaging in these potentially dangerous experimental protocols because what happens to him means jack for the population as a whole due to things like Cytochrome 450 genetics to take one example.
 
"So, what do you do in your spare time?"

"I run shaky experiments with no control and an n of one and then I self-publish the results on the internet."
 
After I skimmed through the blog...
Nd20l.gif
 
Aside from what has already been critiqued, the referrals to various drugs/proteins of interest don't demonstrate a level of scientific understanding. I might be nitpicking... but for example referring to fasudil as a "chinese herb."

Edit: Also, google searches and forum knowledge are not adequate sources to draw conclusions from.

I don't believe this blog would help your friend's application.
 
Strong body shot. Definitely should include with secondaries. His writing is not succinct or informative which makes for a terrible blog.

If he's serious about not exercising, then the most we could say is that he consumes very few carbohydrates. Good for him, but not worthy of a blog.
 
Mt Kilimanjaro said:
Strong body shot. Definitely should include with secondaries. His writing is not succinct or informative which makes for a terrible blog.

If he's serious about not exercising, then the most we could say is that he consumes very few carbohydrates. Good for him, but not worthy of a blog.
Click to expand...

I don't think his comments about doctors being useless will endear him to the medical school admissions.

OP, your friend should not only not mention his blog on the application, but it might be a good idea to take it down during the application cycle.
 
It does definitely seem to be an interesting (whether it is valid is a separate issue) attempt if it is meant just for the general web surfing audience and perhaps for his own benefit.

But if his intentions are to use this in his resume and label it as "research activity," I agree with above posts.
 
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