I also cyber-stumbled onto SDN from Google as I was looking for some insight into the application process. At the time when I first embarked on the pre-med journey, in the early 1990's, the web was merely a fetus in the brains of some seriously nerdy guys. The closest we came were the "bulletin boards" and pre-meds were certainly not congregating around those.
So many of us who had fallen off the green path to med school, for whatever reasons, were generally left stranded and became lost. In my experience, the only advice available was dished out by a limited, local group of mostly clueless pre-meds with dirty ladles, by a rare and sleepy medical student with a tiny spoon, by admissions offices with odd-shaped forks, and last but not least, by premed advisors wielding knives... The information was generally quite biased, often contradictory, and there was no sanity check mechanism.
SDN has effectively filled a significant part of the information gap. It has eliminated geographic barriers to information gathering. It has a built-in system of checks and balances, whereby most inaccuracies are flushed out, biases and prejudices are exposed, as information flows from all sources.
The human aspect is also very important. The road to medicine can be exhausting to the point of collapse - mentally, physically, emotionally, so having the encouragement of those who have gone before you, those who are on it with you, and even those who are hoping to follow behind you, is invaluable.
I come to the SDN forums several times a week. I have learned an enormous amount since I found the site about a year ago. At this point I contribute rarely, as I am too angst-ridden and a bit too cynical... mostly because I am at square 1, or more accurately, at square -100, so there isn't much positive experience and good advice I can share. I have been inspired by many people here, so as I progress on the road to medicine, I hope to contribute more to SDN and to inspire others who will come after me.
As far as a concrete example... About a year ago, as I was face-to-face with someone working in the admissions office of a certain medical school, I was told (in a scathing, abrasive tone of utter contempt): "Your undergraduate GPA is so awful, I don't understand why you are even bothering thinking about medical school. You are deluded if you think you will ever get in."
That was the day I found SDN. I realized that I am in an awfully deep hole, but I do not have to remain buried alive for the rest of my life. I read about others who had made it out of similar holes and I am inspired by their stories every day.
