SDN, how representative of applicant pool?

[pittnative]

I'm sure this discussion has come up before, but I haven't been on SDN for long at all.

From what I've seen it seems SDN is primarily comprised of the "upper" level applicants in terms of stats and others who seem very concerned (not in a negative way) with their applications and probably have great ECs, essays, and LORs.

Though at the same time, UMich has given out like 50% of their interview invites (~400 if i'm not mistaken). Tho, only 10 SDN posters are listed. Obviously this is just one very small example and there's a lot more to it than those numbers (10 out of 400), but I was just wondering how others, especially long-term members felt about this.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Jolie South]

I don't know that all of us have superior stats, but I would say that we're all much more informed about the process which I'd say gives us an edge.

Yes, there are a large number of people here who have amazingly high stats that will criticize and say everyone must have a 33, 3.9 to get in.

And yes, we do only represent a small percentage of the applicant pool.

 

[postbacker]

I think both extremes of the applicant pool are over-represented here...the mid range applicants who make up the biggest part of the applicant pool (say 3.5 to 3.7 GPA) are under-represented here...there are lots of people with low to really low GPAs posting here...and lots of high GPA / MCAT posters too...the middle of the bell curve is sagging...

 

[lacesoutdan]

And a lot of people lie about their stats.

 

[Blade28]

There's definitely a self-selection process here - SDN pre-meds tend to be highly motivated, hard-working, slightly neurotic, and vocal when they have good stats (GPA, MCAT, extra-currics, etc.) to post.

And some lie.

Don't worry, it doesn't stop once you go to med school - then it's USMLE Step 1 scores galore!

 

[Quix]

There's definitely a self-selection process here - SDN pre-meds tend to be highly motivated, hard-working, slightly neurotic, and vocal when they have good stats (GPA, MCAT, extra-currics, etc.) to post.

And some lie.

Don't worry, it doesn't stop once you go to med school - then it's USMLE Step 1 scores galore!

QFT.

 

[nVictus]

i hope, for my sake, that SDN is a highly skewed part of the applicant pool.

 

[infinitejest]

QFT.

What does this mean?

 

[IzzyMarieDMD]

I think SDN really promotes the idea that you have to apply to lots and lots of schools to increase your chances of acceptance.

I applied broadly (20 schools) and the people at my pre-med advising office have acted like that is kind of uncommon... oh well... applying broadly has gotten me interviews at more places than if I had applied to only my state schools. so thank you SDN!

 

[artaxerxes]

I'm sure this discussion has come up before, but I haven't been on SDN for long at all.

From what I've seen it seems SDN is primarily comprised of the "upper" level applicants in terms of stats and others who seem very concerned (not in a negative way) with their applications and probably have great ECs, essays, and LORs.

Though at the same time, UMich has given out like 50% of their interview invites (~400 if i'm not mistaken). Tho, only 10 SDN posters are listed. Obviously this is just one very small example and there's a lot more to it than those numbers (10 out of 400), but I was just wondering how others, especially long-term members felt about this.

quite a few members don't post all their invites, I didn't post my UM invite for example

 

[illixir]

I don't think it's majority high applicants. I think its a pretty even distribution as with the general population. There are tons of people with high GPA's and high MCATs, and there are tons of people with lower in both categories, you see plenty of both types on this site.

 

[Quix]

What does this mean?

Two chief meanings, one board friendly, one board not-so-friendly.

The nice version is "Quoted for Truth". The not-so-friendly is "Quite ******* True".

I usually mean the former.

Edit:

And I'm slogging my way through Infinite Jest now - it's become a battle of wills between Wallace and me, given how user-unfriendly his writing style is.