SDN identity exposed

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
lobo.solo

lobo.solo

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
May 4, 2011
Messages
1,939
Reaction score
126
Points
4,671
  1. Medical Student
Members do not see this ad.
I'm curious as to how people would handle this. For instance, if someone called you by your username at a med school interview, or at school, what would you do?
 
lobo12 said:
I'm curious as to how people would handle this. For instance, if someone called you by your username at a med school interview, or at school, what would you do?
Click to expand...

Happened to me. No big deal.

Plus, don't people from SDN meet up regularly at interviews and stuff? The internet isn't full of pedos and rapists like your parents told you it was when you were a kid. Well, maybe it is, but we're all too old for the pedos to bother us so don't worry about it.

Edit: Oh, and your actions have nothing to do with the evolution of humans.
 
Another applicant says that?
"Huh? SDN? What's that?"

The person interviewing me says that?
"I'll show myself out..."

And if I get an interviewer at a top 10 school whose name happens to be Elizabeth M-something I'll just jump out the nearest window.
 
You can identify me really easy.

Umm, let's see, white dude from UCLA w/ a biochem degree that dropped out of nursing school, who's really into mountain biking.

Jesus, who could it be?

😕

Just don't say anything terrible on here. Who cares if people know your opinions on controversial stuff, or whatever else it is that you're worried about? Seriously.

The people who would care about that are people you shouldn't care about.
 
MDforMee said:
You can identify me really easy.

Umm, let's see, white dude from UCLA w/ a biochem degree that dropped out of nursing school, who's really into mountain biking.

Jesus, who could it be?

😕

Just don't say anything terrible on here. Who cares if people know your opinions on controversial stuff, or whatever else it is that you're worried about? Seriously.

The people who would care about that are people you shouldn't care about.
Click to expand...

The problem is that you never know how your posts are going to look to someone else. Adcoms probably like to believe that they're not accepting neurotic borderline-OCD gunners into their programs. Chances are many of the posts anyone on this site has made will quickly lead a person to conclude that you are indeed that type of person.

Put another way, SDN is just like Facebook: I can't see anything good coming from someone finding your profile, but I can see many ways in which it could screw you over.
 
OCDOCDOCD said:
The problem is that you never know how your posts are going to look to someone else. Adcoms probably like to believe that they're not accepting neurotic borderline-OCD gunners into their programs. Chances are many of the posts anyone on this site has made will quickly lead a person to conclude that you are indeed that type of person.

Put another way, SDN is just like Facebook: I can't see anything good coming from someone finding your profile, but I can see many ways in which it could screw you over.
Click to expand...

Dude, your name is OCD.

Chillax, broseph.
 
I'm not worry because of my posts. I just think it would be weird. I was also thinking about the mdapps and how some people are pretty open about their application, that certainly reveals a lot from a SDNer.
 
One of my friends figured out my SDN alias. My reaction was: lol, do not reveal to others.

I don't really care, I haven't posted anything overly offensive on here.
 
I guess I'm on the other end of the spectrum. I'd be really worried if someone found my SDN or Reddit account (more worried about the Reddit account). Not because I post terrible things, it's just that my time on the internet is my own private time where I can act uninhibited and it's a part of my life that I'd like to keep private for my own feeling of security. Plus, I post a lot of dumb things on Reddit to farm downvotes sometimes. 😳
 
Meeting SDN people at interviews was fun because I had a couple conversations where we both knew we had talked to each other online but no one wanted to say SDN first so for the most part we pretended like we just met(cough Kdizzle/newyorker9 cough). At one of my interviews I had someone come up and ask me if I was tatertots. I'll admit, it threw me off a little bit but it didn't really bother me since I am well aware my account is not really that anonymous. It just put them in the position of knowing awkwardly more about my application than I was planning to share in casual conversation.
 
This is why I misrepresent my personal information. I wouldn't want an adcom to find me out and get all butthurt because he read my posts about volunteering, the MCAT, the applications process, etc. being a ******ed joke.
 
Last edited:
In terms of revealing my true identity to my fellow SDN members, I do not mind. That is a great way to make lifelong friends and meet good people. With respect to the admissions process, I am not posting any quantitative information regarding my application; I may also summarize my activities as a generic template rather than posting specifics.

I actually met a person who goes to my school on SDN. How comforting.
 
A couple of friends in my class that know my username find it amusing and somewhat pathetic that I've somehow managed to acquire more than 10k posts.

This was a frequent problem for me when I was interviewing. There's nothing really terrible about it, but it did freak me out when random people would keep identifying me in interviews. Usually the people that did this were extremely strange.
 
Being identified probably would be really easy for me. Does it matter? Probably not. I can't remember saying anything overly offensive except pointing out trolls. I have a few drunk posts, but it isn't like I rambled on about anything. Just a few here or there.

I will agree that identifying people through their mdapps is way easier. Sure I have mentioned my MCAT score, facts about my application and GPA on SDN, but those are only a few of the hundreds of my posts. Finding each of those require a little more time than just reading every post. However, my mdapps has everything except my PS (which I will add after the application process).

I have never been identified by someone by my SDN account, not even at my university. I feel like I am the only one that posts on here. I try to recruit the younger undergrads to keep this page bookmarked for quick reference. Does that mean I don't want to be identified? Yes and no. I would be interested to find out how everyone says my name. Do they say the letters B.A.B.S. or do they says babs. Does anyone actually say student afterwards? :laugh:

Being anonymous can help, but I feel like being able to bring my experiences and examples to help people out is better than keeping that to myself.
 
Do adcoms seriously check this site to watch out for "bad" applicants?
 
sunshine02 said:
Do adcoms seriously check this site to watch out for "bad" applicants?
Click to expand...

Yes. They look at your name and match your IP address to your region, which may correspond to your school. They evaluate all of your posts and call all the schools you talked bad about. Auto rejection. I know one kid they put in the anteroom....
 
sunshine02 said:
Do adcoms seriously check this site to watch out for "bad" applicants?
Click to expand...

I've actually heard of this happening (not joking). It's pretty easy to figure out who people are with a little internet detective work and the amount of info people willingly volunteer about themselves. Bonus if you actually have a user name that's the same as your OKCupid/facebook/myspace/reddit/etc account (don't do this). Just don't post stupid stuff, be polite to other people, and you'll be okay. They definitely will check out facebook profiles too.

I'd also keep the trash talking of other schools to a minimum. It makes you look bad even if you didn't apply there. You never know who has family/colleagues/spouses who went to that school. Fine to criticize and evaluate, but to just demean and look down on is probably not a great idea.
 
Benedictus123 said:
I've actually heard of this happening (not joking). Just don't post stupid stuff, be polite to other people, and you'll be okay. They definitely will check out facebook profiles too.

I'd also keep the trash talking of other schools to a minimum. It makes you look bad even if you didn't apply there. You never know who has family/colleagues/spouses who went to that school. Fine to criticize and evaluate, but to just demean and look down on is probably not a great idea.
Click to expand...
Whoops, I'm done.

guess-who.png
 
I'd be like "How on earth did you figure it out? I worked for weeks picking the perfect anonymous username!!"
 
I met two SDNers at one of my interview and it wasn't a big deal.

If adcoms wanted to know who I was, it'd be really easy for them to figure it out. And it's not like I haven't posted weird stuff before, but frankly I don't think they'll take the time to figure me out, and if they did, this is the Internet and it doesn't really matter what happens on here.

If called out on an interview my go to response is, "I play the Internet persona MaxillofacialMN, but his views and mine are not necessarily the same."
 
DrYoda said:
One of my friends figured out my SDN alias. My reaction was: lol, do not reveal to others.

I don't really care, I haven't posted anything overly offensive on here.
Click to expand...

you haven't posted any thing overly offensive...you just have 13000 posts...
 
I thought that train movie with Denzel Washington was pretty good.
 
sunshine02 said:
Do adcoms seriously check this site to watch out for "bad" applicants?
Click to expand...

Schools that are more hip to non-traditional forms of communicating and are aware of SDN likely monitor their school-specific thread. That's what our school does. By no means are they trying to identify who people are; they do it more to be aware of questions people are having, problems with the application, etc.. I think SDN users WAY overblow the importance of anonymity and how much schools ACTUALLY care about what you post here. That said, you should certainly be on your best behavior in the school-specific threads or risk getting noticed. A fourth year on the adcom at Hopkins didn't take to kindly to something I posted in that thread when I was applying and sent me a nice long PM berating me and "explaining" my waitlist decision. I wish I had kept the messages - it was probably one of the funniest things I had ever read. Not to mention that I'm sure the admissions office would love to know that they have a student adcom member harassing applicants online (keeping in mind, by the way, that his username identified exactly who he was).

You should also be careful about your antics on SDN if you plan to continue to use the site after your cycle and rep your school.
 
NickNaylor said:
Schools that are more hip to non-traditional forms of communicating and are aware of SDN likely monitor their school-specific thread. That's what our school does. By no means are they trying to identify who people are; they do it more to be aware of questions people are having, problems with the application, etc.. I think SDN users WAY overblow the importance of anonymity and how much schools ACTUALLY care about what you post here. That said, you should certainly be on your best behavior in the school-specific threads or risk getting noticed. A fourth year on the adcom at Hopkins didn't take to kindly to something I posted in that thread when I was applying and sent me a nice long PM berating me and "explaining" my waitlist decision. I wish I had kept the messages - it was probably one of the funniest things I had ever read. Not to mention that I'm sure the admissions office would love to know that they have a student adcom member harassing applicants online (keeping in mind, by the way, that his username identified exactly who he was).

You should also be careful about your antics on SDN if you plan to continue to use the site after your cycle and rep your school.
Click to expand...

Lol at that jhu student. I plan on making a new username when I matriculate. I've certainly gotten into too many arguments about dumb things to keep this one.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using SDN Mobile
 
Hmmm.... Given the information have I have shared on here, I would probably be instantly recognizable. Probably will be a little awkward but kinda fun... Hopefully it's not with someone I have had a throwdown with on here 😀
 
lobo12 said:
I'm curious as to how people would handle this. For instance, if someone called you by your username at a med school interview, or at school, what would you do?
Click to expand...

People do that to me alllllll the time. Then again, it's way different when you're the interviewer.:meanie::meanie::meanie:
 
I've given out way to much info on this site, people identify me all the time. Tbh I'm alittle scared because one of my hobbies is trolling...
 
if at a med school interview an interviewer starts to interrogate you about your sdn name, that gives you full license to tell him or her to get a life...
 
wjs010 said:
if at a med school interview an interviewer starts to interrogate you about your sdn name, that gives you full license to tell him or her to get a life...
Click to expand...

Only if you don't want to go to that school.
 
NickNaylor said:
A couple of friends in my class that know my username find it amusing and somewhat pathetic that I've somehow managed to acquire more than 10k posts.

This was a frequent problem for me when I was interviewing. There's nothing really terrible about it, but it did freak me out when random people would keep identifying me in interviews. Usually the people that did this were extremely strange.
Click to expand...

Lol, how so?
 
[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2i8NUfl7tW4&feature=player_embedded[/YOUTUBE]
 
"SDN?"

"Oh yeah, I think I've heard of it. I would never make an account or post on there. God no."



Clarification: Not what I do but what I typically observe if the topic of SDN somehow comes up.
 
Last edited:
Nymphicus said:
"SDN?"

"Oh yeah, I think I've heard of it. I would never make an account or post on there. God no."
Click to expand...

EXACTLY. I had two separate instances over the last two months where the conversation took this turn,

First instance was at an OR, when I was talking to an MS2, and casually asked him about any advice when it comes to the app process. He told me the usual stuff and then he said "well you know those websites...like...like student doctor, or something? ..."
Me: " yeah... It sounds familiar...isn't it the website that shows up in all of those google searches when you search med school related content or something?"
Him:"yeah....well...AVOID it at all costs. It does no good to you, and it makes you crazy."

For the remainder or the convo I of course agreed with him, and pretended like I've been on here once or twice.

The second situation is very similar and happened at school. The only difference was that the guy first asked me whether I knew of this place, with a very inquisitive look....so I wasn't sure if I should have jumped up in joy (knowing that there is yet another high caliber premed at my low caliber school), or...pretended like I didn't know the place, while simultaneously bashing it. Lol, I went with the latter, and apparently that was the right choice to go with.

I guess I'm a "closet" sdner. Idk why people hate this place AS much as they do in the real world. Im sure that if word ever got out that I am an active member on here, it would bring me more shame than pride.
 
Someone in my lab group knows who I am on here, they guessed who i was from what I have told about myself. It isn't a big deal to me, since first, I don't post anything on here that I wouldn't be willing to stand behind, and second, if anything happened where I started to be harassed or stalked on here (however unlikely that is) I would simply walk away from the account, reincarnating and stay more anonymous in the new account.
 
sliceofbread136 said:
Lol, how so?
Click to expand...

Because while there would occasionally be the person that said "oh, hey, are you that guy from SDN?" in a calm, curious manner, most of them were *****s and responded by saying "OMG YOU'RE THAT GUY YOU POST SO MUCH LOL CAN I HAVE YOUR AUTOGRAPH."

I seriously wish I were joking. That exact thing happened more than once.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

C
UCLA exposed
Replies
35
Views
11K
toadandfrog
toadandfrog
polymerization
Acknowledging intersectionality, avoiding identity politics
Replies
7
Views
1K
Goro
Goro
G
Should I Report My True Gender Identity??
Replies
8
Views
2K
MD_Maker
MD_Maker
H
SDN Article: Practical Perspectives for Navigating the Admissions Process
Replies
1
Views
161
thomasfrank
T
E
SDN Article: Questions Admitted Students Should Ask Before Committing to Enroll
Replies
0
Views
741
Emil Chuck, PhD
E
Top Bottom