SDN is not a random sample of the applicant pool...

[Tippyboat]

So what kind of a stratified sample do you guys think is here?

Is the success rate of SDN users higher than the national average?

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[Greonis]

Is the success rate of SDN users higher than the national average?

It certainly seems like it (or at least, the applicants in general seem to be far more qualified than most), but given the challenges associated with validating any application information that people post, no one knows for sure.

For that reason, always think twice about taking any success-related posts to heart. Try to get a sense of who is posting it and why, and in some cases, you'll realize that they are being somewhat excessive/unrealistic.

 

[DrYoda]

There's also a bias in the reporting of success. People are much more likely to announce their success than failure, even on an anonymous website.

 

[Lukkie]

Is the success rate of SDN users higher than the national average?

yes

 

[mmmcdowe]

Definitely. Most of the posters here are in the top 50% in terms of MCAT and GPA. Considering that a 35+MCAT score is basically the top 5%, we have a vast overabundance of them, where as we have relatively few with MCATs below a 25. You can also tell by the fact that a lot of the top schools (U of M, Johns Hopkins, Mayo, etc) have huge numbers of posts and views.

 

[mfrizzo3]

So what kind of a stratified sample do you guys think is here?

Is the success rate of SDN users higher than the national average?

yes.

 

[suwaifo]

It's obvious that most people choose to post their success. It's obvious that SDN isn't representative of the whole premed population. These are bogus questions.

Just because SDN does better on average than a whole population doesn't mean that you should do any less better or feel better about doing less. How do you know that there isn't a clique that's even better than this SDN bunch?

 

[alibai3ah]

Interesting thread, and the answer is yes....you can gauge this by checking out the MCAT forums and seeing kids with 37's consider retaking. But i think its good, it freaks the rest of us out and motivates us to work harder....

 

[235009]

It's obvious that most people choose to post their success. It's obvious that SDN isn't representative of the whole premed population. These are bogus questions.

Just because SDN does better on average than a whole population doesn't mean that you should do any less better or feel better about doing less. How do you know that there isn't a clique that's even better than this SDN bunch?

this sentence makes absolutely no sense....just wanted to point that out

to answer the question....you see both extremes here but those with good numbers tend to flaunt it more, mostly by having a link to their MDapps profile or posting ALOT because they think their good numbers give them some sort of authority to give advice.... that gives you the feeling that those with good numbers are overrepresented when in fact they probably aren't.

 

[Tippyboat]

It's obvious that most people choose to post their success. It's obvious that SDN isn't representative of the whole premed population. These are bogus questions.

Just because SDN does better on average than a whole population doesn't mean that you should do any less better or feel better about doing less. How do you know that there isn't a clique that's even better than this SDN bunch?

Aside from the second part of your comment not making any sense, the entire post shows you didn't read the questions. The question wasn't whether or not SDN represented the whole premed population, but exactly in which way is the sample stratified.
Before you make any condescending comments and give people advice, check your "bogus" assumption that people's curiosity stems from insecurity.

Yes, those with impressive stats do tend to refer to them a lot, but like other people said, there is also a lot of posts seeking reassurance about less-than-stellar numbers. So this self-selected SDN group seems to be distinct in personality rather than in GPA/MCAT numbers. I'm trying to gather some preliminary information for a possible social psychology topic of what kind of people like to go through stressful processes with large network support.

 

[suwaifo]

Aside from the second part of your comment not making any sense, the entire post shows you didn't read the questions. The question wasn't whether or not SDN represented the whole premed population, but exactly in which way is the sample stratified.
Before you make any condescending comments and give people advice, check your "bogus" assumption that people's curiosity stems from insecurity.

Yes, those with impressive stats do tend to refer to them a lot, but like other people said, there is also a lot of posts seeking reassurance about less-than-stellar numbers. So this self-selected SDN group seems to be distinct in personality rather than in GPA/MCAT numbers. I'm trying to gather some preliminary information for a possible social psychology topic of what kind of people like to go through stressful processes with large network support.

And again, I'm not surprised that the verbal averages for the MCAT are so low. Given your post history (omg I checked!), you posted this to make yourself feel better about your subpar experience. Get over yourself.

This thread's subject has been posted many times (ad nauseum as the elitists like to say). You should have done a search like every other person who reposts a thread; your thread doesn't get a golden band of exception. Either you don't care as much as you say you do about this "social psychology" to even do a preliminary search or there's something else behind it.

BTW, tl;dr your post.

 

[Bacchus]

I would say its average. For every 1 member logged in there are usually 3-4 members as guests that will never register. That said, the posting population is skewed towards the top. Overall though, I'm sure its a standard sample if we'd figure the quiet ones in.

 

[HumidBeing]

Please stick to the topic and question asked, and avoid personal attacks.

 

[student113]

.

 

[chiz2kul]

I'm not setting up a survey to do this followup question because I don't need that large of a sample size, depending on how many people reply.

Can you tell me what your birth order among your siblings is? (you can just put 1 for firstborn, 2 for second-born, so on). If you grew up in a family with step-siblings, please estimate an order based on how many older siblings you lived with during your childhood.
If you're an only child, please indicate that also.

Thanks.

*This is the OP, I had to log out because my computer froze and for some reason is not letting me sign on to the other name.

Lol make your own thread for that..dont be a hijacker lol.
And its prob gonna be booted out n shuttled somewhere else anyways lol

To the OP:
Lol your post was very vague. What do you mean by 'success rate?' Success in life? MCAT? med school?
And do you mean registered SDN users or just onlookers? If you mean the registered ones, the answer shld be pretty clear.

 

[niranjan162]

SDN is not the most random sample. Lots of people read the forums but many dont contribute. In the premed forum at least most of the posters are freaking out about something. Notice how every other post is along the lines of will this hurt my chances?

 

[p30doc]

Will posting in this thread hurt my chances?

 

[AtheGre]

Will posting in this thread hurt my chances?