SDN versus "Cookie-Cutters"

[Planes2Doc]

We all know that the SDN mentality is the gunner-type, where people go above and beyond to achieve their goal of medical school admission. The hoops presented are long, tedious, and consume most of your lives. We also know that many people who are admitted to medical school are considered "Cookie-Cutters," who have minimal amounts of activities and what not, thus taking the "easy way" into medical school.

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

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[Hemorrage]

I wouldn't really care.. if i got in thats all that matters

 

[red doctober]

We all know that the SDN mentality is the gunner-type, where people go above and beyond to achieve their goal of medical school admission. The hoops presented are long, tedious, and consume most of your lives. We also know that many people who are admitted to medical school are considered "Cookie-Cutters," who have minimal amounts of activities and what not, thus taking the "easy way" into medical school.

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

Aside from genuinely being interested in people's pasts to get to know them, I really don't give a crap what other people have done in college. It's also SDN mentality to compare yourself to everyone else. I'm not currently in medical school, but I assume that the first things people ask each other aren't, "What was your GPA/MCAT? What were your ECs? How hard did you work in college?" If you are a normal person, you probably shouldn't know the answers to these questions about your fellow classmates (i.e. never brought it up.)

 

[angemon89]

No regrets. I like to keep myself busy because I know one day it'll pay off and get me into medical school (maybe even into one of my tops).

However, once I'm in, I would like to get back to my true, pre-SDN, pre-gunner self (which of course while require me to start posting here less and less).

 

[darkjedi]

Even being a "cookie-cutter" type applicant isn't easy. One doesn't just fall upon a decent GPA/MCAT and also still collect a decent number of ECs.

 

[Owlie]

I'm only doing ECs I enjoy. Volunteering, shadowing, and I'm going to start trying to tutor. I love them all.

 

[wpierce118]

Interesting question. I'm not at that stage (not nearly) but I suppose it would be analogous to my college admissions process. I've got an extremely strong ECs, great scores, etc, but have come to realize that I could have still gotten into the school I'm shooting for with an ACT 10 points lower and a third of the effort put into ECs.

Would I have done it differently if I had another go at admissions? Probably. I applied to 12 schools, when I really only wanted to go to 3 of them, that would be my biggest regret. I suppose it's all just insurance against rejection, but how much time and effort is that worth?

 

[Leonid Rogozov]

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

Because my manhood is so very, very small if anyone else has an easier time gaining admission than I did, suggesting I'm not as awesome as I thought I was, I would be farkin' outraged. [/sarcasm]

Seriously though, I wouldn't care. I'm actually doing things I enjoy so I feel just dandy with what I am doing right now. Then again, I could be one of the lucky ones.

 

[Lollygag]

I'm not going to lie-- I wish I could say that I wouldn't care and that I don't compare myself to others and that it wouldn't bother me but to an extent I think it would bother me a little. Definitely not to the point that I lose motivation or can't sleep at night but I would find it a little annoying for a good 1 or 2 minutes lol. It would annoy me the same way admissions does, like say you're the 4.0/35 mcat guy who gets rejected from everywhere and sees the 3.5/28 guy getting multiple acceptances; how would that NOT annoy you??? Lol

I try to work hard and not compare myself to others and I don't think I am a "gunner" I think I'm just ambitious which I think is very different from being a gunner. And in order to get to where I want to be in life whether that's in academic medicine or healthcare administration (whichever I choose), I have to be better than other people otherwise I simply won't get the position so it's something to think about. But hey.. life isn't fair-- we just have to learn to deal with it and move on.

 

[phikapdoctor]

Not in the least, you shouldn't be doing ECs you don't like. Cept maybe research.


Sent from my iPhone using SDN Mobile app please excuse punctuation and spelling

 

[Narmerguy]

We all know that the SDN mentality is the gunner-type, where people go above and beyond to achieve their goal of medical school admission. The hoops presented are long, tedious, and consume most of your lives. We also know that many people who are admitted to medical school are considered "Cookie-Cutters," who have minimal amounts of activities and what not, thus taking the "easy way" into medical school.

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

I understand why that could feel frustrating, and though a lot of people say don't compare yourself to others, that's sometimes a lot easier said than done. Some people find it easier than others. I often feel frustration at how much studying I put into the MCAT and that I know most people won't have wasted that much effort on the test.

That being said, I think you have to acknowledge the futility of comparing pre-matriculation activities at this point. You've done what you've done, they did what they did, and neither of you will be able to take it back as badly as you'd like to. You'll be happier if you just think about the future and where you're going. Just think that you know you've got that extra gear that you can do because you've proven it before and you've done all the extra EC's and work.

 

[ComradeDoktor]

We all know that the SDN mentality is the gunner-type, where people go above and beyond to achieve their goal of medical school admission. The hoops presented are long, tedious, and consume most of your lives. We also know that many people who are admitted to medical school are considered "Cookie-Cutters," who have minimal amounts of activities and what not, thus taking the "easy way" into medical school.

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

I'm not sure that makes someone a gunner. Gunners try to look good at others expense. That's different from getting a high GPA, solid MCAT, and publications through personal blood, sweat and tears.

 

[mimelim]

We all know that the SDN mentality is the gunner-type, where people go above and beyond to achieve their goal of medical school admission. The hoops presented are long, tedious, and consume most of your lives. We also know that many people who are admitted to medical school are considered "Cookie-Cutters," who have minimal amounts of activities and what not, thus taking the "easy way" into medical school.

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

You meet a lot of those people in medical school. You just smile, be the best that you can be and go about your business. You just deal with it and move on.

 

[Nymphicus]

We all know that the SDN mentality is the gunner-type, where people go above and beyond to achieve their goal of medical school admission. The hoops presented are long, tedious, and consume most of your lives. We also know that many people who are admitted to medical school are considered "Cookie-Cutters," who have minimal amounts of activities and what not, thus taking the "easy way" into medical school.

How would it make you feel if your future classmate in your MS-1 class told you that he or she barely did any of the activities, while you did so much? Do you ever wish that you could be doing less, or are you satisfied? How does this make you feel in general?

It's something I've thought about a lot after matriculating...

I have been finding that most of my classmates are more accomplished than myself (or it at least seems that way), so this is a problem I have not encountered.

 

[iforget2]

I'm sure there are people at my university that barely did a thing to get in, but I wouldn't know nor would i care. I also don't know anybody's GPA and SAT/ACT scores from their high school years. I imagine it should be the same in medical school.

 

[911 Turbo]

I would be devastated if I couldn't brag about my MCAT score or my ECs to my future med school classmates.

 

[darkjedi]

I have been finding that most of my classmates are more accomplished than myself (or it at least seems that way), so this is a problem I have not encountered.

Definitely true

 

[JJMrK]

Once you're in the thick of things it's hard enough to deal with your own issues. A week into MS1 people stop thinking and caring about what you did to get in. I'm not sure I could recall a lot of what's on my AMCAS. Not that I didn't do it, I just haven't thought about it in a long, long time.

 

[Fivo]

Once you're in the thick of things it's hard enough to deal with your own issues. A week into MS1 people stop thinking and caring about what you did to get in. I'm not sure I could recall a lot of what's on my AMCAS. Not that I didn't do it, I just haven't thought about it in a long, long time.

People actually ask their classmates what they did to get in? Mind = blown.

I can just imagine an icebreaker during orientation where the first question you ask your neighbor is "Stats and ECs?"

 

[JJMrK]

People actually ask their classmates what they did to get in? Mind = blown.

I can just imagine an icebreaker during orientation where the first question you ask your neighbor is "Stats and ECs?"

No, the point was nobody does that. I remember being curious for a week or so and then not caring.

 

[Planes2Doc]

No, the point was nobody does that. I remember being curious for a week or so and then not caring.

I was kind of like this too... But then when the massive amount of workload started to hit, I was thinking about it more than ever. I couldn't help but to think back to those days where I actually had free time, but was still forced to do quite a bit of EC work and what not. I admit that I'm a little jealous of the people that still did the bare minimum yet are in the SAME exact position as me today.