Sigma Sigma Phi

[sylvanthus]

Before the flaming begins, I searched, but all the threads are bloody well ancient. Anyone know if this is now a respectable "honor" society or is still controversial? I know it is listed on ERAS near AOA, but seems like it is disorganized and inactive if you look on their website.

Just wanted to get peoples' general opinions as my school just got a chapter.

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[DocEspana]

Before the flaming begins, I searched, but all the threads are bloody well ancient. Anyone know if this is now a respectable "honor" society or is still controversial? I know it is listed on ERAS near AOA, but seems like it is disorganized and inactive if you look on their website.

Just wanted to get peoples' general opinions as my school just got a chapter.

Supposedly prestigious and respected as the equivalent of AOA. I would probably treat it as such.

Personally I'm cranky with it cause we allow membership unconventionally (two admitting cycles at the end of year 1 and year 2, rather than 1 admitting cycle near year 4), and despite having a GPA well above the requirement and doing every group out there with leadership positions I was passed over twice. <cue more whining and b**ching> I honestly dont know why, but i figure I must have annoyed someone in the selecting committee and its hard to "blind" an application when you have to list the clubs you're the president of and the people know exactly who you are But I cant be certain and thats just my personal complaint; may be entirely different for others. AOA appears to have a scoring rubric that is rather objective and (in my experience at least) SSP has been a rather subjective selection process, which is a serious negative (though does little to effect its prestige)

 

[sylvanthus]

Ya, I remember reading some old threads about how at some schools, selection is a popularity contest. Sorry to hear it is like that at your school. I'd be pretty pissed off also.

Another question, does anyone know if allopathic programs care about SSP whatsoever or do they just see the checkmark and assume it is something good?

 

[the alchemist]

Ya, I remember reading some old threads about how at some schools, selection is a popularity contest. Sorry to hear it is like that at your school. I'd be pretty pissed off also.

Another question, does anyone know if allopathic programs care about SSP whatsoever or do they just see the checkmark and assume it is something good?

I think that they look at SSP as something good but not on par with the awe they have when they hear someone is AOA. Its much more difficult from what I've heard to be chosen AOA and they do it in junior (more prestigious to be chosen then) and senior years. Its considered less of (though not entirely not) a popularity contest and based on grades, boards, and extracurriculars I believe.

 

[DocEspana]

Ya, I remember reading some old threads about how at some schools, selection is a popularity contest. Sorry to hear it is like that at your school. I'd be pretty pissed off also.

Another question, does anyone know if allopathic programs care about SSP whatsoever or do they just see the checkmark and assume it is something good?

Well I don't *know* what happened. I just know I was very shocked I was passed up twice and know that I am tempted to agree with the complaints I've heard before about SSP, that its looser rules for who gets in leads to popularity contests over strict merit-based acceptance. You still need significant merit to get in at all though, so it does carry plenty of credibility to actually get in.

 

[Dissected]

Supposedly prestigious and respected as the equivalent of AOA. I would probably treat it as such.

I think it's pretty prestigious but I don't think it's quite on the same level as AOA. 25% of my class was inducted into SSP after two cycles..I think that is how it works at most DO schools. No where near that many people in a class are inducted into AOA - it's more like 15% of an MD class..and the competition is extremely fierce.

http://www.alphaomegaalpha.org/how.html

 

[p1acebo]

I think it's pretty prestigious but I don't think it's quite on the same level as AOA. 25% of my class was inducted into SSP after two cycles..I think that is how it works at most DO schools. No where near that many people in a class are inducted into AOA - it's more like 15% of an MD class..and the competition is extremely fierce.

http://www.alphaomegaalpha.org/how.html

SSP is more based on an students overall credentials, including extracurricular stuff and I heard AOA is more based on your grades.

 

[Everglide]

It seemed like our SSP chapter was pretty easy to get into, it was only based on a couple semesters of grades and ECs. The majority of people I know who applied, were accepted. They don't consider grades after classes start to become difficult and do not factor in board scores/clerkships like AOA.

 

[sylvanthus]

Huh, seems like it is totally variable by school, no wonder people have questioned it. At my school it seems to be 15 people per class so that'd be 20% of the class. No idea what they base selection off of besides rank. I didn't do jack for volunteering besides a little bit of club stuff.

Ahh well its an extra thing to put on the resume. It's unfortunate DOs can't become AOA.

 

[the alchemist]

It seemed like our SSP chapter was pretty easy to get into, it was only based on a couple semesters of grades and ECs. The majority of people I know who applied, were accepted. They don't consider grades after classes start to become difficult and do not factor in board scores/clerkships like AOA.

my school doesn't have an SSP chapter but another close-by school did. You had to be in the top 25% at that school and have done extracurriculars and then you could apply for SSP. it seemed pretty easy to get into there as most ppl who met those criteria and applied did. from my small n or pool of md places i've rotated at (mostly places that are top tier), they either didn't know about ssp or didn't consider it on par w/ aoa.

when they had a discussion at my school about how they chose ppl to interview (DO residencies at my school), SSP was not one of the factors mentioned (esp since we don't have one): boards (step 1 > step 2), grades, having done a rotation at our school, then the rest (LORs/dean's letter, extracurriculars). certain specialties (ent, ortho, uro) had board cutoffs of 600 unless u rotated at my school. and they gave us the avg board scores for each specialty's housestaff (exc for ent, ortho, uro b/c those programs r so small or take only 1 and then u'd know the people's board scores so those were blank).

 

[tehdude]

I think it's pretty prestigious but I don't think it's quite on the same level as AOA. 25% of my class was inducted into SSP after two cycles..I think that is how it works at most DO schools. No where near that many people in a class are inducted into AOA - it's more like 15% of an MD class..and the competition is extremely fierce.

They say they limit entrance to the top 25% of the class, but even this isn't a firm requirement. My friend was admitted with a GPA just right at the class average. It seems that if they are below quota, they will admit almost anyone interested. It's kind of a joke.

 

[Dissected]

They say they limit entrance to the top 25% of the class, but even this isn't a firm requirement. My friend was admitted with a GPA just right at the class average. It seems that if they are below quota, they will admit almost anyone interested. It's kind of a joke.

It varies by school. DMU has objective requrements. You have to be in the top 1/2 of the class, they grade your essay, and rank you as far as EC activities go. There are a number of people that are turned down here, but I have no idea how it works at other places.

 

[p1acebo]

It varies by school. DMU has objective requrements. You have to be in the top 1/2 of the class, they grade your essay, and rank you as far as EC activities go. There are a number of people that are turned down here, but I have no idea how it works at other places.

+1 in regards to varying by school.

I know my school was admitting about 25% and they changed it to between 15%-20% to make it more exclusive. Plenty of people who applied did not get accepted, and it had a lot to do with EC activities.

On another note I think that the fact criteria varies from school to school makes SSP not as legit as it could be.

 

[SmokD]

Well I don't *know* what happened. I just know I was very shocked I was passed up twice and know that I am tempted to agree with the complaints I've heard before about SSP, that its looser rules for who gets in leads to popularity contests over strict merit-based acceptance. You still need significant merit to get in at all though, so it does carry plenty of credibility to actually get in.

SSP is definitely not on level with AOA in my mind. I know at our school, its done by a vote done by a student committee. Top 25% is only a prerequisite to being considered, the committee doesn't see you grades just your extra-curriculars. Obviously things can get shady with this...

 

[p30doc]

As far as I can tell SSP is a popularity contest, if your not friends with those who are already in it you aren't getting in, no matter how stellar your resume is or how many volunteer hours you put in.

 

[Grey Wind]

As far as I can tell SSP is a popularity contest, if your not friends with those who are already in it you aren't getting in, no matter how stellar your resume is or how many volunteer hours you put in.

meh, disagree. i didn't know anyone in the club and I got in. i think its more like med school apps and it totally depends on who looks at your app.