So-called "anonymity" of SDN

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dcgirl2007

dcgirl2007

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i hope you all realize that med schools can easily figure out who you are when you post on this site. date if completion, date of interview invite, date of interview, gender, home state. DONE.

people should be careful what they write.
Members don't see this ad.
 
That's not enough information to identify us. There may be millions of people who share a gender and home state.
 
If they have enough time to do that then they shouldn't be having any problems with the large increase in applicants. 🙂

But seriously, I don't think anyone here (other than trolls who don't have their stats, etc. posted) says stuff that would get them a rejection.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Sure do, but do you post things you would regret other people knowing? This is a public forum after all. The things I say I would have no problem repeating for an adcom.
 
dcgirl2007 said:
i hope you all realize that med schools can easily figure out who you are when you post on this site. date if completion, date of interview invite, date of interview, gender, home state. DONE.

people should be careful what they write.
Click to expand...

True... but.... Most Adcoms are understaffed. I really doubt that they have anyone on as a full-time SDN sleuth.

Also, yeah... post at your own risk. I learned that the hard way a while back. Nothing came of it, but it scared me straight.
 
dcgirl2007 said:
i hope you all realize that med schools can easily figure out who you are when you post on this site. date if completion, date of interview invite, date of interview, gender, home state. DONE.

people should be careful what they write.
Click to expand...


Oh snap!
 
I am pretty sure that most people who are obnoxious on SDN do remain anonymous. And those that are level headed with profiles describing their childhood and all, those ones dont care about anonymous.
 
Looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue.
 
F12 said:
True... but.... Most Adcoms are understaffed. I really doubt that they have anyone on as a full-time SDN sleuth.

Also, yeah... post at your own risk. I learned that the hard way a while back. Nothing came of it, but it scared me straight.
Click to expand...


Care to explain??
 
I removed my mdapps link for a reason.
 
F12 said:
You mean explain the situation in detail and blow my cover again? 😱

No... I don't think so.
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Hahaha good point! I was just curious because I had heard before that the reason why people troll from schools is to see what is being said about their particular school. I heard one time that someone was bagging on a particular program and they were informed by someone that people representing that school go through the boards, and that they shouldn't talk about things of that manner. Not overly sure though!!
 
I would gladly forward every post I've made to the adcom. I don't say anything in here that I would not say in person to someone.

I do think that many people let their evil alter-ego post in here and they should hide their identity for sure.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
since when is putting personal info on the internet anonymous?
 
I'm relatively new to this site, but before I actually joined I remember looking at a thread that had people posting their pictures. Kind of an odd thing to do.
 
I think there are several members, some of which are well-known, who are potentially adcom members, program directors, professors, directors of admission, student ambassadors, etc., of medical schools and other programs. I'm sure there are many more who just peruse the board casually and may not be members. Realize that what you say could be read by any of these individuals. If you want to be perfectly safe, the rule of thumb, in my opinion, is to post nothing on here you wouldn't outright say to them in person and don't release any identifiable information you wouldn't want everyone to know. That said, most of the aforementioned folks are very busy, so it is unlikely to be an issue.
 
I'm sorry. I know your post was meant to be serious, but you gave me the best laugh that I've had all day. Do you really think that with so many thousands of applications to screen, they have so much time on their hands that they make it a point to come here and search through old posts just to snoop on applicants?

There are adcomms who post on these boards, some are experienced professionals and others are students who wind up serving on the committee. I'm glad they're here! At least a couple of the professionals have stated that if there is ever an applicant that they recognize from these boards, they recuse themselves from that evaluation. It's the professional and honorable thing to do.

It's not impossible to run into a member at an interview who may realize who you probably are if they are a regular reader here, but I doubt that any schools make it a point to go through their apps and come on here to TRY to dig up dirt on individual applicants. Pre-meds are prone to paranoia and egocentricity.
 
HumidBeing said:
I'm sorry. I know your post was meant to be serious, but you gave me the best laugh that I've had all day. Do you really think that with so many thousands of applications to screen, they have so much time on their hands that they make it a point to come here and search through old posts just to snoop on applicants?

There are adcomms who post on these boards, some are experienced professionals and others are students who wind up serving on the committee. I'm glad they're here! At least a couple of the professionals have stated that if there is ever an applicant that they recognize from these boards, they recuse themselves from that evaluation. It's the professional and honorable thing to do.

It's not impossible to run into a member at an interview who may realize who you probably are if they are a regular reader here, but I doubt that any schools make it a point to go through their apps and come on here to TRY to dig up dirt on individual applicants. Pre-meds are prone to paranoia and egocentricity.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. In fact Dr. Hinkley (UMiami Dean of Admissions) mentioned that they have zero time to waste it going through neither SDN nor Myspace to check their applicants.
 
dcgirl2007 said:
i hope you all realize that med schools can easily figure out who you are when you post on this site. date if completion, date of interview invite, date of interview, gender, home state. DONE.

people should be careful what they write.
Click to expand...
Is this because we didn't give you warm fuzzies in your "Am I going to rejected because I'm fat?" thread? I think someone needs a hug! 🙄
 
TheRealMD said:
I removed my mdapps link for a reason.
Click to expand...

Well, jeez, what are people saying on here that we're so ashamed of? I mean, something is going to identify me sooner or later, so I don't act like a jerk.

Sure at times I can be a little flippant or more naive than I would like people to think I am, but interviews will demonstrate most of my flaws more than adequately.
 
Dienekes said:
Is this because we didn't give you warm fuzzies in your "Am I going to rejected because I'm fat?" thread? I think someone needs a hug! 🙄
Click to expand...


hahahaha. thanks for that hug. 😍
 
just choose a username that is unidentifying like mine.
 
I am the director of admissions for a highly-regarded medical school. Probably the one you applied to, if you are reading this post. You have all been officially put on notice. Your files have all been flagged, and we will be watching you closely for indiscretions.

I can tell you right now that I do not like what I've been reading, and you are all on very thin ice. First of all, I want to see more posts about Jesus. Next of all, no more lying about your height. We know how tall you are. And finally, you should all be studying instead of posting on the internet, so I don't want to see any more posts from anybody.

Carry on.
 
DUDE, I don't think I posted anything rude or anything anywhere. Usalluy I keep opinion to my self, however I can't spell to save my life but I don't think that would effect my application, I don't even have a application yet I am a freshmen. I know in high school they told us to keep our my space private because potential schools check you out on it. I deleted my space for that reason.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
I am the director of admissions for a highly-regarded medical school. Probably the one you applied to, if you are reading this post. You have all been officially put on notice. Your files have all been flagged, and we will be watching you closely for indiscretions.
Click to expand...

LOL
 
A lot of adcoms do utilize student members. I can say that if I were on an adcom (I'm not), I might poke around to see if anyone were posting that they were going to be interviewing at my school on a particular day... now if said person happened to make disparaging remarks about my school or posted something that didn't reflect positively about them that might hurt... especially if they had something that really made it easy to identify them like oh, say an MDApps profile that posted their school of origin, GPA and everything else that lined right up with their AMCAS app.

This really only is a problem if you are posting things that you wouldn't want the school to see.

When I was applying, it would not have been difficult for someone in the admissions office to identify me. (esp during waitlist season) I would call the office, get info regarding my status and the waitlist movement, then I would post the info regarding the movement in the waitlist thread. If the school looked at the thread they'd see I posted 5 min after I called with the exact info they gave me. But I was only posting helpful info, I didn't mind them knowing who I was.

So just be aware of what you're posting, and know that anyone can look at everything you've ever posted if they were so inclined.
 
image.php
Click to expand...

This leads me to another point... there are about 100 people on here who have this chick as their picture. I don't know who she is, but you can't all be her. You are not fooling me with your attempted deception.
 
TexasTriathlete said:
I am the director of admissions for a highly-regarded medical school. Probably the one you applied to, if you are reading this post. You have all been officially put on notice. Your files have all been flagged, and we will be watching you closely for indiscretions.

I can tell you right now that I do not like what I've been reading, and you are all on very thin ice. First of all, I want to see more posts about Jesus. Next of all, no more lying about your height. We know how tall you are. And finally, you should all be studying instead of posting on the internet, so I don't want to see any more posts from anybody.

Carry on.
Click to expand...
DISMISSED! *clicks heels, executes an about face and leaves thread* :meanie:
 
dcgirl2007 said:
i hope you all realize that med schools can easily figure out who you are when you post on this site. date if completion, date of interview invite, date of interview, gender, home state. DONE.

people should be careful what they write.
Click to expand...

#1: Hey this applicant has 4.0GPA and 38 MCAT
#2: Oh wow! why did he apply to our medical school? He's too good for us!
#1: I dunno. I'll look up this person's profile on http://mdapplicants.com
#2: Good. I'll use his personal information to search for his user ID on http://forums.studentdoctor.net

(10 minutes later)

#1: Ok here's his profile. He already has interviews from 3 other medical schools!
#2: I found one of the threads started by him on SDN. He says that we are his safety school... wtf...
#1: omfg fug this kid. Let's reject this insolent bastard.
#2: We already got his application fee. We don't need him anymore.
#1: rofl yeah. He thinks we are his safety skewl. He'll be surprised to get rejected from us haha.
#2: lmao can't wait till he makes a new thread "Surprise rejection from a safety school 🙁"
#1 & #2: LOL x 100
 
TexasTriathlete said:
This leads me to another point... there are about 100 people on here who have this chick as their picture. I don't know who she is, but you can't all be her. You are not fooling me with your attempted deception.
Click to expand...

First of all, please address her by her proper name! She is Sarah Chalke, or "Dr. Elliot Reid" on Scrubs.

Second, she just happens to be one out of 100 identical siblings (100-tuplets), so many people on this site looking like her is highly plausible.
 
luv2sd said:
#1: Hey this applicant has 4.0GPA and 38 MCAT
#2: Oh wow! why did he apply to our medical school? He's too good for us!
#1: I dunno. I'll look up this person's profile on http://mdapplicants.com
#2: Good. I'll use his personal information to search for his user ID on http://forums.studentdoctor.net

(10 minutes later)

#1: Ok here's his profile. He already has interviews from 3 other medical schools!
#2: I found one of the threads started by him on SDN. He says that we are his safety school... wtf...
#1: omfg fug this kid. Let's reject this insolent bastard.
#2: We already got his application fee. We don't need him anymore.
#1: rofl yeah. He thinks we are his safety skewl. He'll be surprised to get rejected from us haha.
#2: lmao can't wait till he makes a new thread "Surprise rejection from a safety school 🙁"
#1 & #2: LOL x 100
Click to expand...


wow! love it!!! now who is glad i started this thread? now, let's watch the Red Sox kick some Cleveland butt. listening Harvard?
 
luv2sd said:
#1: Hey this applicant has 4.0GPA and 38 MCAT
#2: Oh wow! why did he apply to our medical school? He's too good for us!
#1: I dunno. I'll look up this person's profile on http://mdapplicants.com
#2: Good. I'll use his personal information to search for his user ID on http://forums.studentdoctor.net

(10 minutes later)

#1: Ok here's his profile. He already has interviews from 3 other medical schools!
#2: I found one of the threads started by him on SDN. He says that we are his safety school... wtf...
#1: omfg fug this kid. Let's reject this insolent bastard.
#2: We already got his application fee. We don't need him anymore.
#1: rofl yeah. He thinks we are his safety skewl. He'll be surprised to get rejected from us haha.
#2: lmao can't wait till he makes a new thread "Surprise rejection from a safety school 🙁"
#1 & #2: LOL x 100
Click to expand...
:laugh::laugh::laugh:

Save'd.
 
GoldShadow said:
First of all, please address her by her proper name! She is Sarah Chalke, or "Dr. Elliot Reid" on Scrubs.

Second, she just happens to be one out of 100 identical siblings (100-tuplets), so many people on this site looking like her is highly plausible.
Click to expand...

Wow, I bet after the first dozen or so, the rest just kinda did a conga line out into the delivery room.
 
luv2sd said:
#1: Hey this applicant has 4.0GPA and 38 MCAT
#2: Oh wow! why did he apply to our medical school? He's too good for us!
#1: I dunno. I'll look up this person's profile on http://mdapplicants.com
#2: Good. I'll use his personal information to search for his user ID on http://forums.studentdoctor.net

(10 minutes later)

#1: Ok here's his profile. He already has interviews from 3 other medical schools!
#2: I found one of the threads started by him on SDN. He says that we are his safety school... wtf...
#1: omfg fug this kid. Let's reject this insolent bastard.
#2: We already got his application fee. We don't need him anymore.
#1: rofl yeah. He thinks we are his safety skewl. He'll be surprised to get rejected from us haha.
#2: lmao can't wait till he makes a new thread "Surprise rejection from a safety school 🙁"
#1 & #2: LOL x 100
Click to expand...


👍


😆 😆 😆
 
This is like saying a physician could get caught in court with evidence about a case he blogged on, just ridiculous . . . :woops:
 
Maxprime said:
This is like saying a physician could get caught in court with evidence about a case he blogged on, just ridiculous . . . :woops:
Click to expand...

yeah and this is actually different than collge kids getting suspended after uploading pics of them drinking
 
LawCash said:
I'm relatively new to this site, but before I actually joined I remember looking at a thread that had people posting their pictures. Kind of an odd thing to do.
Click to expand...

Posting a picture of Magua is less odd? 🙄
 
I find it ironic that this is coming from someone named "dcgirl2007", unless the D.C. in your name doesn't actually stand for "District of Columbia" or D______ College. And I'm wondering what the 2007 could mean. Hmmm.
 
dcgirl2007 said:
i hope you all realize that med schools can easily figure out who you are when you post on this site. date if completion, date of interview invite, date of interview, gender, home state. DONE.

people should be careful what they write.
Click to expand...


This is EXACTLY why I created a new account before posting something that I wouldn't want an adcom to know.
 
I've realized that having an mdapps immediately gives away your identity. As soon as you post on mdapps, your IP will show up. They can do a quick IP look-up and find your exact address and match it up with your address on their file. Furthermore, if your mdapps is linked to an SDN account, then they can go back and read every post you have ever written. All of this is possible, however, I don't think it's likely that an adcom would do this. Even if they do, it's probably out of curiosity. They won't use anything on SDN as an argument against you. Stuff on the internet just won't fly at an adcom meeting.
 
spicedmanna said:
I think there are several members, some of which are well-known, who are potentially adcom members, program directors, professors, directors of admission, student ambassadors, etc., of medical schools and other programs. I'm sure there are many more who just peruse the board casually and may not be members. Realize that what you say could be read by any of these individuals. If you want to be perfectly safe, the rule of thumb, in my opinion, is to post nothing on here you wouldn't outright say to them in person and don't release any identifiable information you wouldn't want everyone to know. That said, most of the aforementioned folks are very busy, so it is unlikely to be an issue.
Click to expand...

I really liked this response. But there is a true tale to this query. A few years ago, University of Chicago Pritkzer ad com director was on SDN (actually they have current medical students that constantly scope out SDN and report back to ad com members, etc.) and found someone to which they had offered a great scholarship bragging about it and the rest of his admissions, as well as discounting Pritzker in the process. This particular individual was identified by the picture of himself he used as his profile icon (which I think is ridiculous for anyone to put up their picture). His scholarship was then revoked, and the director wrote him a personal letter rejecting him. True story - spoken directly from the ad com director herself. So moral of the story: don't be a rude, ungrateful jerk and watch what you say.👍
 
There is a suburb of Austin called "desert canyon". Perhaps she's from there, and that's what the DC stands for.

Actually, there's no such place. But there could be.
 
Tropicana100 said:
I've realized that having an mdapps immediately gives away your identity. As soon as you post on mdapps, your IP will show up. They can do a quick IP look-up and find your exact address and match it up with your address on their file. Furthermore, if your mdapps is linked to an SDN account, then they can go back and read every post you have ever written. All of this is possible, however, I don't think it's likely that an adcom would do this. Even if they do, it's probably out of curiosity. They won't use anything on SDN as an argument against you. Stuff on the internet just won't fly at an adcom meeting.
Click to expand...

You cannot do exact address lookups w/ an IP address (though you can get it down to the city sometimes). Also, the IP address of commenters is the only IP address available, and this is only given to the profile owner. You can look up the city of your commentors, but nobody can look up the IP address of where your MDApps originated.
 
DC stands for "decapitates children". Good luck holding that against her though, she listed it on her AMCAS.
 
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