What % of pre-med lurk these forums?

[sieg5]

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I see usually around 700 in this forum, 100-200 in the DO forum and ~200 in the rest, considering about 17.2k pre-meds apply to med school ever year, how many do you think lurk these forums?

 

[IncognitoGuy]

Not a lot, I'd imagine. Many pre-med advisors tell people to avoid SDN and I only found it when I was looking for MCAT study advice. You don't find it unless you look for it (or the help it provides), from what I've seen.

 

[sieg5]

Not a lot, I'd imagine. Many pre-med advisors tell people to avoid SDN and I only found it when I was looking for MCAT study advice. You don't find it unless you look for it (or the help it provides), from what I've seen.

WHY in the world would pre-meds want to avoid SDN? I find it to be the most affectively entertaining way to gather info on med school while being entertained.

 

[Josh7]

According to my calculations: about 3.50 %

 

[deleted393595]

According to my calculations: about 3.50 %

If I could rep you, I would

 

[The Beyonder]

I would say > 20%, which is a shame because SDN has been an invaluable resource for me.

 

[Plue00]

I see usually around 700 in this forum, 100-200 in the DO forum and ~200 in the rest, considering about 17.2k pre-meds apply to med school ever year, how many do you think lurk these forums?

I thought around 40k people apply per year?

 

[Ismet]

Not a lot, I'd imagine. Many pre-med advisors tell people to avoid SDN and I only found it when I was looking for MCAT study advice. You don't find it unless you look for it (or the help it provides), from what I've seen.

Truth, which I find ironic based on all the threads started by people whose pre-med advisors told them something completely incorrect or even more neurotic than SDN norm. SDN has a wealth of information, but you have to be keen enough to evaluate what is good advice.

 

[IlDestriero]

I see usually around 700 in this forum, 100-200 in the DO forum and ~200 in the rest, considering about 17.2k pre-meds apply to med school ever year, how many do you think lurk these forums?

Actually around 40-50,000 people apply to medical school each year and nearly twice that take the MCAT before they quit or wash out. And I would guess 2-3 times that seriously consider becoming a physician but change careers before committing to the "big test". And at least 3 times that number say they're pre med in college because saying you want to study biology to learn about sex makes them sound like the hopeless virgin dorks that they really are.
So, very low % of pre meds lurk here.

 

[sieg5]

I thought around 40k people apply per year?

Actually, you're right, it's 17.2k that are accepted every year.

 

[Driftinglily11]

.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Most people I've talked to say they've heard of it, and have looked at it. It's weird because I'm sure that most premeds do not resemble the overall SDN population. After all, any forum is going to have people that care about a certain topic. Therefore, SDN can have different effects on people. It can possibly make them feel very discouraged and neurotic, but at the same time this can make them a better applicant. But at the cost of what?

 

[phikapdoctor]

The best percent.

 

[Geebeejay]

Actually around 40-50,000 people apply to medical school each year and nearly twice that take the MCAT before they quit or wash out. And I would guess 2-3 times that seriously consider becoming a physician but change careers before committing to the "big test". And at least 3 times that number say they're pre med in college because saying you want to study biology to learn about sex makes them sound like the hopeless virgin dorks that they really are.
So, very low % of pre meds lurk here.

That escalated quickly...

 

[phikapdoctor]

That escalated quickly...

Use the meme.

 

[Planes2Doc]

The best percent.

Are you sure? I think people might be better off not checking SDN if they have good stats. SDNers sure take a whole lot of pride in not being a Cookie-Cutter applicant. But at the end of the day, if you could have gotten into a US medical without selling your better years to the process, then wouldn't that be better?

I'm currently an MS-1, and I think I'm representative of the general crowd of medical students. I work very hard and spend just about all of my time studying. There isn't much time for fun and games. You have no idea what I would give to enjoy those pre-medical school days again. But sadly, SDN pushes people to give it all away so they can live their lives according to what they think ADCOMs want to see.

We all believe that those who are not on SDN and those who are unaware of it are a disadvantage. But are they? Maybe we are the crazy ones, not them. I know SDN influenced me greatly, but I'm also happy that I was a non-traditional applicant. Otherwise I would have pissed away four perfectly good years of college. 🙁

 

[Geebeejay]

Are you sure? I think people might be better off not checking SDN if they have good stats. SDNers sure take a whole lot of pride in not being a Cookie-Cutter applicant. But at the end of the day, if you could have gotten into a US medical without selling your better years to the process, then wouldn't that be better?

I'm currently an MS-1, and I think I'm representative of the general crowd of medical students. I work very hard and spend just about all of my time studying. There isn't much time for fun and games. You have no idea what I would give to enjoy those pre-medical school days again. But sadly, SDN pushes people to give it all away so they can live their lives according to what they think ADCOMs want to see.

We all believe that those who are not on SDN and those who are unaware of it are a disadvantage. But are they? Maybe we are the crazy ones, not them. I know SDN influenced me greatly, but I'm also happy that I was a non-traditional applicant. Otherwise I would have pissed away four perfectly good years of college. 🙁

Yes....I'm glad I joined SDN after undergrad right as I was about to apply.

 

[phikapdoctor]

I do believe we are some of the most competitive applicants but maybe not the happiest. Too many applicants are volunteering/researching/shadowing just to impress adcoms and not because they are truly enjoying, so I will give you that one. This site has done wonders for me, and has definetly made me more confident about the process. It gets rid of the whole mysterious vibe.

 

[TheShaker]

I got lucky then! My advisor actually told everyone about this site during our "Intro to Pre-Med class" but did say to make sure we don't believe everything that people write on here.

That's...an actual class?

 

[WildEMDoc]

When I helped with a "interview workshop" for the pre-med club at my school (although I've never been a part of the club myself), I mentioned SDN interview feedback as a good way to see what kind of questions will be asked.

The club president who was also giving advice (despite not having applied/interviewed) flipped out and went on a rant at me about how bad SDN is. "They have no idea about anything and lie! Blah Blah..."

I think a lot of pre-med clubs really push that SDN is useless/lies. I made sure to tell everyone at the workshop that SDN was the single most useful tool I had during the app cycle and throughout all of pre-med. Given a lot of people that apply are apart of these clubs I would say a good number do not go on SDN.

 

[Sidereum]

I don't know what percentage actually go on here, but I doubt it's higher than 15-20%. And to be honest, that's probably a good thing. Despite being an incredibly useful resource, I think it has the potential to make people even more neurotic about admissions, which is probably not a good thing in most cases...

 

[Bangersandmash]

When advisers say not to look at SDN, they are really saying "The internet isn't always believable. Learn how to use it wisely."

 

[TheShaker]

When I helped with a "interview workshop" for the pre-med club at my school (although I've never been a part of the club myself), I mentioned SDN interview feedback as a good way to see what kind of questions will be asked.

The club president who was also giving advice (despite not having applied/interviewed) flipped out and went on a rant at me about how bad SDN is. "They have no idea about anything and lie! Blah Blah..."

I think a lot of pre-med clubs really push that SDN is useless/lies. I made sure to tell everyone at the workshop that SDN was the single most useful tool I had during the app cycle and throughout all of pre-med. Given a lot of people that apply are apart of these clubs I would say a good number do not go on SDN.

I guess if everybody knew about SDN then it would render many of those clubs useless.

 

[glam407]

All the crazy motivated kids that I know have lurked upon here at least a few times--mainly when MCAT-ing started. I've also bumped into someone that didn't know what EK's verbal 101 was...so I'm guessing he probs doesn't know what sdn is.

 

[SilverCat]

Not a lot, I'd imagine. Many pre-med advisors tell people to avoid SDN and I only found it when I was looking for MCAT study advice. You don't find it unless you look for it (or the help it provides), from what I've seen.

In terms of advice:

SDN >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> my pre- med advisor

I think they feel threatened by SDN.

 

[Driftinglily11]

.

 

[Cinclus]

Not a lot, I'd imagine. Many pre-med advisors tell people to avoid SDN and I only found it when I was looking for MCAT study advice. You don't find it unless you look for it (or the help it provides), from what I've seen.

Hilarious. My pre-med advisors were so full of it I thought they would explode.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Am I the only one who actually really liked my premed advisor and thought he was extremely helpful? 😕

 

[WildEMDoc]

Am I the only one who actually really liked my premed advisor and thought he was extremely helpful? 😕

Yes.

 

[Irish Football]

The best percent.

👍

 

[TheShaker]

Am I the only one who actually really liked my premed advisor and thought he was extremely helpful? 😕

My advisor is an actual adcom and does her job very well. It's just that it's hard to get a hold of her so I usually just turn to SDN which is much more convenient.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Am I the only one who actually really liked my premed advisor and thought he was extremely helpful? 😕

I love my pre-med adviser! She always has candy in her office.

 

[PreMedJock]

It's over 9000!!!!!!!

 

[AdmiralSnackbar]

I lurked for about 2 years, and then finally joined. After that I lurked some more, and am just now starting to post semi-regularly. I'm active on 4 other boards, so I have to manage how much time I dedicate to each one.

 

[music2doc]

During the app process last yr, it appeared about 1 I'm 13 applicants to a given school posted (based upon number of responses vs number interviewed or accepted each round)

 

[Dark Magician]

33.13%.... repeating of course.

 

[Lollygag]

Am I the only one who actually really liked my premed advisor and thought he was extremely helpful? 😕

Lol sometimes I wonder if the uselessness (couldn't think of a better word lol) of pre med advisors on SDN is exaggerated.

I never had my own pre-med advisor but the one for the biology dept allowed me to sit and chat with her a bit and she was very helpful and enlightening.

There is a program at my school geared towards minorities and I heard they have 5 or 6 advisors and all of them are awesome. And I go to a no name school with a bio department that is far from amazing.

 

[Lollygag]

I lurked for about 2 years, and then finally joined. After that I lurked some more, and am just now starting to post semi-regularly. I'm active on 4 other boards, so I have to manage how much time I dedicate to each one.

I lurked for a long time too, probably about 2 years as well

 

[Narmerguy]

Am I the only one who actually really liked my premed advisor and thought he was extremely helpful? 😕

Mine was helpful but not nearly as helpful as SDN. It's hard because these people's full time job is not to be a premed advisor. They have full course loads to teach, research to carry out, and perhaps other departmental/university committees to be active on. The amount of effort they can realistically devote to learning everything about some other career they've never worked in is extremely limited.

 

[Caesar]

Anecdotally, more than you'd think. About 1/3 people I see at interviews have heard of SDN and "lurk" irregularly. The pre med forums are by far the most visited in these parts.

 

[argama]

well I'm sure all the serious ones who are at least jnr/senior "lurk" here but everytime I mentioned SDN to a friend who is either (1) not a serious premed (ie the guy who never studies till night before and bombs tests and thinks "next test he'll ace it and get an A in the class" only to repeat that cycle) or (2) the naive ones (mostly freshman, sophomores...those who are really hung up on irrelevant things like Major X >>> Major Y and B.S >>>> B.A. crap like that) they generally refuse to go on SDN because they think internet = lies.

That's my biased sample at least. Mostly that they think everyone here is lying and they know nothing is what they think of SDN. 🙄

 

[Narmerguy]

Anecdotally, more than you'd think. About 1/3 people I see at interviews have heard of SDN and "lurk" irregularly. The pre med forums are by far the most visited in these parts.

A few thoughts.

1) If the proportion changes among students that apply, vs that make it to interview, vs that get accepted

2) If it varies by region, so certain regions have higher use of SDN

3) If it varies by school, so certain schools have applicants that tend to use/see SDN more than others.

Hmm...

 

[Doctor Strange]

Mine was helpful but not nearly as helpful as SDN. It's hard because these people's full time job is not to be a premed advisor. They have full course loads to teach, research to carry out, and perhaps other departmental/university committees to be active on. The amount of effort they can realistically devote to learning everything about some other career they've never worked in is extremely limited.

My school has a full time pre-med adviser (who was a former adcom). I never knew other schools didn't have that!

 

[Catman21]

At my school, the pre med advisors are pretty much a joke, the head guy has a PHD in womens studies and generally tells people that they wont make it through med school or dental school (whatever they are pursuing) Its actually kind of fu*ked up for him to do things like that..

And the newer ones dont have a clue as to what it takes to get someone matriculated. Thank god for snd's neurotic members. The crazies always ask the best questions

 

[Titus Times]

SDN > pre med advisors,

 

[music2doc]

A few thoughts.

1) If the proportion changes among students that apply, vs that make it to interview, vs that get accepted

2) If it varies by region, so certain regions have higher use of SDN

3) If it varies by school, so certain schools have applicants that tend to use/see SDN more than others.

Hmm...

I would guess these are probably all true:

1) Almost certainly it will vary by year in pre-med -- i.e., those who've taken the MCAT > freshmen & soph pre-meds (by %); I would guess of those accepted is higher than those rejected due to being better informed

2) Quite possibly (and likely due to #3)

3) Almost certainly -- some advisors and student leaders at a school may encourage or discourage use of SDN and word of mouth goes far (esp. when from a person deemed to be credible)

At my school, the pre med advisors are pretty much a joke, the head guy has a PHD in womens studies and generally tells people that they wont make it through med school or dental school (whatever they are pursuing) Its actually kind of fu*ked up for him to do things like that..

And the newer ones dont have a clue as to what it takes to get someone matriculated. Thank god for snd's neurotic members. The crazies always ask the best questions

While that can be discouraging, the truth is that he's probably right in the majority of cases (if only by definition). Where I did my post-bacc, we recently had the sweetest bio prof appointed as the new pre-med advisor and, due to my position, I heard many of her frustrations at having to tell students it just wasn't going to happen. She hated that part of it, but many students come in to an advisor's office thoroughly unprepared and with ridiculous demands of the medical school.

One that comes to mind is a very entitled young lady who came to this advisor with about a 2.5/18. This girl wanted to not take Ochem 2 Lab because our affiliated medical school requires min. 2 units of Ochem Lab and each Ochem Lab at this UG was worth 2 units. Our advisor stated that she suspected that min. was set 2 for schools offering 1 unit/lab but that she would verify with the school, which it turned out is true. Nevertheless, this girl was determined to apply to this well-known top 40 medical school with an average 3.8+/32-33.