What percentage of pre-meds (applicants) do you think use SDN?

[yzf600]

Just as the title says...

I've always wondered how many applicants actually use SDN as a resource before/during the applications process....It has its ups and downs, and can be both encouraging and brutally discouraging at times.

A friend of mine swears he will never look at this or any "pre-med" board. He says they just end up confusing him and making him feel depressed about the whole app. process.

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[doctorFred]

during my three interviews, i asked people in each waiting room this same question.. i usually found that one or two people out of every five used sdn, so maybe the national average is something around 30%?

 

[GWmdwannabe]

I hate to go Clinton on you, but a big part of this obviously depends on your operational definition for "used."

That said, I did some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. There are approximately 25 250 registered users on the SDN forums. According to MSAR, there were 37 364 applicants to medical schools for the 2005 entering year. If we multiply that number by 4, we get just under 150 000 undergraduate "pre-meds" at any one time. Given just these numbers, we get that approximately 17% of pre-meds "use" SDN. I would take that figure to be a maximum estimate.

Now the numbers get fun. Looking at the number of posts in the various forums, pre-medical (MD/DO) topics are approximately 60% of the traffic on the forums. From this, we can infer that approximately 60% of the SDN members are currently "pre-med," giving us 15 150 pre-medical students on SDN. That brings us down to 10% of pre-medical students using SDN. I'd put the actual number at somewhere between 5 and 15 percent.

Obviously, there are many other factors, some which would decrease my calculated percentage (not everyone is an active member, many people who are "pre-med" at some point don't apply to medical school, pre-meds tend to be more neurotic (i.e., more active posters) than people who have already gotten in to med schools) and some that would increase the percentage (SDN users are more active in their junior and senior years, as time goes on, many people who used SDN for pre-med will use it when they are in med school/residency).

I think the interesting study would be to look at the applicant pool as a whole, find the portion of that population that uses SDN, then compare acceptance & matriculation rates for SDN "users" and "non-users."

 

[DoctaJay]

My head hurts.

 

[Dr. Pepper]

I hate to go Clinton on you, but a big part of this obviously depends on your operational definition for "used."

That said, I did some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. There are approximately 25 250 registered users on the SDN forums. According to MSAR, there were 37 364 applicants to medical schools for the 2005 entering year. If we multiply that number by 4, we get just under 150 000 undergraduate "pre-meds" at any one time. Given just these numbers, we get that approximately 17% of pre-meds "use" SDN. I would take that figure to be a maximum estimate.

Now the numbers get fun. Looking at the number of posts in the various forums, pre-medical (MD/DO) topics are approximately 60% of the traffic on the forums. From this, we can infer that approximately 60% of the SDN members are currently "pre-med," giving us 15 150 pre-medical students on SDN. That brings us down to 10% of pre-medical students using SDN. I'd put the actual number at somewhere between 5 and 15 percent.

Obviously, there are many other factors, some which would decrease my calculated percentage (not everyone is an active member, many people who are "pre-med" at some point don't apply to medical school, pre-meds tend to be more neurotic (i.e., more active posters) than people who have already gotten in to med schools) and some that would increase the percentage (SDN users are more active in their junior and senior years, as time goes on, many people who used SDN for pre-med will use it when they are in med school/residency).

I think the interesting study would be to look at the applicant pool as a whole, find the portion of that population that uses SDN, then compare acceptance & matriculation rates for SDN "users" and "non-users."

I absolutely LOVE doing these types of problems.

I remember for a satirical piece I had to submit, I calculated how much money was required to ship obese children onto islands

Before you judge me, remember, it was satirical.
-Dr. P.

 

[DoctaJay]

I believe that the knowledge of SDN is even less at historicaly black colleges. At my school, even though I mention SDN all the time to them, most people don't know about SDN...they are more interested in making a MySpace page. I almost wish that SDN could have a rep to come and talk to premed clubs just like a med school would.

 

[KingTutATL]

I would assume that the people using SDN are the most well informed out of those applying to medical school. You would seem to think that people would want to do as much research as possible to help their admission. Maybe ~25-35%

 

[str8flexed]

I'd assume 20-30%.

I wonder how many pre-meds use MDapplicants.com... probably even less... and then those are the "better" students, since the better ones are more likely to utilize all their resources online.

 

[MasterMD]

I hate to go Clinton on you, but a big part of this obviously depends on your operational definition for "used."

That said, I did some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. There are approximately 25 250 registered users on the SDN forums. According to MSAR, there were 37 364 applicants to medical schools for the 2005 entering year. If we multiply that number by 4, we get just under 150 000 undergraduate "pre-meds" at any one time. Given just these numbers, we get that approximately 17% of pre-meds "use" SDN. I would take that figure to be a maximum estimate.

Now the numbers get fun. Looking at the number of posts in the various forums, pre-medical (MD/DO) topics are approximately 60% of the traffic on the forums. From this, we can infer that approximately 60% of the SDN members are currently "pre-med," giving us 15 150 pre-medical students on SDN. That brings us down to 10% of pre-medical students using SDN. I'd put the actual number at somewhere between 5 and 15 percent.

Obviously, there are many other factors, some which would decrease my calculated percentage (not everyone is an active member, many people who are "pre-med" at some point don't apply to medical school, pre-meds tend to be more neurotic (i.e., more active posters) than people who have already gotten in to med schools) and some that would increase the percentage (SDN users are more active in their junior and senior years, as time goes on, many people who used SDN for pre-med will use it when they are in med school/residency).

I think the interesting study would be to look at the applicant pool as a whole, find the portion of that population that uses SDN, then compare acceptance & matriculation rates for SDN "users" and "non-users."

marry me

 

[GWmdwannabe]

My head hurts.

lol

Sorry - I taught physics this past year. My second-favorite moment of the year was working through the classic "How many piano tuners in NYC" question. Unfortunately, it was standard physics, so not many of the kids caught on, although a few thought it was cool.

 

[NonTradMed]

I have met two people who have used SDN, both times I brought the subject up and they replied they do post online. However, no one around where am I right now have heard of the site, and only perk up with interest when I mention the interview feedback site. I think the idea of posting on forums is alien to many. Back when I was in college, SDN was a relatively new site (didn't it start in 2000 or so?) so not even I had heard of it and I was a geek. These days, I'd estimate a rough 10% of people have 'been' on the site and looked through it at least. Typically, SDN people will be on the high end of the academic scale, if only because successful students tend to utilize every resource at their disposal and SDN is definitely a great resource.

 

[Vox Animo]

I honestly only met one other person at 3 interviews that used SDN. I passed the info to another pre-med at my school.

In that estimate though you forgot to include lurkers. I lurked for at least a year before i joined.

 

[Mr. McDuck]

I don't know a single person that knows what SDN is.

 

[GWmdwannabe]

I honestly only met one other person at 3 interviews that used SDN. I passed the info to another pre-med at my school.

In that estimate though you forgot to include lurkers. I lurked for at least a year before i joined.

True, although that goes back to the definition of "uses."

However many lurkers exist, they are likely balanced out by all the registered users who no longer post/never did post/only posted once.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

I don't know a single person that knows what SDN is.

I don't either!

 

[45408]

I don't know a single person that knows what SDN is.

you probably do, but they're not going to volunteer the information. I know at least three people on SDN.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

I hate to go Clinton on you, but a big part of this obviously depends on your operational definition for "used."

That said, I did some quick back-of-the-envelope calculations. There are approximately 25 250 registered users on the SDN forums. According to MSAR, there were 37 364 applicants to medical schools for the 2005 entering year. If we multiply that number by 4, we get just under 150 000 undergraduate "pre-meds" at any one time. Given just these numbers, we get that approximately 17% of pre-meds "use" SDN. I would take that figure to be a maximum estimate.

Now the numbers get fun. Looking at the number of posts in the various forums, pre-medical (MD/DO) topics are approximately 60% of the traffic on the forums. From this, we can infer that approximately 60% of the SDN members are currently "pre-med," giving us 15 150 pre-medical students on SDN. That brings us down to 10% of pre-medical students using SDN. I'd put the actual number at somewhere between 5 and 15 percent.

Obviously, there are many other factors, some which would decrease my calculated percentage (not everyone is an active member, many people who are "pre-med" at some point don't apply to medical school, pre-meds tend to be more neurotic (i.e., more active posters) than people who have already gotten in to med schools) and some that would increase the percentage (SDN users are more active in their junior and senior years, as time goes on, many people who used SDN for pre-med will use it when they are in med school/residency).

I think the interesting study would be to look at the applicant pool as a whole, find the portion of that population that uses SDN, then compare acceptance & matriculation rates for SDN "users" and "non-users."

That's what I'm talkin' about!

 

[interstellar]

aren't most ppl lurkers?

*waves to the lurkers*

 

[Robizzle]

I don't know a single person that knows what SDN is.

agreed. none of my classmates have ever heard of this. it really all depends on people's connections. if you have a med student bro or sis u'll def. know about it.

i say 1-5% of premeds post regularly on this site

5-10% view regularly/post every once in a while

and 10-20% view every now and then.

 

[Bubblehead-to-MD]

aren't most ppl lurkers?

*waves to the lurkers*

Don't feed the lurkers!!!

 

[notdeadyet]

I meet a LOT more premeds who've never heard of SDN than premeds who have.

 

[Mr. McDuck]

agreed. none of my classmates have ever heard of this. it really all depends on people's connections. if you have a med student bro or sis u'll def. know about it.

i say 1-5% of premeds post regularly on this site

5-10% view regularly/post every once in a while

and 10-20% view every now and then.

I have a bunch of docs in my family. Two just finished intern year, one is a practicing pediatrician, and another is a surgeon in the airforce. None of them have every heard of SDN, lol.

 

[aSagacious]

Bump.

Hmm, I remember seeing a more recent one of these a couple weeks ago but I can't seem to find it. Anyway, I played around with some numbers and want to hear what you guys think. Here's how I approximated the % of applicants that 'use' SDN.

(# of unique posters in a single SSD thread) / (# of applicants to that school)

This came out to be (3.5 +- 1.5) % for every school. (I used the 10-11 threads since their cycle is complete and their threads are dead for the most part).

Of course if you want to broaden 'SDN users' to lurkers then I'm sure this number would be much higher. Likewise if you wanted to limit 'SDN users' to those who consistently post productive information then the number would be much smaller. Anyway, that's my best guess at the question 'what % of applicants use SDN?'

 

[Charles Darwin]

I'd estimate 10-15% if we're including lurkers.

 

[UnclePhil]

I think most applicants know about SDN, I don't see how you couldn't. Run a google search for generic med school admissions related topics and you will get SDN hits. Whether they post here is a different matter. Some people may not during the application season to avoid the lunatic fringe as much as possible. School admins definitely know about SDN. My school's administration probably knows who I am. Some of my classmates probably even know who I am (should they do some digging).

 

[nctw]

I think most applicants know about SDN, I don't see how you couldn't. Run a google search for generic med school admissions related topics and you will get SDN hits. Whether they post here is a different matter. Some people may not during the application season to avoid the lunatic fringe as much as possible. School admins definitely know about SDN. My school's administration probably knows who I am. Some of my classmates probably even know who I am (should they do some digging).

Nobody I've spoken to know what it is (aside from school advisors)

 

[Suncrusher]

I don't know a single person that knows what SDN is.

all the pre-meds I was friends with from being in undergrad with them knew what SDN was, although they would never admit to lurking/posting until after they saw the website already up on my laptop

 

[UnclePhil]

all the pre-meds I was friends with from being in undergrad with them knew what SDN was, although they would never admit to lurking/posting until after they saw the website already up on my laptop

This.

 

[whatsupdoc49]

I don't understand how any pre-med could NOT know about SDN. I think I found out about SDN the first day I even thought about wanting to go the pre-med route. Where do these people get their information? Advisors????? psh. what sorry souls.

That being said, I only know two other pre-meds that admit to having heard of SDN. so sad.

 

[centrigeugle]

I don't understand how any pre-med could NOT know about SDN. I think I found out about SDN the first day I even thought about wanting to go the pre-med route. Where do these people get their information? Advisors????? psh. what sorry souls.

That being said, I only know two other pre-meds that admit to having heard of SDN. so sad.

SDN is an absolute gold mine for realistic, well-researched information from people who have experienced and know what they are talking about. It's also full of crap. Actually, it's mostly full of crap.

My guess is many pre-meds - who are almost by definition neurotic and impatient - won't take the time to find the useful stuff and will be put off by stuff like "DOES EVOLUTION EXIST???" on the front page.

ETA: 30% of SDN-knowers in interview should mean less than 30% SDN-knowers in the application pool, assuming SDN is an advantage.

I'd say ~20% read it semi-regularly. Posting on SDN makes very little difference; everything you need to know is already here.

 

[isoquin]

I'd guess 70% know about it, 50% have gone to the site once, only about 15% have read it to actually gain information, and 5% have posted.

 

[deleted393595]

SDN is an absolute gold mine for realistic, well-researched information from people who have experienced and know what they are talking about. It's also full of crap. Actually, it's mostly full of crap.

Well... If we didn't have so many trolls we wouldn't have so much crap to begin with. But it definitely is a great resource and because we're sort of a community, we're more willing to help each other out and share information than our other pre-med peers.

 

[whatsupdoc49]

SDN is an absolute gold mine for realistic, well-researched information from people who have experienced and know what they are talking about. It's also full of crap. Actually, it's mostly full of crap.

I like to think the benefits far outweigh the "crap". At least for me they do. But I think I love SDN slightly more than the average user.

 

[Plunk]

aren't most ppl lurkers?

*waves to the lurkers*

herro

 

[Truzzi]

Honestly, I don't think it's as well-know as we lead ourselves to believe.

I'd say as low as 5% to as high as 15%.

 

[Web MD]

Honestly, I don't think it's as well-know as we lead ourselves to believe.

Agree. I'd guess 10-25% of people have heard of it. It shouldn't be hard to believe that people haven't heard of SDN. Most of the time I have questions about things I just ask upperclassmen or friends in med school.

 

[nctw]

I like to think the benefits far outweigh the "crap". At least for me they do. But I think I love SDN slightly more than the average user.

I think this way too. Even with all the trolls and ridiculous questions (I have a 4.0 GPA, 39 MCAT, and I cured AIDS. I'm also a lesbian black female who grew up homeless in the streets. Will I get in?!?), I still love this site. So much in fact that I don't tell others about it. It's my dirty little neurotic secret.

 

[Snuke]

I absolutely LOVE doing these types of problems.

I remember for a satirical piece I had to submit, I calculated how much money was required to ship obese children onto islands

Before you judge me, remember, it was satirical.
-Dr. P.

Okay, I know this person posted about 5 years ago, but I couldn't help but laugh and think of Swift's A Modest Proposal.

all the pre-meds I was friends with from being in undergrad with them knew what SDN was, although they would never admit to lurking/posting until after they saw the website already up on my laptop

One of my pre-med friends already knew about it, and she was the one I'd have expected. Very much a go-getter, planner, etc. The others I pointed here, with a warning that they might have to wade through some crap to get to the gold, but there is a lot of gold here if you devote the time to find it. I know it's changed my app.

A better question than 'what's the percentage' would be to analyze what kind of user we have here. Are the high achievers more likely to find SDN? How did you find it, word of mouth or internet search? I know I found it through Google.

 

[desi0chick]

Not all pre-meds speak the truth. Thus not all would admit having used sdn..I don't know I'm pretty sure many pre-meds use/have used this site (whether lurking/posting).

 

[donaldpeters]

Just as the title says...

I've always wondered how many applicants actually use SDN as a resource before/during the applications process....It has its ups and downs, and can be both encouraging and brutally discouraging at times.

A friend of mine swears he will never look at this or any pre-med board. He says they just end up confusing him and making him feel depressed about the whole app. process.

Much < 1%. I didn't see this thread, otherwise I would have posted here. But I just started a new thread on an actual survey on SDN usership: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=845354

 

[centrigeugle]

Much < 1%. I didn't see this thread, otherwise I would have posted here. But I just started a new thread on an actual survey on SDN usership: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=845354

I can't disagree with you more.

Any reasonable pre-med will have found several SDN threads by googling any number of incredibly common questions about grades, MCAT, or applications. It's just, like I said, that even in the ***!!!!~~~information dense thread! (1, 2, 3, 4...25) ~~~!!!!*** there's a high fluff:substance ratio.

 

[deleted393595]

How did you find it, word of mouth or internet search? I know I found it through Google.

I used de Googlz too.

 

[nctw]

A better question than 'what's the percentage' would be to analyze what kind of user we have here. Are the high achievers more likely to find SDN? How did you find it, word of mouth or internet search? I know I found it through Google.

I think the high achievers are more likely to post frequently. I first heard about it on Reddit

 

[235788]

you probably do, but they're not going to volunteer the information. I know at least three people on SDN.

I know zero, but then again none of my friends know i'm on here.

 

[Narmerguy]

Nobody I've spoken to know what it is (aside from school advisors)

Same. Well, a couple that I've talked to know about it but everyone else that I've talked to about it doesn't. Many of the ones I tried to get to read this site complained that everyone is too mean, their applications are discouraging, or it just seems like there's a lot of wasted space with pointless discussions.


I guess it's a community which is nice but I feel like the quality of discussion is rapidly degrading and we're just giving in to inflammatory arguments, sarcastic (but not funny) one liners, trolling, and occasional chaos (entire threads full of talking cats and cool starry bras).

 

[donaldpeters]

Same. Well, a couple that I've talked to know about it but everyone else that I've talked to about it doesn't. Many of the ones I tried to get to read this site complained that everyone is too mean, their applications are discouraging, or it just seems like there's a lot of wasted space with pointless discussions.


I guess it's a community which is nice but I feel like the quality of discussion is rapidly degrading and we're just giving in to inflammatory arguments, sarcastic (but not funny) one liners, trolling, and occasional chaos (entire threads full of talking cats and cool starry bras).

I had the same experience, no one knew, only the pre-med advisor knew and she said not to hang out here. She said she further suspects the 30+ MCAT thread has company reps posting fake scores that promote use of their company materials. I think so too.

 

[JoRands]

It's hard to believe that's so little Pre-meds know about this. Eve tho I lurked for about a year before I joined, whenever I would google something I would always have a few links to this forum until I finally decided to see what it was about.

 

[donaldpeters]

It's hard to believe that's so little Pre-meds know about this. Eve tho I lurked for about a year before I joined, whenever I would google something I would always have a few links to this forum until I finally decided to see what it was about.

Well, google throws up so many links. You just take what you need and move on. I was looking for a way to build a tree house and many links came up using google. I moved from link to link, noted what I wanted and moved on instead of hanging out on forums that discussed these. In fact, if you use google, it is annoying to come across forums because you're looking for something specific.

 

[MeowMeowCAT]

Probably a good portion of people that do a lot of research online. This forum ranks pretty high in the google results near college confidential, so there is no doubt that at the very least a good number of applicants at least lurked and maybe read the stickies.....well not really in the premed sections since those are not that useful and lack in numbers, thanks mods.....but for other sections with actual useful stickies, probably attracted quite a number of lurker applicants.

You would think this forum having such a large premed community would have more developed sections....especially in terms of stickies.....but whatever....apparently they do not mind the spam compared to the more organized and orderly other sections....

 

[Narmerguy]

I feel compelled to also mention that a lot of people simply don't trust an anonymous forum as a reliable means of finding information about their future careers. Having seen a lot of the crud on this forum, and having seen a lot of the really terrible forums out on the internet, it's not that unreasonable of a stance. It's not really encouraging that the VAST majority of individuals giving advice (in pre-allo) on getting into medical school have never even been to medical school.