Helpful or harmful?
True, my undergrad university provided some resources to students interested in attending health professional schools, but I credit not my pre-health advisor (who?) but rather the wonderful internet for holding my hand throughout this entire process. As I mention in my about section, I've read seemingly everything on the internet that has any iota of insight about becoming a dentist. It was my simple, insecure Google search of will I get into dental school? though, that lead me (for better or for worse) straight to the motherlode of information: the Student Doctor Network.
Just like picking your nose, everybody goes on SDN, but nobody admits to it. During interviews these past few months, I've heard so many people say something along the lines of someone said the interviewer asks an ethical question and I knew that little tidbit too because that very someone was Future_Dentist_123 posting on the *~*~*~* Official 2018-2019 Interview/Acceptance/Rejection Thread *~*~*~*! I get it. Nobody wants to come off as neurotic and maybe it is a little neurotic to check SDN upwards of five times a day. But, I feel like it's normal to have anxiety about the application process and SDN provides a community to express and recognize those feelings. Overall, I’ve found its pre-dental community to be quite supportive and informative. While I realize it's an incomplete representation of the actual applicant pool and is an excellent example of selection bias, the forum offers readers both resources and encouragement for success before and during the cycle. That's not to say it's without its flaws, though. SDN has the reputation of being riddled with gunners and trolls who post cynical, negative responses to innocent questions. I personally haven't encountered many of these users, but I do think that at moments, the site has caused me to doubt myself and my application.
Below is my reasoning for why I sometimes hate SDN but also refresh the pre-dental page at least twice a day ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
What I Hate
Selection Bias
You know how nobody posts their failures on social media? Well, keep that in mind when visiting SDN. GPAs are 3.95s and DAT AAs are 27s with 30s in the PAT section. This bombardment of above-average stats can lead to anyone with a solid application feeling insecure. That leads me to another aspect of the forum that I dislike: comparison.
Comparison
SDN causes extra worry not only about stats but also about applications during the already unpredictable cycle. The thread that I mentioned before (the one our friend Future_Dentist_123 posted to) encourages users to share when they receive interviews. There are people with twelve interview invitations and there are others with one. The thing is, though, is that we don't know why that school offered that person an interview. It's easy to say well, she submitted her app on 6/12 and I submitted on 6/10 but she got an interview and I haven't, so they've silently rejected me. Maybe that's how some schools work (I doubt it), but reading about people with too many interviews to schedule when your schedule is, more open, can be very discouraging. Whereas each interview is an amazing opportunity, the comparison that SDN breeds within its user base can detract from a person's feeling of his/her own success.
Fear Mongering
As a disclaimer, I don't venture onto other SDN forums (pre-med, pre-vet, etc), but it seems that the pre-dental community promotes less fear-mongering than the the other pre-heath communities (I've read on Reddit at least that SDN is pretty brutal for pre-meds in terms of scaring people and shutting them down). That being said, I stumble across the occasional post on the pre-dental forums that tell the OP his/her dream of becoming a dentist is over. Sure, feedback is valuable, but telling someone to look into a new profession because of a C in organic II (hi, that's me) is far from constructive. Honestly, reading these types of posts lead me to apply to nineteen dental schools out of fear of not receiving an acceptance. Was nineteen overkill? Yes. It was. Even though the pre-dental forums may not be as harsh as the pre-med SDN community, there are still occasional posts that can make even the strongest of applicants doubt their chances of gaining an acceptance.
What I Love
DAT Resources
I originally stumbled across SDN while looking for recommended DAT prep material and study schedules. Let me tell you, I learned everything I needed to know about that test from posts on the pre-dental DAT discussion forum. The users of SDN introduced me to Chad's Videos, DAT Bootcamp, DAT Destroyer, Kaplan, Feralis Notes (are they MIA now?), and Cliff's AP Biology--all of which helped me perform well on test day. SDN transformed me from the ignorant no-nothing I was into a DAT expert, acing hole punching puzzles in my sleep. If it's one thing SDN does well, it's DAT guidance.
Insight
The users of SDN guide each other not just with the DAT, but with every step of applying, be it taking pre-requisite courses, choosing extracurricular activities, or preparing for interviews. As I mentioned in my dental school interview day post, I'd carve out time the night before each interview to check and see what people on SDN said about their experience at that school. I felt more comfortable walking into each school having an idea of what the day would be like, even if that insight was from an anonymous user on the internet. I know as I head into the winter faced with the excellent problem of choosing which school I should attend, I will be checking the X school vs. X school threads, and probably even posting some of my own. The ability to tap into the minds of other people and condor their experiences and advice is an invaluable resource.
Connection
Ultimately, the users of SDN share a common goal and because of it, share similar excitements, disappointments, and successes. Anonymous students celebrate each other as well as help each other when someone ends up in a rut. I love the rant thread because it is an opportunity to acknowledge difficulties and find others who are in similar situations. I hope that people become increasingly comfortable with sharing their challenges as often as their achievements because I think this will only encourage a more valuable connection between users.
I'll admit it: overall, I like it.
Despite its drawbacks I do enjoy browsing SDN and I don't find it to be the toxic community that I've heard others make it out to be. It's a community where everyone is excited and stressed together, all going through the same thing. I am at fault for checking posts too often and if you do as I say and not as I do, I recommend limiting how many times you refresh every day. If you're looking for a group of people who are going through the pre-dental life or have been-there-done-that, though, I'd take a peek at SDN. At least until we get r/predental* active again.
*On multiple occasions, I tried to liven up Reddit's r/predental, but people only post on it to sell their beat-up copies of the 2016 DAT Destroyer.