By Jeremiah Fleenor, MD, MBA, author of The Medical School Interview: Secrets and a System for Success

“A wise man can see more from the bottom of a well than a fool can from a mountain top.” Unknown

So you’re not happy with your grades. Are they at the bottom of a well? Do you feel that the GPA and MCAT scores on your application don’t reflect the true brain power you possess? This firmly plants you in the majority of applicants. So what can be done to help this common situation? Here are some tips to help you be the “wise man” and make the most of your grades.

Overview of Problem Areas

During the course of the medical school interview, it is important to proactively bring up weak areas of your application. I liken this to telling your parents you’ve done something wrong before they find out about it. Although I rarely practiced this philosophy as I was growing up, the times I did usually resulted in less trouble. I think the same is true for admissions committees. Students who can assess their own weaknesses gain credibility. Those who come to the committee with an honest assessment and plan (not excuses) to address weaknesses look much stronger than those who ignore or try to hide their shortcomings. Read the full story

You know the saying: “hindsight is the best foresight.” When it comes to handling public health disasters, we can only hope that prior failures and shortcomings of the system – the aftermath of Katrina, for example – will serve as a valuable lesson for the future.

What would happen if a contagious disease spread across the United States, or a deadly toxin were released into the population? Would the government and medical community be able to spring into action quickly and coherently, or would they be fumbling in the dark, leaving millions of people without immediate and proper care? Should we be worried about our nation’s readiness to deal with disasters swiftly and effectively? Read the full story

The Student Doctor Network (SDN) was founded in 1999.

Over the past eight years we’ve experienced many changes in the way people use the Internet and the service they expect from Web sites.

When SDN the site was originally created each page was hand-edited. (Ouch.)

Fortunately, we transitioned to more sophisticated and flexible web formats. Our goal this year is to move entirely to a unified format to provide faster browsing and significantly improved interconnectedness among the different sections at SDN.

Over the next few weeks you’ll notice more of the site will change to this new format. The SDN Forums will retain their current set-up, but some minor modifications will occur to make navigation easier.

Where to find SDN Resources

We’re going to do our best to make sure old pages will forward to their new page. This will make navigation relatively seamless for most members. However, if you have trouble finding a section, we’ve listed the sections (in order of popularity) here:

• SDN Forums ( New Threads | Live Thread View | Register)
• Interview Feedback (All Categories)
• Wiki
• Classifieds
• Blogs
• Bookstore
• Schools Database

There was a time when Kimberli S. Cox, M.D., never thought she’d be volunteering for the Student Doctor Network. Then again, there was a time she never thought she’d be a doctor.

After being dissuaded (for such reasons as not having any family in medicine and not being extremely wealthy) by her high school counselor when the discussion of medical school came up, Cox instead pursued what she figured was as close as she’d ever get, a degree in psychology.

Then, while Cox was in graduate school studying psychology, she lived with residents, and everything changed. Read the full story

What on the surface appears to be “just another forum” is in fact a lifeline for some. “One of my biggest regrets in college was not finding SDN earlier…seriously,” says SDN member Brandon. (All SDN Forums participants create unique user names, and for the sake of anonymity, have acquiesced to the use of their first names for quotes.)

Yes, they take it that seriously. And for good reason.

According to Lee Burnett, executive director and co-founder of the Student Doctor Network, the SDN Forums have grown to become the largest pre-health and health professional student forums on the Internet.

SDN is operated by the Coastal Research Group, a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization (which means any monies donated are also a write off for the donor). Entirely run by volunteers, SDN provides numerous Student Doctor Forums, where camaraderie, friendships, and even, rumor has it, marriages, have been formed. In short, there would be no SDN were it not for the many moderators, administrators and advisors that volunteer their time to keep SDN running on task. Read the full story