PRESS RELEASE

The Student Doctor Network forums now have a home for high school and pre-college students seeking advice about the health professions.

At the request of many SDN users, we are proud to launch Student Doctor Network Aspire. Aspire is staffed by moderators and mentors from the medical, dental and pharmacy fields, as well as parents of current students. Aspire provides information to help high school and pre-college students start their health professions career on solid footing.

Current topics include questions of interest to high school and pre-college students, and cover the areas of pharmacy, dentistry, and medicine. Included are descriptive explanations of the paths to each career, brief explanations of each profession as well as specialties, and links to information provided by other professional organizations and agencies. 

Information will be provided about combined baccalaureate-doctorate programs, such as BS/MD or 6-year PharmD. Aspire provides information about these programs, as well as insight and advice to assist students in deciding whether these types of programs are right for them. Experienced moderators and mentors will be available to answer questions regarding their fields.

To help students develop a realistic understanding of the paths to various professional careers, the Aspire forum will address frequently encountered misconceptions about subjects including school choice, projected income, debt, reasons for pursuing a career medicine, and suicide rates.

Aspire will offer a separate subforum for parents who want to be involved. This will allow them to ask questions and receive feedback, comments, and support from other parents and SDN staff. The mother of a current medical student and SDN staffer volunteered her time to answer parent questions and share her experiences.

In order to allow our high school members to relax and talk freely among themselves, we offer a private subforum: the Aspire Clubhouse. Membership in the Clubhouse is offered only to high school students and moderating staff.

While we have done our best to anticipate the needs of high school pre-professional students, SDN Aspire will continue to expand its content to meet the needs of its forum members. Our goal is to help high school and other pre-college students make the most informed decisions possible in their pre-professional paths.

Welcome to SDN Aspire!