About The Student Doctor Network

The Student Doctor Network (SDN) is a nonprofit community helping prehealth and health students find their way into and through the health professions.

Our mission

SDN provides free, trustworthy resources to help prehealth and health students overcome financial barriers, avoid exploitation, and achieve their educational and career goals.

Three beliefs guide our work:

1. Education is already expensive enough. Students should have access to useful information, practical tools, and experienced advice without another bill.
2. Students deserve support they can trust. Uncertainty about admissions and training can leave students vulnerable to misleading claims and high-pressure sales. We offer independent guidance and moderated spaces where students can ask questions and learn from others.
3. Financial circumstances should not decide who gets to pursue a health career. We help students understand costs, find support, and make informed choices, especially when money or access to advising is limited.

How we help

Our forums connect students, residents, and practicing professionals who share experience and advice. Expert advisors answer confidential questions, while our prehealth coaching offers individual guidance with no required fee.

Our resources include school research and interview feedback, application planning tools, cost calculators, admissions guides, essay and interview preparation, and articles about education, training, and careers.

Our history and impact

Our roots reach back to Coastal Research Group, founded in 1983 by family medicine physicians and educators. Its research, conferences, and educational work supported family medicine residency training and access to primary care.

Coastal Research Group founded SDN in 1999, bringing together student-created websites to make guidance and peer support more widely available. By 2011, SDN reported helping tens of thousands of premeds and medical students become physicians. Today, our community serves students across the health professions.

For nearly three decades, students have come here for help and stayed to help others. That tradition continues through the time, knowledge, and support of our members, volunteer moderators, expert advisors, donors, sponsors, and staff.