The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. People who do irresponsible things in college are more likely to do irresponsible things in med school. When you're comparing against literally tens of thousands of people without criminal charges, you're kind of going to get a lot more scrutiny, because that's one more strike against you that says you might pose a problem in the future.
It's an acquired taste. There's a lot of really great tasting alcohol out there though, even if you're not down with beer or wine.
Does that mean then that because I procrastinate on my work I'm going to get a DUI?
This person did something criminally irresponsible, so surely they're likely to do other irresponsible things that are more innocuous. That's the point. If you were given two identical applicant files, and you saw that one had a misdemeanor and the other didn't, and you were trying to build the best damn class you could, which would you pick?
I'll agree that I would pick the applicant without the criminal record if they were otherwise identical applicants, but that really never happens. Adcoms on here say over and over that they don't sit there and compare two applicants side by side.
I think the sort if people that are willing to procure and use fake IDs are the sort if people who will cut corners with documentation, because both are relatively minor ways of disregarding unnecessary laws.
I'm serious- you should see some of the poor documentation I've seen by doctors that just don't give a ****. Like, straight up copying notes from medical students, nurses, etc and using them as their own, then charging direct contact time for it- it's super lazy and actually illegal, plus it makes everyone else's job harder because their notes are completely useless. But they figure it's not a big deal, that documentation is just a formality that has been annoyingly imposed on them. Trust me, when you're in the hospital, you'll quickly understand why the attitudes are very equivalent, as they're both examples of people skipping past minor legal hurdles to commit a usually victimless crime.
I guess it must have just not been a thing where I lived- our state IDs are just too hard to fake, raids were common (some bars seemed to get raided every other week near campus) and the penalties are pretty severe, so few people bothered risking it. Drinking on campus was extremely common, but sneaking into bars was a good way to get charged with a misdemeanor, get an IA, or get thrown out of school if it was a repeat offense.
You honestly believe that someone who is willing to skirt the law is no more likely than someone who does their best to avoid breaking any laws to be lax about following the tedious and often pointless mandates we have to deal with in healthcare? I'm not saying they are bad people, not in the slightest, just that people who tend to have a record of disregarding authority are probably statistically more likely to disregard authority in the future.
I never said it was the factor. Just that it was a factor. Evidence against character.
It's more likely that if B occurs then it's more likely that A also occurred, not the other way around.
If B occured and A is more likely to have previously occurred, that means there is a correlative relationship between A and B. I'm not saying it's causative, just correlative. And correlates are enough for me, when I've got plenty of people who could fill those spots that lack negative correlates. Now, if a person adds enough positive correlates to their app, I could easy overlook the negative one. But that's the whole point here- this is a negative mark that can be overcome by demonstrating positive character via ECs.
Lol that doesn't make sense. Correlates don't work in the opposite direction. For example, drinking spoiled milk may lead to puking, but puking doesn't lead to drinking spoiled milk.
It's impossible for us to say without an expensive and exhaustive study. I chose to believe irresponsible behavior is a predictive correlate of future irresponsible behavior. Responsible behavior is a predictive correlate of future responsible behavior. It's pretty simple.
You can't pick and choose though which behaviors you analyze as indicators. Besides using fake ID's and drinking underage, I was completely responsible. You can analyze my incredibly responsible behavior now and say that's indicative, but then that conflicts with what my underage drinking indicates.
At the end of the day, actions have consequences, and criminal or institutional records affect your application, as they reflect upon your character. If people do not want to face those consequences or have their character called into question, they should not engage in those activities. This is, to me, a relatively small ding on someone's character and judgment, but it's there nonetheless.
Own your actions and move on, that's all you can do. Nothing, to me, it's more annoying than the "everybody is doing it" excuse, as that says "I do not take any responsibility for this." "I made a stupid mistake and I got caught, but that isn't who I am" is the proper approach, as demonstrated by some good letters and ECs.
Still doesn't work that way. You can't reverse the direction because multiple variables may be correlated with B. In this example, someone may be puking because they have the flu or food poisoning. Thus, you can't say that B necessarily is associated with A.
You do realize that there is a such thing as predictive correlates right? And that we use them a lot in medicine? You add a bunch of predictive correlates up to determine overall risk. This is an example of something that you add into the mix for "potential for future problems."
But we have no reason to believe that underage drinking is predictive of future illegal behavior. The arguments here have all been hypothetical and depend on faulty logic.
My (poorly articulated) point was that there are too many variables to say there's a correlation at all. You can't suggest that one thing leads to another and thus there's a correlation. But I think we agree here that without data this is pointless.
Except that I posted a link that discusses an article that demonstrates an extremely high statistical causative relationship between underage drinking and future criminal behavior.
Did you? I've been on my phone so I've been skimming. Is it the Miami study (I hope not bc that study is garbage)?
It's only stupid if you get caught
