Sitting in on other classes. Unethical?

[deleted244469]

I was wondering what the thoughts were on this? I'd like to sit in on an orgo class at my CC. Is that unethical, considering I am not paying for it? Wondering what thoughts were on this.....

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[DoctorSynthesis]

I was wondering what the thoughts were on this? I'd like to sit in on an orgo class at my CC. Is that unethical, considering I am not paying for it? Wondering what thoughts were on this.....

I tried auditing a class and wasn't allowed to due to my schools honor code

 

[EsotericAlchemy]

Why not just sit in on free online courses?

http://ocw.uci.edu/courses/chem_51a_organic_chemistry.html
Click "Course Lectures" tab

 

[DoctorSynthesis]

What I did instead was I went to this website:

http://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/blog/

Cheap study guides and video and app. Also he offers online tutoring. He knows more about orgo then your professor will.

Or khan academy for a free alternative.

 

[Aerus]

When you're paying money, you pay for the piece of paper you get, not the actual education. Assuming it's fine with the instructor, there's nothing unethical about auditing classes.

 

[Primo Beats]

personally i dont find it unethical if you're not taking someone else's seat and forcing them to sit on the ground or outside the classroom, but consult your university's or CC's honor code for clarification. also, you could ask the prof

 

[TooMuchResearch]

There are elements that could be unethical, especially if you intend to take the course for credit in the future. It is unethical for you to take the exams or attend exam reviews. It is unethical to discuss the exams with current students. It is not unethical to attend a lecture unless there is a rule against it.

 

[poopsicle]

i looked up recorded online lectures on youtube. you never have to leave your room

 

[Mad Jack]

It's pretty hard to sit in on a CC class without a professor noticing, as the classrooms are generally much smaller than university lecture halls. If it is against the CC's policy, you will be told to leave.

 

[godawg300]

Just go to a class that allows people to audit......seriously....

 

[ndafife]

Depends on how many people are in the class... If its a ~300 person lecture, that is a pretty easy class to audit and I doubt anyone cares, but you are at a CC and I cant think that there will be enough people in the course to prevent the lecturer from figuring it out

 

[godawg300]

Many CC classes do not allow auditing btw. I personally would use online sources. Many online free ochem materials.

 

[Mr Roboto]

Why would it be unethical to attend review sessions?

There are elements that could be unethical, especially if you intend to take the course for credit in the future. It is unethical for you to take the exams or attend exam reviews. It is unethical to discuss the exams with current students. It is not unethical to attend a lecture unless there is a rule against it.

 

[Time Table]

Who cares if it's unethical? You're gaining education that you can use to your advantage in the future. Just don't get caught and you should be found.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Since auditing classes usually costs money, it would be considered stealing since you aren't paying for the course. People might also argue that you're gaining an unfair advantage because you're learning the material yet aren't reporting it anywhere. I believe audited classes must be reported on AMCAS, but will need to double-check.

With that said, I know people who did this with the basic sciences because the lecture halls were huge and no one would ever notice... Interestingly, in our orgo 2 class, we had a genius professor with a crazy photographic memory. He always lectured from his head, and never had anything written down to look at. One day he said randomly, "If you aren't in this class, leave now!" Two guys got up and left. He looked around the room again and said, "Once again, if you aren't in this class, leave now!" One last girl sitting nearby quietly said some profanity to herself, got up, and left...

Times have changed over the years, and like people said, there might be better resources now than attending lectures. I actually learned the basics of Orgo from the Khan Academy. I couldn't figure out electron pushing for the life of me until I wtched those videos. If you want to gain an advantage, use the Khan Academy! If you sit in on lectures, there is no guarantee that the professor will be any good in the first place. You can also use resources like the Khan Academy at your own convenience.

 

[godawg300]

Since when do auditing classes cost money? At my undergrad it's free to audit.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Since when do auditing classes cost money? At my undergrad it's free to audit.

You're lucky then! At a lot of schools it is actually the same amount of tuition dollars as the for-credit class. This was the case at my school.

 

[godawg300]

You're lucky then! At a lot of schools it is actually the same amount of tuition dollars as the for-credit class. This was the case at my school.

Well I've audited at both a top private school and public school. Both free. Only can audit large lecture classes but not classes like language classes or labs.

 

[Planes2Doc]

Well I've audited at both a top private school and public school. Both free. Only can audit large lecture classes but not classes like language classes or labs.

That's good, but I'm guessing it goes on your transcript? If a non-science major were to audit all of the basic sciences before taking the courses and there was a record of it, then I'm sure ADCOMs might see this applicant differently in some negative way. On the other hand, if you sneak into a class, no one will ever know.

 

[godawg300]

That's good, but I'm guessing it goes on your transcript? If a non-science major were to audit all of the basic sciences before taking the courses and there was a record of it, then I'm sure ADCOMs might see this applicant differently in some negative way. On the other hand, if you sneak into a class, no one will ever know.

You are not enrolled, so no it's not on your transcript. You don't take exams but you are welcome to be in lecture. Many classes at my school were also recorded and anyone from the community can watch them. That's why it's free to audit.

 

[Ismet]

You are not enrolled, so no it's not on your transcript. You don't take exams but you are welcome to be in lecture. Many classes at my school were also recorded and anyone from the community can watch them. That's why it's free to audit.

Your school is definitely the exception and not the norm. Courses that you officially audit usually show up on transcripts.

 

[FutureOncologist]

Khan Academy is the way to go. There are also free online classes taught by real professors from top-tier universities. Google is your friend

 

[godawg300]

Your school is definitely the exception and not the norm. Courses that you officially audit usually show up on transcripts.

Well this is at my private school. It you are from California many of the cal states allow you to audit without it showing up on your transcripts. And there are many cal states. In any event if you enter a large lecture course I'm not sure if anyone would actually know of you are enrolled.

 

[Nica56744]

My school doesn't seem to care much. It was actually a really common practice to sign up for one professor that had easier exams for orgo and then go to another professor's class because he was easier to understand. No one cared. I had the harder/better professor. He did at one point request that if you weren't enrolled in the class, you didn't take and submit a pop quiz in an attempt to blend in. It apparently made inputting grades confusing when there were a bunch of random/nonsense names...

 

[allantois]

In my big science lectures we often run into problems of not having enough sits. Per state law there can't be more than 298 students enrolled in any course, and cannot be more than 298 sits in any auditorium but since not-enrolled students come in to listen to the lecture, there is sometimes not enough sits for everyone and in that case professors ask them to leave. Otherwise nobody seems to have any problem with them. In fact my school allows those who are over 65 to officially enroll in any class for free without getting grades/credits.

But in all honesty, just watch free lectures that MIT or Stanford put up.

 

[Goro]

Concur

When you're paying money, you pay for the piece of paper you get, not the actual education. Assuming it's fine with the instructor, there's nothing unethical about auditing classes.

 

[alamo4]

In several cases I just contacted the professor in advance and asked if I could sit in. This is usually after the period where lots of people are dropping or dropping out of class trying to figure out the schedule. The professor only ever said sure and was happy to have me there listening as long as there was space in the room. I often also gave a reason about why I would not be able to commit fully to the class due to some other commitments and not just laziness.

I think it would have been unethical for me to have taken/downloaded all the problem sets and sets and then also kept the answer keys for use if I were going to actually take the class again later.

Some of the classes like anatomy and physiology at the undergrad level might be a bit like this. You may not be required to take it, but it might be good for a premed to sit and listen and absorb. For example, learning how they kidney works is complicated and may help from actual explanation in person.

But I audited other things for fun: Greek philosophy, statistics, advanced orgo (for the grad students), etc. It just gave me new things to think about, and the harder stuff reinforced my basic subjects.