Can those ethical dilemma questions cost you your spot?

[diastole]

So I was reading the interview feedback forums and the question asked what you would do if your best friend who just had a death in the family was cheating off of you on an exam. It said that if you turned her in, she would be dismissed.

I wouldn't let my best friend cheat off of me for both of our sakes but if pressed for an answer this one would be tough. Let's say for the sake of argument that I said that I would cover for my friend. I (hypothetically) feel that this was a momentary lapse in judgment that doesn't reflect either her past or future performance in pharmacy school and she doesn't deserve to be dismissed over it. If you don't say that you would rat out your best friend, could they decide that you aren't fit to be a pharmacist? If you give the wrong answer to a moral dilemma question, is it a deal breaker or do they just think that you need some training in ethics?

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[luckyphooey]

I was fortunate enought to work with a Howard professor a week before my interview at Howard. He told me that the ethical questions were not graded and there were really no right or wrong answer. They know we will be taking pharmacy ethic class once we get in, so we will be taught the subject, for now, they just want to hear own reasonings. Therefore, I don't think it is a big deal breaker at all, just use your common sense and don't say anything obnoxious.

 

[fenixtnlfan]

This question gets asked a lot. From the opinions I've seen, you need to say you would do something about it. Exactly what you would do is up to you, but saying you would let your friend slide completely is not a good answer. Ethics always has shades of gray and different approaches.

I'm not a huge fan of this question as I think most people say they would turn their friend in but in reality probably wouldn't. I don't think this question teaches the adcom anything about your ethics or about you. Lol sorry for the aside.

 

[luwical]

Those questions are killer questions. I gave a long response in my interview. The guy was like "ok lets move on."

 

[sprinkle0420]

I don't think your answer to an ethical dilemma would cost you a spot in pharmacy school. They just want to see whether you can logically explain your stance. I worried a little bit about my answer to universal healthcare in my interview since I think it leaned toward the conservative side, but I tried to explain myslef as thoroughly as possible. I almost wanted to use the analogy of how universal healthcare is like a threesome bc I thought it was pretty clever, but thank goodness I didn't! lol

"Universal healthcare is like a threesome....in theory it sounds great, but in reality they are much harder to put into effect."