Cheating in Dental School!!!

Started by openwyd22
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openwyd22

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Do any of you see this going on at your schools?

If so, does anyone ever say anything, or does something get done about it ever. We have 3-4 peeps that 40-50% of the class sees blatantly cheating and they sometimes even go as far as telling others that it was an easy quiz/exam because it was a "community" quiz/exam.

Many of us feel like we are being cheated and also don't like the fact the these people will be influencing society's perception of our profession. What is the best way to get them to stop. I know the obvious answer, but I am looking for some other ideas. I think they deserve to get warned before any major punishments. Please let me know what you think. thanks .
 
I haven't seen any personally but I think cheating is idiotic. Consider what you have on the line. Wouldn't it suck to get kicked out, toss away 100K or more in tuition, and be out of a career all for an A instead of a C?!
 
A similar problem occurred in my undergrad course. Perhaps you can talk with the professors and inform them that many have noticed a problem with cheating. Ask the professor to address the class that he/she is aware of the situation and he/she will be monitoring the exams. It worked for our class, no names were ever given, but the teachers address scared students from continuing to cheat.

Good luck.
 
It is plain stupid to cheat in a professional school. I hate those who cheat. These people have no idea what is on line here and have no intergrity. These are the kind of people that we don't need in this profession. I have no mercy for those who cheat. If they get kicked out, Profession of dentistry is better off without them. I would try something to give them warning if I am feeling little generous but wouldn't hesitate to tell the dean and have this problem fixed.
 
openwyd22 said:
Do any of you see this going on at your schools?

If so, does anyone ever say anything, or does something get done about it ever. We have 3-4 peeps that 40-50% of the class sees blatantly cheating and they sometimes even go as far as telling others that it was an easy quiz/exam because it was a "community" quiz/exam.

Many of us feel like we are being cheated and also don't like the fact the these people will be influencing society's perception of our profession. What is the best way to get them to stop. I know the obvious answer, but I am looking for some other ideas. I think they deserve to get warned before any major punishments. Please let me know what you think. thanks .
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Cheating happens here and there at my school but not really bad. There was one case so far where it was really blatant and some kids told the teacher. The teacher talked with the people cheating and warned them and nothing has happened since. If it's really blatant than you should feel comfortable at least asking the teacher to watch out for it with or without giving names.

But yeah, mention something to the teacher of the class and they will take care of it
 
I remember there was a student in my undergrad who would always take bathroom breaks in the middle of exams. I knew he/she (i don't want to be specific here) was always cheating and pulling things out of his/her pocket during exams!!

I couldn't believe it.. I always studied hard and it really offended me that some people would get away with not studying at all and then resort to cheating at the last minute. I would often get higher grades...but it pissed me off because he/she still managed to pass and get into dental school last year.

I'm sure he/she is still doing it there.

Next time I see someone cheating, I'm telling. No second chances.
 
DrTacoElf said:
I haven't seen any personally but I think cheating is idiotic. Consider what you have on the line. Wouldn't it suck to get kicked out, toss away 100K or more in tuition, and be out of a career all for an A instead of a C?!
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I agree! I have heard stories but I have yet to see any of it personally. Penn takes that kind of thing very, very seriously and I doubt those couple of extra points you would gain would be worth the loss of your education or the mark on your record.
 
We had a couple cheaters in our Dental School. One guy paid a lab to wax up his bridge. He turned in a blue bridge wax up, which was waxed on a green die stone. ( in our school you only had green wax and yellow die stone)

It did piss me off; but I did not spend too much time worrying about it.
If a person cheats and gets away with it he will cheat again. that's what happened. Both guys got caught and got kicked out.
 
I forgot to mention that all 4 of them are in the top 10 in our class.

You are right though, they don't think of the consequences, but I think they are addicted to it becuase they get away with it. Nobody has called them out on it yet.

Thanks for the replies
 
openwyd22 said:
I forgot to mention that all 4 of them are in the top 10 in our class.

You are right though, they don't think of the consequences, but I think they are addicted to it becuase they get away with it. Nobody has called them out on it yet.

Thanks for the replies
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Remind me who these folks are so I can remember to black ball them when they apply to ortho 2 - 3 years from now. 😡

I'm sorry you & your non-cheating classmates have to watch these people do this at your expense. Record any evidence you can of them cheating - cheater x was blatantly staring at my paper during the path quiz on 1/16/05; students a, b, and c saw cheater x staring at your paper too. Get it all together and turn them in to your judicial council and hope for proper justice.
 
openwyd22 said:
Do any of you see this going on at your schools?

If so, does anyone ever say anything, or does something get done about it ever. We have 3-4 peeps that 40-50% of the class sees blatantly cheating and they sometimes even go as far as telling others that it was an easy quiz/exam because it was a "community" quiz/exam.

Many of us feel like we are being cheated and also don't like the fact the these people will be influencing society's perception of our profession. What is the best way to get them to stop. I know the obvious answer, but I am looking for some other ideas. I think they deserve to get warned before any major punishments. Please let me know what you think. thanks .
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If they're all in the top 10 of your class, the obvious answer becomes even more appealling. I bet they won't find it quite as appealling when they find out they have to repeat the year after automatically failing an entire semester.
 
openwyd22 said:
I forgot to mention that all 4 of them are in the top 10 in our class.

You are right though, they don't think of the consequences, but I think they are addicted to it becuase they get away with it. Nobody has called them out on it yet.

Thanks for the replies
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Hi openwyd22,

If I were you, I'd have a little fun. Send all of them an anonymous email, make a broad accusasion with a little bit of substance, like mention a particular date they cheated on. Write a brief paragraph telling them that you will send to your Dean and professors. Then, watch them sweat in the next test.
 
We had several people who would send some of their work to oustide labs. One got busted when the prof recognized that his crown was a different type of gold or porcelain (or something) than the school lab used.
 
Sprgrover said:
I agree! I have heard stories but I have yet to see any of it personally. Penn takes that kind of thing very, very seriously and I doubt those couple of extra points you would gain would be worth the loss of your education or the mark on your record.
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Course these people may be cheating to get C's which then it may be very worth their time and the couple of extra points.


You wouldnt think they could cheat on their clinical exams though !
 
toofache32 said:
We had several people who would send some of their work to oustide labs. One got busted when the prof recognized that his crown was a different type of gold or porcelain (or something) than the school lab used.
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oh wow!

I actually wondered if this sort of thing ever happened!
 
zacharydent said:
Course these people may be cheating to get C's which then it may be very worth their time and the couple of extra points.
You wouldnt think they could cheat on their clinical exams though !
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If they're cheating to get C's at Penn, then chances are they're in remediation and getting plenty of tips and help from the tutors assigned to them by the department. Once again, I doubt those extra points are worth the cost of an expulsion or probation.
 
openwyd22 said:
I forgot to mention that all 4 of them are in the top 10 in our class.
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i dont know if i would "tell on them" right away or try sending an annonymous email first, but i'd be damned if i was gonna let them get away with being ranked at the top of my class while i'm working for my rank
 
Gasp! People cheating in dental school? No way! If I were shooting for the top 10, I'd be pissed. Otherwise, I'd enjoy watching all four of them deficate on each other.
 
I know here where I go to school, we signed an honor code and that it's our job to say something if situations like this comes up. Personally, I think they dont' deserve to be in the top 10 because they cheated their way up. Do you have like, a class officer you can talk to? or submit a letter to the course director or something?
 
whats up sweeti

I have heard of people cheating on practicals and written quizzes/exams in my class but have never seen it personally. I am always dissapointed in people when i hear stuff like that, because i always wanted to think my class was better than that. i guess every class has a handful though. I can't help but hoping that someday someone turns them in if they catch them doing it again...
 
Sprgrover said:
If they're cheating to get C's at Penn, then chances are they're in remediation and getting plenty of tips and help from the tutors assigned to them by the department. Once again, I doubt those extra points are worth the cost of an expulsion or probation.
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I agree, but desperate people do desperate things.
 
Last year we lost two people in our class due to cheating. They both were caught cheating on lab practicals, but I'm sure they were doing it in lecture classes too. We have cameras in our lab that record stuff, and I guess this one person was already under some supsicion, but they were caught blatently cutting an operative prep on the table top and not in the mouth. How stupid can you be? That person was kicked out. Another person was bringing in pre-cut teeth to the practicals. Someone told on them I think. They caught this person by having one of our dental materials professors run a color analysis on the type of nail polish on their tooth versus the rest of the class. At our school, the professors paint some nail polish on our un-cut teeth just prior to the practical to ensure that we are not doing the above. This person had already remediated his d1 year once. So they basically spent two years doing d1 and then got kicked out never to return. Bummer. Our dean takes cheating very seriously and gives no second chances. So, if I knew of cheating going on in my school (which we're all not EVEN gonna go there after all this) I'd definitely warn the person first before telling any authority. But if that doesn't work, I'd tell.
 
I actually love cheaters. They actually make it easier for those that don't cheat to rise up. Cheaters will always no matter what have to face some kind of proctored test. Whether its DAT, Boards, State exam you name it those that cheat won't do well (its gonna bite em in the Arse). So whats the problem. You people are just looking at it in temporary terms. Long term your way ahead of the game well thats if you studied.


cheatings a part of life, there will always be cheaters no matter what the circumstances, what the teacher says, what cameras you got looking down on you people will allllways cheat.

I don't like cheaters either, i actually don't know how to cheat i'm not very skilled. I see alot of cheaters cheating group in my undergrad school. I mean its not even a joke. They practice seating arrangement and all that.

But cheating doesn't mean that you will go to the top. Eventually you still have to pass the boards. Those you can't really cheat on. So its actually to your advantage if they cheat, and you study and don't cheat. However its to their advantage if u don't study and they don't study but they do better. Grades in the end don't matter its the boards that make the difference.

And hey I think if you can cheat and still make it up to the top youve got skillz doesn't make you any dumber than someone who made it by just studying. And I don't think that cheating will make a less competence dentist. I'd have to honestly say one that cheats and studies is more well rounded. His or her head isn't in books memorizing crap. The stuff you learn in dental school you will probably apply 10% of it. Just like undergrad how many of you remember who composed what from music appreciation. Or what date the blahblah blhahappened. I mean how do you think bush got up there. I call that skillz. He had enough skill to go up there. Heck he didn't even have to cheat paid some peeps off got in here go in there went to the top, smoked pot watever. Either his daddy or whatever helped him out but hey he accomplished his goals. I mean again you have to do good on your boards in order to go into specialty. You can't cheat. So its actually advantagous like i said for you if they do cheat. I'm studying for the DAT now and those that cheated are having a hell of a time learning the material. all over again when they could have just learned in class.

Have you noticed the hardcore biology never end up getting the highest grades and they know the most information. And those that are just doing it to get to the next level have such as dentist med etc. do watever it takes to get up there and have the highest grades. The same thing follows those that push it to the limit whatever it takes are the ones that rise. Some beleive in studying and booksmarts others are more well rounded can do not only that but cheat, party, study balance everything. I think balance is a good thing. I'm actually having a blast whatching my fellow friends who cheated through a few ochem learning ochem all over, because now they have to, and it might be too late. So in the end the hardcore cheaters will be crying and hurting them off and helping you. The balanced cheaters are beating you because your not well balanced and you just study. Just the way human nature is.


Just my 2 cents.
 
teefRcool - So what you're saying is that you would be in favor of insurance fraud, over diagnosing and imbezlement so long as you used other methods that were legal to acheive a profitable dental practice?
 
Hey if its legal hell yea i would go for it. I'm not gonna sit back and let everyone else get ahead while i'm sitting here with no money. Its just the way it goes. I'm cool with it as long as its not legal. Its like if you have someone in the inside as a friend like an adcom or whatever that your chances are not going to be higher than a person who doesn't. If that person saw the opportunity he would take it as well. Also your statement is a onesided question. Looked through one frame of thought. You will never have a case where two things benefit at once mutualistic relationships are very rare. Just like bio.
 
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