Do Medical Schools check applications for plagarism?

[ballinplayer03]

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I have a friend who said he used a couple sentences from his older brothers personal statement and was going to submit it without changing it. I told him he should change it around but he said he liked the wording of those sentences.

I was wondering will medical schools know that he took those sentences???

 

[jenkim]

'a freind'

Tell your 'friend' to have some integrity and do it on his own.

 

[Kimaris]

 

[CoolWhipp]

I love how transparent these friend threads are.

 

[da8s0859q]

I have a friend who said he used a couple sentences from his older brothers personal statement and was going to submit it without changing it. I told him he should change it around but he said he liked the wording of those sentences.

I was wondering will medical schools know that he took those sentences???

Nobody outside of the "core" of an admissions committee could tell you that for sure, but it's a tremendously stupid thing to risk.

 

[ThaliaNox]

It probably won't come back to bite your "friend" but I do know an adcom who regularily quotes her favorite lines from people's personal statements when talking to premeds during presentations. Wouldn't it be funny if your favorite lines were one of HER favorite lines and she read your application? Likely? Of course not. But why risk it?

 

[runawayclock]

Whether or not they do shouldn't really matter in this. You simply shouldn't because it's academic dishonesty, no matter how small it is.

 

[Elpenor]

nobody will notice, just leave them the same

👍

 

[SirGecko]

No one will probably ever notice but that doesn't change the fact that you should write your own statement. It would be ethically bankrupt not to. Almost as important though is that the personal statement should be *personal*. If it doesn't really pertain to you and is generic enough to have come word for word from someone else then you probably want to rethink the statement.

 

[getright]

I hope you get caught

 

[chman]

Are the lines really that spectacular that it is worth risking never being able to get in to med-school? I highly doubt it, just tell your friend not to do it, even if the chance of being caught is slime to none.

 

[FrazzleSnazzle]

Are the lines really that spectacular that it is worth risking never being able to get in to med-school? I highly doubt it, just tell your friend not to do it, even if the chance of being caught is slime to none.

Freudian slip?

 

[chman]

Freudian slip?

, I'm leaving it.

 

[addo]

If his experiences apply to you as well, then just write about that experience in your own words, and youre in the clear. do it the right way.

 

[softmed]

Keep in mind you're submitting this digitally and paying $100s for for the application. It would cost them almost nothing to run it through a plagiarism checker.

If you include quotations it's not plagiarism. That's the only circumstance I'd risk it. You could say, "my brother once said, "blahblahblah"."

Just don't risk it otherwise. Here's the thing: you have so much to lose by doing it. And if you succeed, you have very little to gain. A personal statement, even a fantastic one, is only a small portion of your overall application. Yes, it can set you apart but they consider so much more: your grades/MCAT, your volunteer experience, your work, your recommendations, the interviews, etc. It's unlikely that two sentences will make or break you if you reword them. But if you plagiarize and you're caught you'll be done.

Don't do it.

 

[Sesom]

Do it, you probably won't get caught but if you do then less competition for me! 🙂

 

[bonsaitree1]

Some schools might use TurnitIn to check your essays.

Some Canadian schools do it.

 

[NickNaylor]

One word: stupid.