Is it ethical, to try to buy notes from another school?

[naveenanirada]

If a person from a medical school wants to get access to notes of another medical school........would you deem it as unethical?
If it is ethical,what should she/he pay ,for those notes (First 2 years...that covers day 1 to Stp 1)?
regards
NN

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[driedcaribou]

Why would this be unethical?

If you were buying exams that you shouldn't have access to then yea, that's unethical but what's the harm in getting notes?

You still have to read them.

 

[deuist]

You aren't really giving much information. Based off of what you have said, I don't consider your actions to be unethical. However, if the other school tells its students, "These notes are for you and no one else," then I would say that you've got a problem.

 

[naveenanirada]

Deuist,
Actually the point that you brought up, was what was bothering me...............my School which is in South America , is really not on the same keel as US schools.....and when I sham my school, I would also would like to point out, that I deserve no better.........my MCAT and other parameters that justify a US med school are way to the south.

And preparing on my own for USMLE,sometimes I have wondered , what if I had the notes of a good School.............but as you can see, the dilemma remains, at least ethically

 

[OSUdoc08]

If a person from a medical school wants to get access to notes of another medical school........would you deem it as unethical?
If it is ethical,what should she/he pay ,for those notes (First 2 years...that covers day 1 to Stp 1)?
regards
NN

We were told it is both illegal & unethical to distribute our copyrighted notes to people at other schools.

 

[naveenanirada]

By paying, it by definition becomes unethical.

We were told it is both illegal & unethical to distribute our copyrighted notes to people at other schools.

This may have something to do with who our professor is though.

Are your school's notes that bad? Why do you need notes at a different school?

Pls see my second post in this thread.And my notes are in Spanish and a good decade behind if not more.
regards
NN

 

[Samoa]

If the notes are copyrighted by the noteservice (as my school's are), and you're paying the noteservice for a copy, you are not violating copyright. I think it's unethical of the noteservice not to be willing to sell you their school's notes. Your goal is to learn, so you can be the best doctor you are capable of becoming, for the benefit of your future patients. Preventing you from getting good educational materials to study from is unethical. Requiring you to pay for them if they are copyrighted is fine, but denying your access at any price is not. What your scores were, and whether you "deserve" access to high quality notes, is irrelevant to this issue.

 

[Telemachus]

Why bother with notes? If you are going to pay money for a data source, why not buy textbooks and also study aids (like First Aid, Pretest, and the like)?

 

[kurogoma]

Unethical or not, I can not imagine that there is anything (well, maybe some Goljan or Kaplan) board relevant that you could not just as well learn from books that are sold via Amazon.

Very few people on SDN seem to study from their school notes for board prep (apart from OSUdoc08 for path, but he also states that RR Path is very similar to the notes).

If you think that the US students know the basics better than you because they had their school notes, all this stuff should be in textbooks too, and with a more consistent quality.
How could ALL notes from one school be that great that it is worth it to go through them for board prep? Of course some schools have one or two exceptional profs that hand out very good notes, but surely not for all subjects.

I think if you stick with the books US students usually use during year 1&2, you should be set.

This is just my opinion and I am from Europe and we are taught the same things as in the US, but I can not imagine how it could pay off to go through all these notes.

 

[zeloc]

Deuist,
Actually the point that you brought up, was what was bothering me...............my School which is in South America , is really not on the same keel as US schools.....and when I sham my school, I would also would like to point out, that I deserve no better.........my MCAT and other parameters that justify a US med school are way to the south.

And preparing on my own for USMLE,sometimes I have wondered , what if I had the notes of a good School.............but as you can see, the dilemma remains, at least ethically

I think it is amazing that you are even considering the ethical ramifications of obtaining notes. The fact that you admit that your scores do not merit a US education, or in other words, self-analysis, is another admirable quality. I cannot see anything wrong with trying to obtain better resources. For syllabus materials, I agree with others here that it would simply take too much time to go through such a vast quantity of information. I also find it more difficult to go through notes if I have not attended the accompanying lecture. Definitely use the Goljan audio lectures. A note service might be useful. Have you looked at board review books and assessed their utility? I would do that first and then look into other resources. The best thing would probably be to meet with someone for discussion of important topics, because that is when you will see how other people look at the same material, but I'm not sure how you would be able to do that being in S. America, unless there are other schools that are good over there.

 

[zeloc]

We were told it is both illegal & unethical to distribute our copyrighted notes to people at other schools.

I have noticed there is very little collaboration between US medical schools. Imagine if the best resources from each school were available to every other school in the nation. It would revolutionize the educational experience completely.

 

[OSUdoc08]

I have noticed there is very little collaboration between US medical schools. Imagine if the best resources from each school were available to every other school in the nation. It would revolutionize the educational experience completely.

It would also destratify the best and most competitive schools from the lower tier ones.

This can basically be equated with a form of socialism.

 

[driedcaribou]

Why bother with notes? If you are going to pay money for a data source, why not buy textbooks and also study aids (like First Aid, Pretest, and the like)?

I agree. Why bother with notes?

Go straight for the review books which help you prepare for the 'standardized' curriculum that is the USMLE.