whoa, how do you go from getting into medical school to starving to death? that analogy goes too far. in the med school scenario you outline, not only am i not entitled to getting into medical school like i'm entitled to living, but in fact if the process is fair then my rejection to a medical school in favor of a more appropriate candidate is in fact just. and i don't understand what you understand about why i'm trying to sway people in the way i am. i'm motivated by a bit of moral outrage induced by other posts, and not self-interest.
i could care less about what is legally binding and it wasn't mentioned in my post. as future professionals, we will sometimes make decisions with important consequences whose appropriate course-of-action is undefined by the law but for which there is a guide in ethics. if you (not you personally) have little inclination to think ethically, if you're first inclination is to perform an action that you can legally get away with and serve your self-interest, then i don't think you're the kind of doctor any of us would want for our family.
so, you're saying that i can tell multiple schools that they are all my "top choice" as long as i don't make an explicit commissive statement that i will actually attend the school over the others? for one thing, i believe that the word "choice" does imply intended action. but it is still logically false for multiple schools to be one's "top choice", even if it only refers to a state of mind. and since this falsehood is intentionally stated to multiple schools, it becomes a lie.
i'm definitely not using some pleasure/pain principle based my actions as a self-interested individual. it's more of a utilitarian position based on my actions as an individual whose decisions can affect other individuals. what i see as ethically egregious is deceitfully taking a slot at a med school from a candidate who is better suited for that particular school, while one waits for other acceptances. even though you eventually give up that slot, the better-suited candidate would have been rejected by then (possibly waitlisted). it's both inefficient and unjust.
i agree, especially after seeing some unethical points-of-view on this thread, that lois should not be taken seriously by med schools. but that doesn't mean that they aren't. and as long as they might be, we have an ethical responsibility to write them sincerely.
and i must wholeheartedly agree with another poster about the insincerity of schools in tending not to present negative factors about their school. but i still think there is a reasonable enough attempt to find appropriate candidates for a school that we should act ethically ourselves for the sake of our fellow candidates and not the schools.
