Making Up Stuff On Essay

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Sparda29

Sparda29

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For the personal statement, can you get away with exaggerating or making up stuff? Like, how far would a medical school go to find out the truth behind someone's personal statement.

For example, lets say that a person writes that a friend of theirs was shot in a mugging gone wrong, and because it took so long for medical help to arrive and since the person wasn't trained in medical treatment, their friend died.

Now, would a medical school actually ask the person to prove their story?
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One's consience should prevent himself from writing that. However, things do come up in interviews so that service trip you participated in that in actuality was you watching Tour of the Unknown Kingdom on the Discovery Channel will more than likely come back to bite you.
 
I'm sure if you sat down with yourself for a while and got some quality "me time," you could think of some really good reasons why medicine is right for you. By doing this, you'd be truthful and you'll probably feel that much more excited to start as soon as possible.
its understandable that you feel like you have to make something up though...admissions to med school is a tough bit and i see youre just trying to make yourself stand out from the rest. But telling lies is not the best way to begin your medical career.
 
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I think that if you were going to enter a stupidity contest, this would be a good way to win.
 
My PS is focused on how I invented the internet and was the first president of the United States. Oh also I am an immortal vampire.


PS don't BS on your PS
 
One word: karma.

While adcoms probably won't rifle through old newspaper clippings to validate your story, an interviewer will probably know that you're lying, and they'll definitely ask questions about a story like that.
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That just seems like a bad idea, there must be something else you can talk about
 
i guess you could go with that...just make sure you know the situation from all angles if they ask any particular questions about it

i have many premed friends who have been very devious and lie/cheat to get into med school, im sure its a common thing...
 
travoltage said:
i guess you could go with that...just make sure you know the situation from all angles if they ask any particular questions about it

i have many premed friends who have been very devious and lie/cheat to get into med school, im sure its a common thing...
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I hope none of them come to my school. It is hard enough to compete with all the HONEST people.
 
travoltage said:
i guess you could go with that...just make sure you know the situation from all angles if they ask any particular questions about it

i have many premed friends who have been very devious and lie/cheat to get into med school, im sure its a common thing...
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Looks like you need to find some new friends.
 
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Aside from the obvious ethical problems, I don't think it would help your PS or application in general. It is far easier to write passionately about something that is true, than it is to write about a lie and fake enthusiasm. And, as mentioned in previous posts, your PS is a common source of material from which your interviewers will draw questions.

I know, the PS isn't easy to write. And you should expect it to take several days, if not a few weeks, of hard work and a few drafts and rewrites. But don't exaggerate on it, even small ones. You don't have to. Ethical reasons should be compelling enough, but if you want practical reasons not to, it doesn't help you and could very well makes things far far worse for you if caught in a lie. And frankly, I think it makes for very poor writing too.

I think quite a few students some how feel they need to have some sort of noble, exceptional, or dramatic reason for entering the medical profession on their PS. The kind of stories that start with, "ever since I was a kid.." or "The following traumatic incident made we want to be a doctor...". My sister, in a (thankfully unused) draft of her PS for a social work program, wrote about how she became so enthralled with social work because of the case worker who helped our cousin as he battled cancer. Nice story, except for the fact it didn't happen.

Now, those may very well be true. Maybe it was the illness or death of a loved one. Maybe a compassionate doctor saved your life and turned you on to medicine. But for the majority of us, I think, our reasons are far more "mundane" and a lot less dramatic. Admissions committees are not looking for the most flashy or dramatic essays. They want to know, among other things, that you have thought long and hard why you want to enter medicine, that you have sought out experiences that will convey what the field is like, and that you have a mature, well grounded, passionate desire to become a doctor. You don't have to exaggerate to get those points across.
 
yea it sucks that my friends are like that...i mean i dont care what they do, i just mind my own business and such, theyre taking the risks....is it like that with everyone? at my school, we have tons of premeds and theyll do almost anything to get in, its scary
 
travoltage said:
yea it sucks that my friends are like that...i mean i dont care what they do, i just mind my own business and such, theyre taking the risks....is it like that with everyone? at my school, we have tons of premeds and theyll do almost anything to get in, its scary
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it's everywhere. I've physically seen professors walk up to people during final exams, pick up their test, and tell them to leave for cheating. This kid's chances are now completely shot for med school and I'm sure 98% of the time the risk is done to ensure an A and not an A-. Not worth it on any front. Plus, when does the cheating eventually going to stop?? Are you going to try to cheat on the MCAT? USMLE/COMLEX? Are you going to cheat off other doctor's charts while treating your own patient?? It's pathetic and I'm glad most adcoms/universities handle these type of offenses so seriously.
 
Exaggerating would be throwing in a couple extra adjectives. Lying is a different story. Think about it this way, how incredibly humiliated would you be if you actually got called out on lying on your PS? There has to actually be a reason why you chose to go threw an ridiculously long and hard training process in order to become a physician and write about that.
 
I find it hard to believe that one would lack interesting things to talk about in their PS by the time they have been on the earth 20 plus years. If you are lying then it kinda shows how little you have gotten out of life so far
 
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Bacchus said:
No, most people have at least a shred of dignity left.
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I disagree, there are many pre-meds that have already sold their souls...however, I've heard multiple times from interviewers that what they are actually looking for is a human being and not just the application of Jesus Christ with a 35+ mcat.
 
whether you go through with it or not, the fact that you would even ASK that question speaks volumes...

👎
 
I dont think that asking the q implicates him in a sort of way...the poster could be approaching this in a hypothetical way

stiz said:
whether you go through with it or not, the fact that you would even ASK that question speaks volumes...

👎
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This is what's wrong with the medical school application process. Med schools want to hear things, and people do whatever it takes to tell them what the want to hear. I am proud to say that I am not a giant DB and refused to change or pretend to be something I was not just to be more appealing to places. 90% of people who apply to med schools are giant douches, I'm now convinced thats true.
 
zac16125 said:
This is what's wrong with the medical school application process. Med schools want to hear things, and people do whatever it takes to tell them what the want to hear. I am proud to say that I am not a giant DB and refused to change or pretend to be something I was not just to be more appealing to places. 90% of people who apply to med schools are giant douches, I'm now convinced thats true.
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You just read 1 person's hypothetical versus about 20 people's irritated comments about the mere thought of someone making crap up on their PS. By my count that's around 5% of the people applying to med school--not 90. Granted this isn't a representative sample, but why don't you step off your high horse for a minute and realize that many/most wouldn't make up a story like the OP's but will be your classmates and colleagues in the near future.
 
PistolPete said:
Business ethics... isn't that an oxymoron?:laugh:
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Depends on which level of the business. I worked for a company that made us go through ethics training annually. The worker bees pretty much followed it. Too bad the executives didn't think it applied to them. 🙄
 
Trust me, I know how hard it is to write a personal statement, I just finished mine. But stick to the truth, it will help you out in the long run and you won't run a chance of getting caught in a lie. I wrote about a family of mine with problems (somewhat personal) and was actually thinking that it might sound not legit, even though it is. I decided it would be ok to go ahead and write about it anyway, since it is a major reason I wanted to go into medicine. Even if they wanted to verify what I was saying they couldn't because of hippa laws, so it is my word they must just take. Bottom line, you probably won't get caught, but is it worth it if you do? Also, surely you have some good reasons for going into medicine. It doesn't have to be a life or death experience or anything, just be honest.
 
Department_of_Precrime.jpg
 
Bacchus said:
One's consience should prevent himself from writing that. However, things do come up in interviews so that service trip you participated in that in actuality was you watching Tour of the Unknown Kingdom on the Discovery Channel will more than likely come back to bite you.
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hahahaha, thats good
 
people lie about this kind of stuff all the time. I looked at my friends resume, half the stuff is made up. Another friend of mine whips out a magnifying glass and all his cheat sheets. Will these people get weeded out by the application process? probably not, they will just make it harder for us people who don't cheat and are honest. I also believe that we are the minority (people on SDN as well as honest). Yes people exaggerate, not a big deal, but there are plenty who flat out lie or cheat. I take solace in the fact that med school might be too hard to cheat in. Eyes would probably explode if you made a cheat sheet for that much information.
 
niranjan162 said:
....I take solace in the fact that med school might be too hard to cheat in. Eyes would probably explode if you made a cheat sheet for that much information.
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I agree. I've had tests in med school that covered anywhere from 20 to 50 chapters of material at one time. I just can't see how you could cheat that way. The material is not all that hard-- there's just sooooo much of it.

That said, there are little "dishonest" things that go on in actual practice as well. Most of it is CYA stuff....a progress note gets lost and some details made up because your memory isn't all that great, and you need it if there's ever a lawsuit....etc. Like someone said early, doctors aren't Jesus Christ with a 35+ MCAT.
 
scpod said:
That said, there are little "dishonest" things that go on in actual practice as well. Most of it is CYA stuff....a progress note gets lost and some details made up because your memory isn't all that great, and you need it if there's ever a lawsuit....etc. Like someone said early, doctors aren't Jesus Christ with a 35+ MCAT.
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Yea this is more understandable given the rigors of the job and the "less than jesus" powers of doctors. If there wasnt a lawsuit every 5 seconds doctors wouldnt have to practice defensive medicine. These lawsuits hurt just end up hurting people.
 
People exaggerate their records all the time. Just go to the MCAT forum and see what i mean. Everyone from Hillary Clinton (Bosnia gun-fire) to the receptionist down the block( claiming she use to work on "wall street"). The society has made it so that average(real stuff) ain't good enough. In fact, last year or so the entire non-fiction genre was called into question. Several authors were caught making stuff up from the non-existent transvestite to the alleged drug using jailbird (Oprah's guy James Frey).
I know several students who said they were Presidents of so-and-so clubs while they were only sectaries or Treasurer. Does it matter? No because stuff like that is non-consequential. I held both positions in college and there's not much difference between them. They both do nothing for most part. Just a bragging right.
Now a Chiropractor posing an Orthopedic doc is morally and ethically wrong even though both work on the bones. The ortho doc is trained to do major treatment and surgeries while the chiro guy is trained mostly for rehabilitation. If you break your leg and you go see a chiro guy, you are gonna in for a swell time(literally).

Ok, so what can you say and what should you stay away from? Don't claim that you saved a child out of a burning building. It sounds cliche and ethically wrong. So I won't go with the scenario you described above. it's too big to swallow.You can say that you were the President of a club even though you were only a Vice. Admission comm don't care. You won't get more brownie points for being a President. It just sounds better that's all.They just wanna know you had some leadership experience. You can say you volunteered for 50hrs even if you did only 35hrs. its all relative in my book. Stay away from the big stuff basically.
 
where have all the honest ppl gone to?
 
And just think. These are the people who will be taking care of you when you're sick. They lie on applications - what's to prevent them from lying on your chart?
 
To the OP, yes, you probably can get away with it. But like most things in life, in med school, and during practice, many areas are grey if you make them that way (i.e. lying on a statement that is supposed to be the real reason why you chose med school). Many times you will find grey areas don't have to be that way. You just do what is right, because it is. Regardless of who knows, if you acted out of integrity or lack of, you do. It's a standard you set for yourself and live by.

When I used to work as a cashier eons ago 🙄 I remember giving a man the wrong change (two 10's stuck together). After starting to walk away, a moment later without hesitation he turned back and told me I had given him too much change. I joked and said, dang you could've left and I would've never known, you could've had a free lunch. He responded, yeah I could have, but what's wrong is wrong, and what's right is right. The fact that you ask if you can get away with it, you know it's wrong, and I think you know the answer of what you should do, not what you can do.
 
fabu1ous said:
To the OP, yes, you probably can get away with it. But like most things in life, in med school, and during practice, many areas are grey if you make them that way (i.e. lying on a statement that is supposed to be the real reason why you chose med school). Many times you will find grey areas don't have to be that way. You just do what is right, because it is. Regardless of who knows, if you acted out of integrity or lack of, you do. It's a standard you set for yourself and live by.

When I used to work as a cashier eons ago 🙄 I remember giving a man the wrong change (two 10's stuck together). After starting to walk away, a moment later without hesitation he turned back and told me I had given him too much change. I joked and said, dang you could've left and I would've never known, you could've had a free lunch. He responded, yeah I could have, but what's wrong is wrong, and what's right is right. The fact that you ask if you can get away with it, you know it's wrong, and I think you know the answer of what you should do, not what you can do.
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No one could have said it any better in this thread. Its also how I live my own life by and the righteousness and justice that one feels in their daily actions is a small reward in and of itself. 😎
 
Stick1360 said:
I disagree, there are many pre-meds that have already sold their souls...however, I've heard multiple times from interviewers that what they are actually looking for is a human being and not just the application of Jesus Christ with a 35+ mcat.
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Crap. Well... I guess I can cut my hair, then.
 
ShyRem said:
And just think. These are the people who will be taking care of you when you're sick. They lie on applications - what's to prevent them from lying on your chart?
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Lawsuit.
 
Only if they get caught, andexterouss. Only if they get caught.

Integrity, first and foremost, should be a trait every physician should have. Too bad there isn't a screening test for that.
 
People chart bull**** all the time. Typically, it isn't intentional, and just an honest mistake. That is why it is a good idea to get in good with your nurses. They are they ones who really know what's going on with the patients, and they will have your back.

Ideally, everyone is working together to get it all right. It is good to have a good relationship with your teammates.
 
ShyRem said:
Integrity, first and foremost, should be a trait every physician should have. Too bad there isn't a screening test for that.
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We should start pretending like there is an integrity screening test completed with the background check before you start med school and just watch the threads pop up over night. URGENT: WILL THIS MAKE ME FAIL THE INTEGRITY TEST AND WILL I STILL BE ABLE TO GO TO MED SCHOOL????
 
just what SDN needs, more pre-meds freaking out.:corny:
 
I can't believe what i am reading. The whole process of writing an essay is making stuff up. Whoever thinks that they are actually making genuine claims about motivations has some serious psychology(especially evolutionary) to read up on. At least the original poster had the guts to admit his lies. If you really had a "noble" reason to go into medicine, you would not have to even think.

People always go for the same reason: money, status, interest, feeling good about themselves for helping others. There are exceptions but most people are full of it if they think otherwise. And that is fine!

I personally do not give a rats ass why a person became a doctor as long as he can cure me well.
 
zhenka11230 said:
.....I personally do not give a rats ass why a person became a doctor as long as he can cure me well.
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To think that way, you have to assume that everyone will give equal care. Bad assumption.

Why they want to become a doctor is not the real question; it's more about what they are willing to do to get in....but it can be related. True, people exagerate all the time, but making up entirely untruthful stories just to get attention.......unethical? If you're doing unethical things to get in, will you still be doing unethical things once you are a doc?

Case in point: One of our hospitalists has ownership in a practice that is run by a PA. When he treats patients without a PCP, or if they ask for a referral, he refers them to the practice he owns....unless they are self pay or Medicaid. Then, they get the address of the free clinic.

OTOH, the hospitalist group I'm working with refers patients with no PCP to several different PCPs. Probably 3 out of 4 referals have insurance, so they are only asking the referals to "eat one" once in a while. And, they have no problem with it. Everyone expects to have to "eat one" on occasion.

Knowing that, I wouldn't be surprised if the first guy is doing some other shady things as well. He's clearly in it for the money-- but his patients are also recieving sub-par care, unless they have good insurance.

So, the reason why this one particular doc got into it, does make a difference in the quality of patient care in many cases.
 
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