plagiarism and its affect on application

[newton740]

I see this as more of a game theory problem than a test of character. Maybe this quote by Chris Rock will help explain my logic (in addition to my previous post) "people say 'don't hire Johnny Cochran, it just makes you look guilty,' but if you hire Johnny, you get to go home. I mean $hit, I would rather look guilty at the mall than innocent in jail." Great, so you admit to the whole cheating/plagiarism/"failing to correctly document in MLA format" (See how people and adcomms generalize?) thing and end up (checking yes on that AMCAS box), you have just guaranteed yourself a denial from a career as an MD. Even though you had a harsh professor and did not fight it at the time, you are GUILTY in their eyes and they will not give you the benefit of the doubt because they 1.) MUST avoid any/all potential liabilities and 2.) even if they genuinely wanted to investigate/verify your case to see if you learned/were honest (which I doubt they would even expend this much effort), how could they? It is off your record. What are they going to do? Take a cheater’s/plagiarizer’s word on it? I don’t think so. They will deny you and quickly move to the next applicant. If you truly are sorry, did not blatantly cheat, and have a clean record, do NOT report it for God’s sake (unless you want to be denied, or end up begging DO/Caribbean schools for a second chance). If I were faced with this, I would rather forget this whole thing and be admitted to a med school and become a great doctor (if it was my true passion) who helps many individuals in each and every level of society, than a science teacher/nurse/whatever “alternative” you choose who always regretted not becoming a doctor because of a stupid, juvenile mistake. Let this mistake give you compassion and wisdom that only someone much older/experienced should possess.

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