That isn't really a good point either though. I kept a log of my hours volunteering and shadowing, and I reported them exactly as I had them recorded. My hours were far more than her real hours, but her imaginary numbers plus extra stuff puts her leagues ahead of me in terms of volunteering and shadowing. I would be shocked if my application was not knocked down quite a few pegs in the last cycle by people like OP's "friend". Those people gained an advantage over me by cheating.
Again, I empathize with the sense of injustice. I'm going to be blunt with you though, because you're safely in school and thus can start viewing this more objectively. There are ALWAYS going to be outrages and unfairness. Is that a justification for them? No, of course not. Does that, however, give you a free pass to do whatever you want in retaliation? Again, of course not. People are going to pay attention to how you choose to respond, and what that reflects of your motivations and assumptions. There is only one appropriate avenue for the OP to report suspected cheating, and that is to their own school's premedical office, who have a bigger stake in not having dishonest representatives of their program than (s)he does, merely being a competitor of this other student. If OP does more than drop a quick line though, and really betrays commitment to sabotaging their colleague's application, that suggests they may not work very well with their colleagues in the work environment, or that they will be quick to judge and condemn, which is a VERY toxic attitude for a doctor.
As for the competition itself, I concede that the other candidate's unfair play puts them at an advantage relative to OP (which is an suspected but unconfirmed reason for the outrage). What do they do about it? They CAN try to torpedo this other applicant, but as explained in other posts taking such a destructive and volatile route raises serious questions about their OWN integrity and judgement - questions that are going to weigh pretty heavily on the mind of whoever writes a committee letter, or discusses their app with the other members of the admissions office. How about, besides a quick FYI given to the premed office,
just working harder to compete with the inflated numbers? Keep in mind that the ECs get so pumped because of the glut of applicants in the first place - there simply are nowhere near enough seats in MD and DO programs combined to seat all students who establish themselves as academically capable, and professionally motivated in their PS. Med schools admissions is a seller's market - if the school is going to sell only so much tuition each cycle, they get the pick of the litter as to who gets the nod.
This brings me to perhaps my most important point - the most obstructive attitude in the application process is one of entitlement. EVERYone is entitled to an elementary education, and people are generally of the opinion that everyone should have at least access to undergraduate education as well. But medical education? We simply don't need that many doctors (we do need more than we're training, but not as many as are applying). As much as you want to be a doctor, you can't be one without a patient base, and we only need so many docs to meet everyone's needs. Therefore, don't view this as "I did everything right, why didn't I get in? It's because those people cheated/got lucky/had money!" It's more like, "Damn, it's a tough field out there. How do I top as many of them as possible, to look amazing to these schools?"
Sorry V5RED, I realize most of that wasn't really relevant to you anymore, but it was a good quote to build off of. Congratulations on your acceptance!
EDIT:
The professor of the research group said "I understand that [x] is taking credit for [y's] hours in the lab. In other circumstances, I would surely take this up to the office of academic integrity. However, I am in no position to call [x] and confront them about an AMCAS application, nor do I wish to at this moment. Thank you for alerting me to this though. If I am ever contacted about this year's poster by medical schools, I know that [x] is not responsible for the work done by [y]. Now enjoy your summer and congratulations on graduating!"
That was an appropriate step, contacting the research adviser - good move. His response, however, is that he is clearly not comfortable raising the alarm about [x]'s dishonesty. Reflect on why that might be - it should be very illustrative of the complex issues at play here. Also think about just how appropriate it would be for you to essentially go against his wishes, and raise hell yourself. I can still condone a quick notice at the Premed office, if you're willing to own that decision to strike, but you really ought to think twice.
