skeletons in your academic closet

[Paiger Pie]

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Is it possible for a prospective applicant to leave a class, say taken at a community college off an application for medschool admission without any one on the admission committe being any the wiser? An on-going thread on the subject of a "fresh-start" prompted me to think of this; after all, how could the committee know that you got a "C-" in molecular biology the summer you decided it might be cool to take a class at a CC down by the beach and eventually spent more time in the surf than in the library... not that I speak from experience or anything. It just occurred to me that so long as you have no other ties to the school (financial aid, degree, etc...), then there really isn't anything to link you to that poor grade hiding in your academic closet.

 

[rat-tickler]

technically, you may be able to get away with it. but it's a BIG, FAT, JUICEY LIE. sorry to be so blunt, but it is. the amcas application asks for all colleges you've attended or any college courses you have taken. they also expect transcripts from all of those schools.

does a C- in a summer class at a community college count really matter? it probably matters a lot less than you think it does.

 

[doepug]

For good or for ill, it would be fraudulent to omit any college-level course from your AMCAS/secondary applications.

Although you might get away with it, such a discovery would indeed constitute fraud and may result in disqualification from the medical school admissions process.

Be honest. Don't take any chances. Some schools (to remain unnamed) have been taking extensive measures to investigate selected applicants and verify their applications.

Best,

doepug
MS III, Johns Hopkins

 

[Paiger Pie]

Would one of those "un-named" schools happen to have an interesting plurality associated with the first name of the school...HMMMMM?

 

[canadagirl]

.. yeah, it could end up disqualifying your medical school application.

But, MUCH MUCH WORSE, supposing that the school find out when you were in, say, third year, they could decide to kick you out then! You'd always be worried that they're going to find out. Or, at least, I would be.

Personally, I've got one bad year on my transcript, including some very low grades ... I'm just going to hope that medical schools will see that my stellar grades afterwards show my ability to handle coursework!

 

[Diogenes]

Oh yes, the best way to embark upon a new career is to lie.🙄

It is dishonest, outright. It is a lie. And you don't want to take that chance. Because if you get caught, you will probably get burned by AMCAS. And if they don't burn you, they will at least tell the schools, and a lot of them will put your application in the metaphorical trash can.

They ask for all of your course work. List it all. No exceptions.

 

[gower]

If you received the credits for the course, and it shows as such on your home college transcript, you must not only report the course on the AMCAS application, but you must submit an official transcript from the institution where you TOOK the course.

Another danger point is the letter/letters of recommendation you submit. You have no way of knowing if a letter writer might write something like this: "X is an excellent student although he earned a C in ......"

If the rest of your record is in the ballpark, you have competitive MCAT scores, and your recommendations are fine, even if you earned an F in that one course, the worst that may happen is being asked, out of curiosity at an interview, "What happened in that course?" If it turns out that you suppressed that grade, all is lost. Ain't worth the risk.

 

[DarkChild]

who was the coach who got laid off 25 years AFTER the fact for lying about having a masters degree from some school.
some skeletons can come back and bite you in the a$$.
how about this one....
ahhh.. this is a great story.
this kid (a sophomore) at Columbia told one of his teachers that he had to miss school because his brother had died.
on a med school interview, the interviewers asked him about his brother... he said "oh he's an investment banker in NY."
apparently the kid had gotten the teacher he told to write an LOR for him. in it, the teacher wrote that the kid had dealt very well with the death of his brother.
the adcom called the teacher to check and then Columbia was notified. the guy was suspended pending an investigation...
not long after the guy was jumped in front of an amtrak train. That happened when I was a sophomore or junior, so figure about 1999-2000.

 

[Gleevec]

Dont remember the name, but it was the Georgia Tech head coach applying for the Notre Dame position.

Originally posted by DarkChild
who was the coach who got laid off 25 years AFTER the fact for lying about having a masters degree from some school.
some skeletons can come back and bite you in the a$$.
how about this one....
ahhh.. this is a great story.
this kid (a sophomore) at Columbia told one of his teachers that he had to miss school because his brother had died.
on a med school interview, the interviewers asked him about his brother... he said "oh he's an investment banker in NY."
apparently the kid had gotten the teacher he told to write an LOR for him. in it, the teacher wrote that the kid had dealt very well with the death of his brother.
the adcom called the teacher to check and then Columbia was notified. the guy was suspended pending an investigation...
not long after the guy was jumped in front of an amtrak train. That happened when I was a sophomore or junior, so figure about 1999-2000.

 

[Gleevec]

Based on this thread and the one on Fresh start, you're scaring the crap out of me Paiger!

Originally posted by Paiger Pie
Is it possible for a prospective applicant to leave a class, say taken at a community college off an application for medschool admission without any one on the admission committe being any the wiser? An on-going thread on the subject of a "fresh-start" prompted me to think of this; after all, how could the committee know that you got a "C-" in molecular biology the summer you decided it might be cool to take a class at a CC down by the beach and eventually spent more time in the surf than in the library... not that I speak from experience or anything. It just occurred to me that so long as you have no other ties to the school (financial aid, degree, etc...), then there really isn't anything to link you to that poor grade hiding in your academic closet.

 

[dr. deez]

while you might be able to get away with it... think about what would happen if you were caught... I would play up strengths without hiding weaknesses!

 

[Paiger Pie]

I didn't mean to scare the crap out of anyone... although the visual alone is hilarious. I merely wanted to spark a conversation, and nothing can do that quite like a sensationalistic exploration of how powerful the ADCOM's really aren't in the grand scheme of things. Maybe they aren't Godzilla and the boogieman after all.

 

[DoubleDoctor]

It's not worth it. That is fraud and academic dishonesty which could get you kicked out and barred from applying to even grad schools etc. Most colleges treat academic dishonesty fairly harshly. I remember a kid at Miami that they were going to kick out for altering his parking decal (parking is a huge problem on campus) so that he could park in a better lot. He appealed the expulsion a couple of times and they eventually let him come back but his transcript had a notation about academic dishonesty.

 

[Random Access]

Originally posted by doepug
For good or for ill, it would be fraudulent to omit any college-level course from your AMCAS/secondary applications.

Although you might get away with it, such a discovery would indeed constitute fraud and may result in disqualification from the medical school admissions process.

Be honest. Don't take any chances. Some schools (to remain unnamed) have been taking extensive measures to investigate selected applicants and verify their applications.

Yeah, you can even get degrees stripped of you, if for some reason it is found out later. It has definitely happened before...