anyone that knows anything about MUA has probably heard more than a few nasty rumours about cheating. as gossip goes, whatever you heard is most likely exaggerated and inflated, but has a fair share of truth*.

i tend to just keep my nose in my books and am fairly immune to a lot of campus gossip. i am the last to hear Big News on just about any topic from who’s-dating-who to why we ran out of paper towel in the women’s bathroom. as such, cheating doesn’t really affect me. i haven’t been offered any resources. i can’t name a single person in our class that i know is cheating or that i know has copies of old exams.

and up until recently, i really couldn’t care less.

as far as i’m concerned, cheating really only cheats yourself. who cares if you got straight As from a Caribbean med school if you can’t back it up by passing the USMLE Step 1 with a decent score? or on your first try? who cares if half the class totally slam-dunked the Block 3 Biochemistry exam with a cheat sheet? we aren’t curved against each other, so it doesn’t affect me at all. the only thing that goes on my transcript is my performance. and the only thing that sits down to write USMLE Step 1 is me and my brain. no offense, but i really don’t care about you.

what gave me pause in my self-contained bubble of cheating-doesn’t-affect-me was a lecture on plagiarism the other day. the topic itself isn’t totally relevant to MUA because we don’t write a lot of papers, but the message about cheating certainly hit home. how many times have you heard in your undergrad career that cheating devalues your education? basically, if your school is known for passing and promoting cheaters into upper-level courses, by the time you get out, no one will look at your degree the same way. i never really thought twice about this before because big established academic institutions seem to be fairly immune.

but small schools that have only been around for 10 years and are already fighting the Caribbean med school bad rep?

most people that have been reading this site for any length of time know that i *love* MUA. i think we have great professors, excellent resources, a good curriculum, and are more than adequately prepared to rock the North American boards in our 20 months here. i believe i am investing my money in a legitimate and valuable resource that will help me become a doctor someday. i wouldn’t be here if i didn’t. but the thought of my education being devalued by fellow students looking for an easy ride obviously gives me pause.

i am happy to report that MUA administration seems to be taking this cheating stuff extremely seriously this semester. MUA wants to boost its’ overall First Time USMLE Pass Rate to 85% and that can’t happen if cheaters are promoted to upper levels. no two ways around it: cheating your way through med school expecting to cram in everything 2 months before the boards does not work for 85% of the student population. working hard and accurately evaluating your progress with regular shelf exams before finishing Basic Sciences and re-entering the North American evaluation system does.

there are always stories of people that smoke their entire lives and don’t get lung cancer. there are also stories of people who did crappy (or cheated) through Basic Sciences and totally rocked the boards. personally, i put my faith in hard work because i have a hard time believing the odds could ever be that much in my favour.

otherwise i would spend a lot more time at the casino.

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*apparently a few professors use the same exam between some semesters, so there is a substantial pool of Questions Students Remember circulating. and using the same Kaplan post-test for each exiting MED 5 semester is a situation begging to be taken advantage of.

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