<p>I live nearby a UC campus, and as a local resident, I can use the library system for a few bucks/yr. More than once in the past year or so, I have checked out a book that was missing sections and/or whole chapters. I turn it back to the front desk and they send it to be repaired by their in-house print shop. They have a license to reprint/rebind trashed books. “Stuff” happens. Again, I’m not sure if it is just the competitive nature of ethically-challenged students, or they are too poor to pay money for the library copier. But the fact is that a reading assignment is not now available for the next guy/gal.</p>
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<p>mcat, I don’t disagree with your speculation, but would submit that those at the “bottom half of society” have an extremely small chance of admissions to JHU or to WashU for that matter. Hopkins is not need-blind (but trying to get there), and even if accepted does have a reputation for great need-based aid. WashU is BIG on test scores, which low income folks don’t tend to have…</p>
<p>My only experience with gunners is 4 decades ago. (Sheesh. That makes me sound like a dinosaur.) We had a cheese-weasel who did check out both copies of “the article” necessary to pass a course in law school that quarter. A couple of Law Review students found him waaay back in the stacks when no one else was around. The articles suddenly re-appeared and the gunner took a couple of personal days. That was the end of all sabotaging gunner-ism for our class. You might say it was a precedent setting case. lol. </p>
<p>Yeah. Yeah. I know. It was horribly wrong. Yada, yada. But, hey. We are talking about Texas here. He really should have thought that through a little better. Drive friendly, ya’ll. ;)</p>
<p>Funny story curmudgeon and I can remember a few of those type saboteurs from the 70’s – most of time it worked itself out and those guys never seemed to get ahead. Either they ended up sabotaging themselves, the other students ended the practice behind the scenes, or the powers-that-be who are never as clueless as many students think discovered the identity and that person left the University.</p>
<p>Med School was far less backstabbing since most of us realized that it really was us against the world – generally you needed the group to survive those 4 years. We were all in the same leaky boat together and you either rowed or bailed as fast as you could – you helped if you could help a fellow student who was struggling and when it was your time it was paid back to you with interest. The few lone-wolf types that were left after then admission process either learned to integrate, flamed out big time, or sometimes just got abandoned in the detritus. </p>
<p>Up to 80-120 hours per week for 4 years is just way too intense (education, emotionally, and sometimes from just plain physical exhaustion) to not need a large support group for learning, getting some extra notes, sometimes buying each others groceries, even washing a few extra clothes if somebody needed, to pay a bill (pre internet and for that matter pre-ATM days), get your car worked on, etc.</p>
<p>No matter where you go, you still will be taking required classes. Be prepared for whatever, like dissection being stolen (and not just from one individual) at any place. Make sure to turn these into your personal positive experiences, like getting faster and better than other at dissection because you got to catch up with the rest of the class. It is everywhere, but it makes one stronger if he is determined. do not forget to have fun no matter what. Pursue interests outside of medically related, spend time with friends, it is much more up to you than a place you end up going.</p>
<p>* Yeah. I know. It was horribly wrong. Yada, yada. But, hey. We are talking about Texas here. He really should have thought that through a little better. Drive friendly, ya’ll.*</p>
<p>I would think in Texas, that might be a capital crime. lol</p>
<p>People who are cut-throat don’t target everyone (obviously)…they target the few on top who they view are a threat. So, if you’re not a target, you’re not likely going to know such thing happen. </p>
<p>A way to avoid becoming a target is keeping your grades to yourself.</p>
<p>^^^ What? I have never heard of things like that happening at my school, or the school’s my friends go to. Other posters have just mentioned that they have never heard of things like that happening either.</p>
<p>^You will never hear unless you are personally involved. And everybody are keeping grades to themselves, but kids know who to go to for help, so hard workers who geta the grade are cery visible without sharing their grades. And again, it is all OK, as long as you are determined to be self-sufficient anyway. Involving authority, complaining and whining will not help. Something got stolen/destroyed/deleted, start over and prove to everybody that you are made of gold and nothing will change your mind, do not go down to thier level. Those who are sabotaging are going to be losers at the end.</p>
<p>I disagree as do most of people no this forum who have gone to college recently. While there may be some sabotaging going on, its nowhere on the scale that you are suggesting.</p>
<p>Vossron, I think colleges was suggesting that while there’s sabotaging going on nowadays, things like stealing specimens, books, articles, etc (see Miami and curmudgeon for more stories) could be a thing of the past. </p>
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<p>That’s been my experience too. I met my 3 best friends in the hardest class I’ve ever taken because we worked together and studied together. No sense in sabotaging each other, in our opinions. Actually, the notion of going to medical school with the premeds who I’ve supposedly been “competing with” (we’ve all been accepted to the same school) is part of what makes me want to go there!</p>
<p>By and large, my experience has been collaborative, not competitive. But then again, that’s the attitude I’ve chosen to take with my academic life in college!</p>
<p>I wonder if there’s some kind of public/private distinction going on here. At least at Duke, if anything like this had happened an awful lot of premeds would have known pretty quickly. Large institutions have less of a collaborative feel, perhaps?</p>
<p>The other thing: I don’t really think people use libraries for hard-copy items very much anymore.</p>
<p>Perhaps but if so, why then rip out a chapter of a required reading assignment? Sure it maybe available on Kindle for a few bucks but stealing from the library is ‘free’; it’s also a two-fer in that your competition then is SOL.</p>
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<p>Perhaps also true, but the vast majority of students attend public colleges and are educated at public colleges. And, to use experience from a school where ~75% of the students are full pay, i.e., wealthy student body, is probably not a good sample size.</p>
<p>^^^ Not from my experience. I have friends at Texas A&M and UT, and when I asked them about this, they said that they have never heard of things like this going on.</p>
<p>You will not hear unless you are personally affected. Kids do not talk about it as well as they do not discuss any grades, scores,…etc…others just know because there are helpers and those who seek help. I do not think there is an UG place that is immune. Just move on and show them that they are on a wrong track, that you are not going to bend down no matter what. Not really a big deal, just another life lesson.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, in the 4 years I’ve been an undergrad (graduating in May!), I’ve never once needed to check out a library book (or even refer to one) in order to do an assignment. The info was either available in the textbook or as a pdf my prof posted online. We’ve been encouraged to use books as resources for research papers, but with the availability of books online and databases I have access to through my school’s license agreements, I’ve literally never needed to use a library book as a college student. The one and only time I chose to was for an assignment for an online English class that involved writing a paper about 1001 Arabian Nights (Aladdin) and I wanted to get the one with all the great illustrations :)</p>
<p>The only other time I visited the stacks to look for a book was to find a book where my invitation to join a secret society was hidden–that was a fun book to find!</p>
<p>*Additional copies of the textbook are on reserve and available for limited check out, so I guess I could have gone to the library more often, but I’ve always chosen to purchase/rent textbooks then sell/return them at the end of the semester!</p>
<p>Last I checked, intellectual property laws preclude mass copying of the written word, even by esteemed professors. If a course requires/recommends reading only two chapters in long book, a student can buy the whole thing, or check it out of the library or reading room if on reserve. Or, a rich college, such as those with big endowments and few financially-needy students, can purchase rights from the publisher and pass out copies or pdfs to the class, ‘free’. Or said rich college can subscribe – pay a big fee – to online journals (“license agreements”) for unlimited use of their ‘stuff’. But some poor publics don’t have such resources, or choose not to subscribe.</p>