Students know that they aren’t supposed to lie, cheat, or steal. Or do they?
In the 2012-2013 pharmacy school application cycle, there was a significant number of students that violated the Applicant Code of Conduct. The AACP and PharmCAS take violations extremely seriously – perhaps even more seriously than other fields. Pharmacy is recognized as one of the most regulated industries in the country. For that reason, pharmacy schools want to know that their students will be able to follow the regulations and codes of conduct set forth for them.
It makes sense then, that violations in the application would be taken seriously. But just how many violations were there? In the 2012-2013 application cycle (for students wishing to enter pharmacy school in Fall 2013), there were 264 code of conduct violation cases, accounting for approximately 1.5% of applicants. While that might seem small, it’s such a big deal to the AACP and PharmCAS that they spent nearly an hour in their recent national meeting discussing the issue.
Of the 264 cases, 245 were reviewed for plagiarism. PharmCAS uses a program called TurnItIn® to determine if any part of the application is plagiarized. The AACP and PharmCAS recommend that any application with more than a 0% Similarity Score from TurnItIn® determined to be plagiarized be reported. Of the 245 cases reviewed for plagiarism, only 20 were found to not be valid cases – the other 225 were found to have plagiarism.
Another 19 conduct violations were reviewed for unprofessional conduct. Of these, 18 were found to be in violation, and only one was not. These unprofessional conduct cases included violations like falsifying transcripts, failing to report schools attended, and unprofessional interactions with admissions staff at pharmacy schools.
In the cases where no violation was committed, there was of course no penalty. But in cases where violations were confirmed, some sanctions were particularly serious. An applicant might be allowed to rewrite an essay or issue a formal letter of apology. If the violation is more serious, for example, if an essay is found to be more than 5% plagiarized, the applicant may be blocked from the current admission cycle, but allowed to reapply in future cycles provided that he or she reports the violation on future applications. For particularly egregious violations, such as a 99% Similarity Score, particularly unprofessional conduct, or failing to report a previous violation on a future application, the applicant may be barred from entering the field of pharmacy. Violations are even shared with pharmacy schools that do not participate in PharmCAS, and those schools are starting to take PharmCAS violations into consideration as well.
As an advisor, you can help your advisees to avoid these violations. Nobody wants to see someone commit a career-ending violation. Nearly half of the violation cases in 2012-2013 were for students whose primary language was not English. If you are working with an ESL student, consider providing additional support. Help all of your students to understand the Applicant Code of Conduct. Ensure that your students take it seriously. Review your students’ essays if possible, looking for plagiarism. Students can even use TurnItIn themselves to see what plagiarism scores come up so that they can anticipate whether their essay would get flagged. Check transcripts for completeness and accuracy. Simply following the rules will help your students have an even greater chance of earning a spot at the pharmacy school of their choice.
[1] Pfizer Pharmaceuticals Group, Full Preparation: The Pfizer Guide to Careers in Pharmacy (New York: 2002), 16-18.
[2] All data comes from the PharmCAS Update lead by Shaba Lightfoot at the AACP Admissions Workshop on July 13, 2013. The slides used in the presentation can be accessed at http://www.aacp.org/meetingsandevents/AM/2013/Documents/PharmCASUpdate2013-14AW.pdf.
