At the beginning of your last year of undergraduate studies, the Dean of your Faculty has offered to all of you the opportunity to swallow a red pill. If swallowed, this pill would enormously increase your ability to absorb all the educational material being presented to you in all your courses. In fact, this pill would basically guarantee that you would receive an A+ in all your future courses with a significantly reduced workload. Would you take the red pill?

Where answers to this question lose points

Our scorer marks every answer on three parts. For each of the 94 applicants who finished this question on Confetto, we took their first scored answer and counted the part that scored lowest.

• Structure: a clear order and a clear point47 of 94

Confetto data as of November 8, 2026. A part is shown only when 20 or more applicants share it. Answers where two parts tied are not counted toward either. We never show anyone's answers or details.

What this question tests

• Ethics
• Critical thinking
• Personal growth

How to structure your answer

1. Ask questions (25 seconds). The answer asks the Dean for independent safety evidence, possible side effects, medication interactions, and whether the pill causes permanent changes or requires continued use. It also asks whether the pill improves genuine understanding and retention, rather than simply guaranteeing better assessment results.
2. Who is affected (20 seconds). Future patients could be affected if excellent grades conceal gaps in the candidate’s judgment, communication, or meaningful understanding. The answer also considers the candidate’s health and workload, classmates who cannot or choose not to take the pill, and the faculty’s responsibility to protect genuine choice.
3. The conflict (20 seconds). The conflict is between gaining academic success with less stress and protecting health, meaningful competence, and classmates’ freedom to decline. The answer recognizes that wanting relief is understandable, but neither guaranteed grades nor the Dean’s endorsement establishes that taking the pill is worthwhile.
4. Options (40 seconds). Taking the pill immediately offers reduced workload and guaranteed grades but accepts unresolved health and learning risks, while declining avoids those risks but sacrifices potential benefits. Pausing to investigate delays the advantage but allows a better-informed decision about safety, academic permission, genuine learning, and pressure on classmates.
5. Choose (30 seconds). With the information given, the candidate chooses to pause and investigate rather than swallow the pill, because academic advantage does not justify unknown health risks. The answer remains open to taking it if convincing evidence establishes safety, permission, and genuine learning without undermining other abilities.
6. What next (20 seconds). The next step is to seek reliable evidence and clarification from the Dean about safety, educational effects, and academic policies. The candidate would also raise concerns through a student representative and ask about accommodations and safeguards for classmates who cannot or do not want to participate.

Example answer from Confetto

Example answer from Confetto. Not a real applicant's answer.

My immediate reaction is that the offer is tempting. At the beginning of my final year, I am balancing demanding courses, medical school applications, research commitments, and time with family and friends. Guaranteed A+ grades with less work could relieve considerable stress. I do not think wanting that relief makes someone lazy or less deserving. However, I would not take the pill immediately. The Dean’s endorsement deserves consideration, but it does not replace evidence or my own informed decision.

My first step is to ask what we actually know about the pill. Has it undergone independent testing? What are its short-term and long-term effects, and does it interact with medications? Could it affect sleep, mood, or other cognitive functions? I also want to know whether taking it once produces permanent changes or whether continued use is necessary. If the Dean cannot provide reliable safety information, I would decline. An academic advantage is not worth accepting an unknown health risk, especially when I am not treating an illness.

Next, I want to understand what “absorbing educational material” means. There is an important difference between remembering every slide in a physiology lecture and being able to evaluate conflicting evidence or explain a concept to someone who is frightened. I would ask whether the pill improves genuine understanding and long-term retention or simply performance on assessments. As a future physician, I need knowledge, but I also need judgment, communication skills, and the humility to recognize uncertainty. An A+ does not establish all of those abilities.

I would also ask the Dean how this offer fits academic policies and how students who decline will be protected. Because it is offered to everyone, I would not automatically label it cheating. Still, equal availability is not necessarily equal access. A student with a medical contraindication, or someone uncomfortable with uncertain risks, could feel pressured to take it to remain competitive for scholarships or graduate programs. I would raise those concerns through a student representative and ask whether the faculty has considered accommodations and safeguards against coercion.

If convincing evidence establishes that the pill is safe, permitted, and genuinely improves learning without undermining other abilities, I would be open to taking it. I do not believe learning only has value when it requires struggle. We already use tools that make learning more efficient. I could use the time saved to tutor classmates, volunteer consistently, or get adequate sleep rather than simply add more achievements to my application.

Ultimately, my decision depends on whether the pill supports the person and physician I am trying to become, not just my transcript. With the information given, I would pause and investigate rather than swallow it. I want academic success, but I want it alongside good health, meaningful competence, and a learning environment where my classmates retain a genuine choice.

Use it for its structure. Interviewers can tell a memorized script, so tell your own story.

Keep going

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