While I understand this, I believe that a person could change over 3-4 years. People change everyday. I have changed a lot since I cheated. Adding 3-4 years on top of undergrad will set me back greatly and I simply don’t believe I need 8 years to prove myself
I think that working as a TA to help students understand the implications of their actions can help show my commitment to integrity. Being a grader/teacher also allows me to see things from a different perspective. I can for example understand: why is cheating so detrimental?
Working on an honor council with individuals part of the office of the dean of students can also help me remind people of what their priorities should be and remind them of the consequences of their actions.
I agree with you. That said, let me expound on a couple of points that others have made and add my own perspective.
1) You've gotten some flack for calling this an "outlier" event, and while I don't think you meant it in the way it was interpreted, I think you need to be careful to not use this terminology. Even if this is an outlier event, "don't cheat on a test" is a lesson that most people don't need firsthand experience of getting caught to realize is wrong. Any attempt to pass off an excuse like "this was a one time thing," "I panicked and it will never happen again," "I had a lot going on in my personal life and made a mistake"... all of those and you would lose all respect from me. Yes, we were all young and dumb once, but this is the one mistake that everyone knows is a big no-no, so regardless of the circumstances you don't get to pass this off as an outlier. You really need to own this mistake, recognize that what you did and the thought process that led to you making that mistake was wrong, and convey what you have learned.
2) I agree that working with the honor council would go a long way. Anything that shows how you value ethics in the classroom would be helpful.
3) While everyone correctly has identified time and a clean record going forward as being the most important factors to moving past this, there is one other very important factor--having a very strong all-around application, including your stats. Remember, this is a numbers game where you not only have to prove that you're worthy of getting into medical school, but you're also MORE worthy than all the other applicants who are going to get rejected. So if you have just an average application and you also have this glaring red flag, they could absolutely believe that you've likely moved past this but choose to pass you over for someone else who doesn't have this red flag. There are just way more qualified applicants out there than med school spots, so you are going to need to have something in your application that stands out to make them decide that you're worth the risk. Guess who is more likely to get the benefit of the doubt, someone with a 3.8/520 or someone with a 3.5/507? You're already behind the 8-ball because you have one F in your GPA. Do not make the mistake believing that you can overcome this mistake with an overwhelming number of EC hours. If you overload yourself with ECs and your academics stumble any further, you will create a giant hole for yourself that will be much more difficult to escape.
