Institutional action affect on application

[mmgggee1]

Hey guys,

I hope all is well. I was opening up my app to start for this upcoming cycle and realized I might have an IA from freshman year. I was found guilty of being in the presence of alcohol, while also having had a drink, but not being intoxicated. I have never had any other run ins with campus safety at my school since then. My school said the incident will not go on my transcript and will simply remain in house. 1. Should I report this on my app, and 2. Will it affect me in a negative way? Thanks.

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[northernlights15]

1) Report it.
2) Nope.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Do report it on your app - full honesty has been discussed ad nauseum on this forum, and it could cause you issues if you don't report it on your AAMCAS application. However, the infraction itself is minor and adcoms won't care as long as you're honest.

 

[Goro]

We were young and stupid once. Explain and you'll be fine.

Hey guys,

I hope all is well. I was opening up my app to start for this upcoming cycle and realized I might have an IA from freshman year. I was found guilty of being in the presence of alcohol, while also having had a drink, but not being intoxicated. I have never had any other run ins with campus safety at my school since then. My school said the incident will not go on my transcript and will simply remain in house. 1. Should I report this on my app, and 2. Will it affect me in a negative way? Thanks.

 

[ridethecliche]

I think you mean effect

 

[mehc012]

We were young and stupid once. Explain and you'll be fine.

It's fine to keep it super brief for something like this, right? Something along the lines of "In July 1776, during my freshman year, I was placed on disciplinary probation due to alcohol violations. I completed the school's alcohol education course and have had no further disciplinary infractions."
They give you a ridiculous amount of space for this, but I'm assuming that's to allow room for more complex situations to be described.

 

[mmgggee1]

It's fine to keep it super brief for something like this, right? Something along the lines of "In July 1776, during my freshman year, I was placed on disciplinary probation due to alcohol violations. I completed the school's alcohol education course and have had no further disciplinary infractions."
They give you a ridiculous amount of space for this, but I'm assuming that's to allow room for more complex situations to be described.

I was thinking that I would do the same thing. I wasn't even placed on probation though. I just was given a warning and had to write a reflection.

 

[northernlights15]

I was thinking that I would do the same thing. I wasn't even placed on probation though. I just was given a warning and had to write a reflection.

Oh then you're fine!! Read the AMCAS wording again to confirm. And you can always ask the office of student affairs or your dean or registrar to confirm as well.

 

[mehc012]

Oh then you're fine!! Read the AMCAS wording again to confirm. And you can always ask the office of student affairs or your dean or registrar to confirm as well.

I mean, you can get a disciplinary infraction that goes on your record without having it involve probation.

 

[northernlights15]

I mean, you can get a disciplinary infraction that goes on your record without having it involve probation.

Right but the wording is something along the lines of reporting violations that resulted in probation, suspension, etc.

People get violations and infractions all the time that aren't required to be reported.

Again, OP, I would confirm with a school authority figure like the ones mentioned above.

 

[mehc012]

Right but the wording is something along the lines of reporting violations that resulted in probation, suspension, etc.

People get violations and infractions all the time that aren't required to be reported.

Again, OP, I would confirm with a school authority figure like the ones mentioned above.

Wording just says

You must answer Yes to this question if you were ever the recipient of any institutional action by any college or medical school for unacceptable academic performance or conduct violation, even if such action did not interrupt your enrollment or require you to withdraw. You must answer Yes even if the action does not appear on or has been deleted or expunged from your official transcripts due to institutional policy or personal petition.

Mine doesn't show up on the official transcript, but I still have to put it in.
They don't have a good glossary for what exactly constitutes an 'Institutional Action'. I emailed the Deans specifically to ask for mine. If you contact them and they can see anything in their records to report to you, I'd err on the side of candor, cuz that's likely what they'd report if asked by the med schools.

 

[LizzyM]

It's fine to keep it super brief for something like this, right? Something along the lines of "In July 1776, during my freshman year, I was placed on disciplinary probation due to alcohol violations. I completed the school's alcohol education course and have had no further disciplinary infractions."
They give you a ridiculous amount of space for this, but I'm assuming that's to allow room for more complex situations to be described.

I agree that being brief is good but I would also be more specific. Alcohol violations could be huge or they could be very minor. This one is minor. I'd go with, " During my freshman year I was cited by my college for being in the presence of alcohol and having had a drink; I was not found to be intoxicated. I was given a warning and required to write a reflection."

"found guilty" is a term pertaining to the law. You were not brought before the judicial branch of government, were you? While you may have broken the law, it doesn't sound like you were arrested and tried, you were only cited for a breach of school rules so don't use judicial language that might make this seem like more than it was.

 

[mehc012]

I agree that being brief is good but I would also be more specific. Alcohol violations could be huge or they could be very minor. This one is minor. I'd go with, " During my freshman year I was cited by my college for being in the presence of alcohol and having had a drink; I was not found to be intoxicated. I was given a warning and required to write a reflection."

"found guilty" is a term pertaining to the law. You were not brought before the judicial branch of government, were you? While you may have broken the law, it doesn't sound like you were arrested and tried, you were only cited for a breach of school rules so don't use judicial language that might make this seem like more than it was.

Ah, yes...OP's does sound very minor when they describe it in detail, though I agree that their initial wording seems to overstate it a bit, which is not desirable.

My own was a bit more complex, but I shall not further derail the thread on the subject.

 

[mmgggee1]

I agree that being brief is good but I would also be more specific. Alcohol violations could be huge or they could be very minor. This one is minor. I'd go with, " During my freshman year I was cited by my college for being in the presence of alcohol and having had a drink; I was not found to be intoxicated. I was given a warning and required to write a reflection."

"found guilty" is a term pertaining to the law. You were not brought before the judicial branch of government, were you? While you may have broken the law, it doesn't sound like you were arrested and tried, you were only cited for a breach of school rules so don't use judicial language that might make this seem like more than it was.

That was incredibly helpful. Thank you very much. The entire incident was kept in house and it was a very minor event. I was simply worried that having any IA from my school would hurt my med school chances.

LizzyM, would it be ok if I used your quote as a framework on my actually application to explain the IA? I suppose I used more serious language before so that it did not seem like I was not taking the event seriously. Thanks again for all the help. I feel a lot better.

 

[LizzyM]

That was incredibly helpful. Thank you very much. The entire incident was kept in house and it was a very minor event. I was simply worried that having any IA from my school would hurt my med school chances.

LizzyM, would it be ok if I used your quote as a framework on my actually application to explain the IA? I suppose I used more serious language before so that it did not seem like I was not taking the event seriously. Thanks again for all the help. I feel a lot better.

Go ahead, I wouldn't consider it a bad idea to use my rewording of your IA as the framework for your application's IA explanation.

We'd be hard pressed to find 19,000 incoming medical students every year in the US if underage drinking was an exclusion criteria and there was a way to correctly classify every applicant according to consumption history.

 

[mehc012]

That was incredibly helpful. Thank you very much. The entire incident was kept in house and it was a very minor event. I was simply worried that having any IA from my school would hurt my med school chances.

LizzyM, would it be ok if I used your quote as a framework on my actually application to explain the IA? I suppose I used more serious language before so that it did not seem like I was not taking the event seriously. Thanks again for all the help. I feel a lot better.

Good luck!

 

[Goro]

Ideally, you should mention what you learned from this experience., and your ownership of it. That sound better than "I did this, and served my sentence."

It's fine to keep it super brief for something like this, right? Something along the lines of "In July 1776, during my freshman year, I was placed on disciplinary probation due to alcohol violations. I completed the school's alcohol education course and have had no further disciplinary infractions."
They give you a ridiculous amount of space for this, but I'm assuming that's to allow room for more complex situations to be described.

 

[LizzyM]

Ideally, you should mention what you learned from this experience., and your ownership of it. That sound better than "I did this, and served my sentence."

I don't agree. Most of the time the "I learned from this blah blah blah... " is forced B.S. and wastes our time. What the student did and what the punishment was (a measure of how serious an infraction the school believed this to be) is enough for me.

 

[mehc012]

I don't agree. Most of the time the "I learned from this blah blah blah... " is forced B.S. and wastes our time. What the student did and what the punishment was (a measure of how serious an infraction the school believed this to be) is enough for me.

So in that case, if an optional program (in the example above, an alcohol education course) was completed, would including it actually make it look more severe than leaving it out? It is not a part of the official record.

 

[LizzyM]

So in that case, if an optional program (in the example above, an alcohol education course) was completed, would including it actually make it look more severe than leaving it out? It is not a part of the official record.

You could say, "I completed an optional "alcohol 101" program." The point is, all this "I learned that rules are there for a purpose; my school is trying to protect my still developing brain. I am mindful of the effects of alcohol and as a future health professional I must do all I can to protect my health." is usually a load of ___. Spare me, please.