Will an IA kill my application?

[crankycrankycactus_]

Happy almost new year, SDN. I'm prepping for a reapplication cycle and looking through my application materials again and I'm horrified to find that I might have made a big, huge mistake. I'm afraid I might not have properly reported an IA on my AMCAS.

As a college freshman, I was caught for plagiarism through insufficient citation/documentation of sources. This was for a paper in an P/F intro writing course that I hated and I was already really struggling at a school I hated. I found an online source that really expressed a point I wanted to include in my paper very well but did not properly cite, paraphrase, etc. and my professor dinged me for "passing others' work off as my own."

This is where I get lost and confused. I did not have a disciplinary hearing and the matter was resolved between me and my professor. There was a 3rd party mediator involved to make sure things stayed civil. This 3rd party was from the honor council office I think? I took responsibility for my actions, received a zero for the paper, did a makeup assignment, and worked with a writing center tutor for the remainder of the semester as agreed upon by professor. I finished the class with no further issues and with otherwise satisfactory marks from this professor. I have had no incidents in the 8 years since (yes, I learned my lesson and I'm much, much more careful now) and strong letters from my professors. I've emailed my undergrad dean's office and the current honor council admin to see what the official documentation is, if there is any. If I check off a box on my new AMCAS for an IA that happened 8 years ago, am I ****ed? I've spent the past few years trying to rebuild and recover from my awful, awful undergrad years and just started to feel like maybe med school was worth a shot and now I'm afraid it's not possible. Will the IA screw me as a borderline applicant?

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[HuckleberryEven]

If you resolved without a disciplinary hearing I would assume that it wouldn't show up as an IA but def wait to here back from what the dean says. That being said, the major thing with IAs is to make sure they're not recent: considering this was in your freshman year and it's been almost 8 years I'd say that it's probably not an issue.

 

[crankycrankycactus_]

Right, there was no hearing, just an email stating "here's what happened and these are the actions to be taken" from the mediator. My school has guidelines for these types of violations that are for first-time, "minor" infractions where the professor doesn't feel a hearing is necessary. I think that's what this was? As far as I'm aware, nothing appears on my transcript. I applied to a master's program and this never came up so I'm really, really paranoid that something wildly bad is going to happen.

 

[Goro]

Even if this were to be on your transcript, it wouldn't be lethal. We were all young and stupid once . Just don't screw up again

 

[crankycrankycactus_]

Thank you for your input @Goro! To your knowledge, does the same hold for competitive postbacc programs with linkage/conditional acceptances? There are a handful of those that I was planning on applying to very soon and think I could put together an otherwise solid application to but I'm concerned the old IA will close lots of doors, more than in a regular AMCAS application.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

This was eight years ago? Is there still a record of this?

 

[crankycrankycactus_]

Honestly I'm not sure, which is why I've reached out to my undergrad institution's dean's office and their honor council admin to see if there's a record of it and what the details are. If there's no record of it at the institution, I'm not sure a) if it's an actual IA b) if it is an IA, how I would explain it because I don't recall most of the details at this point in time.

 

[LunaOri]

Even if there is a record of this incident, it would not be an application-killer. It was 8 years ago, your record has been clean since, and you have good recommendations from your professors.

 

[candbgirl]

This is for a reapp? Did you include this on your first application?

 

[crankycrankycactus_]

I withdrew my first application due to personal circumstances, but no I didn't include the IA because I didn't think this was one. This is technically my reapplication cycle but the first cycle I've actually completed and sent secondaries out for. If this cycle is unsuccessful, I will reapply. That is why I'm really concerned. If this is a formal IA with an institutional record and not, as I believed until now, just an agreement between me and my professor regarding my conduct and I report it next application, I'm really worried that it will look super suspicious. I wasn't trying to intentionally hide anything or deceive anyone, just didn't do my due diligence here.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

If you never actually submitted an AMCAS/AACOMAS, work with the Student Conduct office on the statement regarding the incident, including any notation if it was or not reported as a violation from your mediation. If you did submit, work with the Office of you have to clarify anything that you previously wrote.

 

[crankycrankycactus_]

Sorry, I didn't write that very clearly. I withdrew my application for the 2022 cycle and submitted one for the 2023 cycle without indicating any IA. Once I hear back from my institution, I will figure out if I need to add something or reach out to additional schools. I'm just concerned that it will look suspicious that I didn't indicate the IA for the 2022 or 2023 cycles but do for the next cycle when I reapply.

 

[candbgirl]

I’m confused. You’ve completed the primary twice and secondaries once and didn’t include this incident. Is that right? Why all of a sudden are you concerned about it now? What has changed ?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Sorry, I didn't write that very clearly. I withdrew my application for the 2022 cycle and submitted one for the 2023 cycle without indicating any IA. Once I hear back from my institution, I will figure out if I need to add something or reach out to additional schools. I'm just concerned that it will look suspicious that I didn't indicate the IA for the 2022 or 2023 cycles but do for the next cycle when I reapply.

Yes, it might raise some concerns (definitely the reverse will raise questions). As I pointed out, get help with this statement.

 

[crankycrankycactus_]

I’m confused. You’ve completed the primary twice and secondaries once and didn’t include this incident. Is that right? Why all of a sudden are you concerned about it now? What has changed ?

Yes, that's correct. I was talking to a friend about her academic probation IA as she was filling out an application for a different program, which made me go back and reread the AMCAS applicant guide more closely and I had the panicked thought about my freshman incident. I'm concerned that my negligence here is going to cause major problems for my application both this cycle and next time around because I potentially did not disclose something I was supposed to. Additionally, I'm aware that some schools require dean's certificates or whatever the equivalent is so I extra don't want to be caught not having disclosed something I was supposed to.

Yes, it might raise some concerns (definitely the reverse will raise questions). As I pointed out, get help with this statement.

I am waiting on clarification from my institution. Based on what they say, yes I will definitely get help with the statement.

 

[Y H]

Yes, that's correct. I was talking to a friend about her academic probation IA as she was filling out an application for a different program, which made me go back and reread the AMCAS applicant guide more closely and I had the panicked thought about my freshman incident. I'm concerned that my negligence here is going to cause major problems for my application both this cycle and next time around because I potentially did not disclose something I was supposed to. Additionally, I'm aware that some schools require dean's certificates or whatever the equivalent is so I extra don't want to be caught not having disclosed something I was supposed to.


I am waiting on clarification from my institution. Based on what they say, yes I will definitely get help with the statement.

Wait, so you have not applied yet, right?