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Should I report alcohol violations (university only) on the AMCAS?

  • Yes

    Votes: 55 61.8%

  • No

    Votes: 33 37.1%
  • Total voters
    89
E

evankel3

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Should I report alcohol violations (university punishment only) on the AMCAS?
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University = Institution (al)
punishment = Action

'Fess up. It isn't likely to hurt you, but failing to disclose adds "lying" to your application and that can hurt big time because integrity is a key element.
 
are they going to show up on your transcripts? that's really the issue. if they're on your transcript under the institutional action section, you should report them. otherwise, probably not a big deal if you weren't convicted of anything by any real authority (i.e. the police, the state, etc.)
 
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Heeding advice previously found in several threads about institutional action... Mine was underage possession of alcohol ....I gathered that minor infractions that did not appear on transcripts or committee letters should not be placed on the AMCAS's institutional action box for the sake of not hanging yourself over a dumb, minor mistake.

So I submitted AMCAS with no problems on there...just recently after submission, I start to fill out available secondaries, including Washington University's. WashU is obviously not fvcking around and requires a "Dean's Certification" of your disciplinary record. I freak out and ask my Dean if I have a record...and of course that damn infraction is still on my record (which is fortunately protected from anyone seeing except by me or one of my school's administrators due to FERPA). However, this Dean's Certification is essentially a waiver of the FERPA rights to WashU admissions. I'm not gonna ask my Dean to lie or anything so this puts me in a tough spot should I choose to apply to WashU, since the Dean's Certification and my AMCAS won't match. BAD BAD BAD.
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Don't lose out on your chance to be admitted to a top school. Come clean on the AMCAS and sleep well at night.
 
I put mine on there. Personally, I'd rather be someone with integrity who got caught drinking underage (b/c really, so many of us do it), than try to be snaeaky about it. hopefully the admissions committees will see it as i do--a minor product of college years, some of which was spent having a least a little fun.
 
manowar rules said:
Personally, I'd rather be someone with integrity who got caught drinking underage (b/c really, so many of us do it), than try to be snaeaky about it.
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Agreed. Though I noticed the OP asked about violations. One you can probably write off to foolish youth. Getting cited five times for the same offense probably raises red flags.
 
I agree with the previous posts. Report it on AMCAS...you'll know if it's a red flag if you don't receive secondary invites from schools that require them.

Learn the lesson from the individual applying to Washington University...you don't want this to rear its ugly head again...wondering if you should come clean about it before it is too late.
 
i had a really rough semester early on and was placed on academic probation that was lifted shortly after becuase I retook the class within 2 months of the probation. Nothing is mentioned on my transcript, but I put that on my AMCAS for integrity's sake.
 
DRKUBA said:
i had a really rough semester early on and was placed on academic probation that was lifted shortly after becuase I retook the class within 2 months of the probation. Nothing is mentioned on my transcript, but I put that on my AMCAS for integrity's sake.
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I had a similar experience. I was in a program that put me on "academic probation" when my science GPA dropped below 3.0 for a semester my sophomore year. This was completly internal and doesn't show on my transcript but I disclosed it for the sake of being completly forthcoming and I used the opportunity to discuss how I had improved since then.
 
I had a bunch of alcohol and other random dorm violations/punishments freshman year. None are these are on my actual transcript, of course, since stuff like this is minor and inconsequential. I didn't put any of it on the AMCAS cause, honestly, it didn't even cross my mind that that could be considered "institutional action" until I started coming to (paranoia-filled) SDN. Now that I do know some people think it classifies, I still wouldn't list it. Why take the risk of hurting yourself?! Now here are the best 2 sentences of advice you're ever going to get:

Volunteering irrelevant information, that could enter into the human minds of the adcom members and potentially give them a negative bias towards your app, is not "showing integrity". It's just plain ****ing stupid.

To use a bit of hyperbole: Remember the dude with his crazy ass sex dungeon and involvement in the BDSM community? For the sake of "integrity" and being "honest to himself", is he going to describe that on secondaries when they ask for you to explain your most memorable EC?! **** no...cause he actually wants to get into med school.
 
An alcohol violation is not a big deal. I had one, fessed up, and I was fine!!! My pre-med advisor/dean laughed at me when i told him i was worried about it. He said it may even help me showing that I actually had a personal life outside the library.

A violation is not going to hurt you!!!! Lying is!!!
 
Bluntman said:
Volunteering irrelevant information, that could enter into the human minds of the adcom members and potentially give them a negative bias towards your app, is not "showing integrity". It's just plain ****ing stupid.
Bluntman said:
It is not irrelevant - - they ask for it specifically. If you dont put it they have the right to take away acceptances or kick you out of school.

Why take a risk when IT ISN'T GONG TO HURT YOU??!!
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Bro your mind is whack...
Dov said:
It is not irrelevant - - they ask for it specifically.
Why don't you go back and read the AMCAS...they do not "ask for it specifically". What they ask for is "institutional action", which anyone will agree is mainly fishing for academic integrity violations (cheating/plagiarism/etc.).

If you dont put it they have the right to take away acceptances or kick you out of school.
Your fear is laughable. The fact that we're having this debate just shows how vague the definition of "institutional action" really is. And *nobody* is going to pull an acceptance because you interpreted an obviously vague instruction in an honest, logical, and reasonable manner.

Why take a risk when IT ISN'T GONG TO HURT YOU??!!
You *do not* know that it didn't hurt you. Have you met with all the adcom members that reviewed your file to ask them? No, you're basing this statement on the opinion of 1 (read: one!) person who wasn't on any of your adcoms.
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...Now seriously get your head on straight and at least try to make your posts pass for intelligent thought.
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Just report it in case the school sends that info...you don't want to have a great interview and then the interviewer notices that detail you omitted. I had institutional action and explained what I learned from it and actually got complemented at my interviews as to how I explained it and that I was able to learn something from an immature incident when I was in college! Explain it and be sincere...you won't have a problem!
 
Bluntman said:
I had a bunch of alcohol and other random dorm violations/punishments freshman year. None are these are on my actual transcript, of course, since stuff like this is minor and inconsequential. I didn't put any of it on the AMCAS cause, honestly, it didn't even cross my mind that that could be considered "institutional action" until I started coming to (paranoia-filled) SDN. Now that I do know some people think it classifies, I still wouldn't list it. Why take the risk of hurting yourself?! Now here are the best 2 sentences of advice you're ever going to get:

Volunteering irrelevant information, that could enter into the human minds of the adcom members and potentially give them a negative bias towards your app, is not "showing integrity". It's just plain ****ing stupid.

To use a bit of hyperbole: Remember the dude with his crazy ass sex dungeon and involvement in the BDSM community? For the sake of "integrity" and being "honest to himself", is he going to describe that on secondaries when they ask for you to explain your most memorable EC?! **** no...cause he actually wants to get into med school.
Click to expand...

So was it bad that I put my parking tickets under institutional action? I mean parking violations are conduct violations (I broke the rules, its pretty much just like getting blackout drunk at age 17 and driving a car into a crowd of young children) which med schools deserve to know about. :laugh: :laugh:
 
Dov said:
He said it may even help me showing that I actually had a personal life outside the library.
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that makes no sense
 
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