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[freshdoe]

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[Moko]

Recently, my online music class was involved in a cheating scandal. ... My friend and I were completely unaware of this, but were caught in the middle of it, unfortunately. We were joking around and I basically asked if anyone would write my papers for the course, and he proceeded to ask for $20. It was typed in a way such that a student could definitely interpret it as being a joke. ... someone had sent test answers immediately after our little exchange. As a result, both of us were accused of cheating and recently had our institutional hearing. ... found responsible for one (cheating). I want to make clear that I never cheated in this course and did my own work, but obviously, the administration didn't think so. My punishment was a disciplinary warning from the office which, after inquiry, I found would not be included on my transcript but would still create a disciplinary record which could be accessed by medical schools if I decided to sign a FERPA release. I've read up on here that I am obligated to report such a charge simply because it is the ethical thing to do, but also that it would probably kill my chances at most, if not all, schools because all they care about is what's on paper, even if I was completely innocent.

You are obligated to report this IA not "simply because it is the ethical thing to do", but also because you are required to do so by AMCAS. Those who lie about IAs can have acceptances rescinded and be kicked out of medical school if the lie is found out later on. You are also correct that IA's, particularly recent ones and those involving academic dishonesty, will have a very detrimental effect on an applicant's chances. I would recommend doing everything within your power to convince the administration that you were not involved in this cheating scandal so that the charges will be dropped. If you are unable to accomplish this, then medical schools will have to go by what's on paper (as adcoms, we have no way of knowing if you are truly innocent as you proclaim).

I will also mention that you are not "completely innocent" in this matter as you solicited someone else to do your work, even if it was a joke. To others: never engage in any activity that can be construed as such. Academic dishonesty is not a joke, nor is it treated as such by schools. Good luck. Just my thoughts

 

[vrazzles]

Thanks for your advice. At first I was too uninformed to know that all instances of IA, even warnings, must be reported so I would’ve taken no action. Now that I’m sure how much of a detriment it will be to my application, I will do everything in my power to get rid of this warning.

From the AAMC concerning IAs: Institutional Action: Medical schools need to know if you were ever the recipient of any institutional action resulting from unacceptable academic performance or a conduct violation, even if such action did not interrupt your enrollment, require you to withdraw, or does not appear on your official transcripts due to institutional policy or personal petition.

Perhaps ADCOMs can chime in, but I interpret this as saying that you have to report any institutional actions taken against you, whether or not they are visible.

Your institution took an action against you in the form of a warning. Whether or not they later revoke it (is this even done?) you still would have been the recipient of an IA and (I believe) are required by AMCAS to report it.

FWIW I applied with an IA on my application and had a great cycle, but this IA was not related to academic dishonesty.

 

[deleted480308]

how were you falsely accused? They accused you of offering money for work, and you did

 

[EdgeTrimmer]

how were you falsely accused? They accused you of offering money for work, and you did

They forgot to put 🙂

 

[candbgirl]

Why didn’t you turn in this new evidence to begin with?
When do you plan to apply? Hopefully it’s a few years away so you can show evidence of learning from your mistakes. The whole thing sounds goofy but you did ask for someone to write your papers on a public board. Let us know what the committee says. I do think @vrazzles said about reporting it, even if later it’s removed, bears some investigation. But in that case it will be a whole lot easier to deal with it. Academic dishonesty is very hard to explain away in any circumstances.

 

[Goro]

From the AAMC concerning IAs: Institutional Action: Medical schools need to know if you were ever the recipient of any institutional action resulting from unacceptable academic performance or a conduct violation, even if such action did not interrupt your enrollment, require you to withdraw, or does not appear on your official transcripts due to institutional policy or personal petition.

Perhaps ADCOMs can chime in, but I interpret this as saying that you have to report any institutional actions taken against you, whether or not they are visible.

Your institution took an action against you in the form of a warning. Whether or not they later revoke it (is this even done?) you still would have been the recipient of an IA and (I believe) are required by AMCAS to report it.

This is correct. At my school, we have rejected interviewees when it became known that they were outed by a letter writer who wrote something like "freshdoe has grown so much as a person since the cheating incident".

 

[ThatGIguy]

My friend was the one who responded and offered to pay as a response to me. The funny thing is, he was also slapped with two charges — one of which was cheating — but was found NOT responsible for both charges. Is that fair?

My friend, life is not fair

 

[deleted480308]

My friend was the one who responded and offered to pay as a response to me. The funny thing is, he was also slapped with two charges — one of which was cheating — but was found NOT responsible for both charges. Is that fair?

You did something dumb and got caught. That’s about as fair as it gets.

Take your punishment like a man/woman and move on

 

[LizzyM]

TL;DR

Have you appealed? Did you lose your apeal? If you can explain that this was a joke that was misunderstood by administration, you might get a med school that will have mercy on you but only if you are an otherwise irrestiable candidate. You can't be cookie cutter. Consider taking some gap years and doing something remarkable such as teaching in an school most people would avoid, Peace Corps, military service....