Advice: Accused of Cheating

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DGCT00

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They're giving you an opportunity to present your case - basically to plead stupidity and beg for mercy. Consequences can be severe, but you don't know yet.
 
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Definitely don't leave yet before your hearing. If your school is like mine, after around the 4th week or so of classes you aren't eligible to get any tuition money refunded back so you have nothing to lose by waiting. Agreed with what costales said
 
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I suppose I should add some more information...

The proctor, my partner, and I were all in the room. I finished my assessment with fifteen minutes to spare so my partner started his. During his assessment, I realized that I had left out a tiny piece of the assessment which wasn't necessary for mine, but was for his. He was on that portion of the exam when I asked the proctor if I could add onto my exam since I had ten seconds left on the clock from when I started. The proctor said yes, and I exclaimed the answer -- after saying it, I knew my partner would continue with that piece of information but my true intention was to just get the point I had missed. After a long, long pause... my partner finally continued with that portion of the exam and I shouted, "Thank you! Christ..."

So it looks like I gave him the answer. I have a lot to say in my defense: the lax environment, the proctor gave me answers during the test, and I asked permission to add onto my assessment. I don't meet with the committee for several weeks and am getting headaches/losing sleep over it. Any idea what you think they'll do to me? If this goes in my file, are residency directors going to see that?
Dude, you straight up gave him an answer. I mean, you should have though that through. If it wasn't necessary for your exam and you brought it up before your partner finished, you straight up aided in cheating. Yeah it was a lax environment, yeah you were trying to be nice, etc, but there's not many other ways to paint this.
 
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I respectfully disagree, but it's beside the point. I'm looking for advice on how to proceed and how this may (or may not) affect me in the future.
Do your best to present your case as innocently as possible, pray they buy it. If not, you'll probably have the mark of "academic discipline" on your record and it will affect your match results.
 
If I were you I would not drop out.
I would apologize, explain that I was nervous and did not intend to cheat, ask for another chance, and nod politely when scolded.
 
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Agree with GUH but I have one very very important piece of advice for you.


When they ask you to tell your side if the story, you tell the truth EXACTLY as it happened. Yes, you must appear to be sorry and well-intended, but do NOT change facts to do so. If you appear to be lying or shady about it even a little bit, your ass is fried.

Just lay the facts down on the table.

Its much better to admit that you know you were wrong and be sorry about it than to try and spin the story.
 
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Ok, I'm a smart guy but I can't picture what actually happened based on your description. Maybe it's because my school didn't have exams like that, but could you clarify what happened in more detail and without any embellishment?

Generally, the rules for dealing with this sort of thing are:

1) Thou shalt not make any excuses. ANY. Not a peep about lax environment or proctor giving you answers. Nada. Zip.
2) (based on my interpretation of your story above) Frame it as you did not intend to give answers to your partner; it slipped accidentally.
3) Take full responsibility for your actions, admit to having exercised poor judgement, etc.
4) Beg for mercy on the grounds that your actions were the result of poor judgement, not dishonesty

If it truly was a slip of the tongue and not in any way intentional cheating (this means anyone watching a video of the incident would conclude as much), then my guess is you'll get a slap on the wrist. If it was honestly accidental, no school wants to slap you with an academic violation for that.
 
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Also, hope the school doesn't come on this thread. You can be accused of being coached in how to respond to this incident and it will be viewed as an admission of guilt.
 
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Let us know how it goes. Try to be proactive about this. For example, bring in a written essay explaining why what you did is wrong. You could also meet your professor and staright-up ask him/her for a solution -- aka, deduct the point and do an extra assignment, I don't know.

These people don't want to hear why what you did was OK or not so bad. They want to teach you a lesson (could be a minor slap on the wrist).

As to your letter, nobody knows if it will end up in there. I am inclined to think that it will not because schools usually want their students to match well -- not necessarily for their students' sake but because it makes them look good. There are many factors that will contribute to your match and the letter is often not even read. It all depends, but it's certainly, absolutely, not time for you to call it quits.
 
Also, hope the school doesn't come on this thread. You can be accused of being coached in how to respond to this incident and it will be viewed as an admission of guilt.

This. Delete, delete, delete. Your post is identifying and unique.
 
I respectfully disagree, but it's beside the point. I'm looking for advice on how to proceed and how this may (or may not) affect me in the future.

Dude...you did cheat. Get that through your head. Whether or not you intended to do it is a different story and that is what I would focus on. But acting like it is no big deal is going to lead to you finding another means of employment.
 
What was on my part a momentary lapse in judgement has been viewed as blatantly giving my partner an answer during his practical examination. I'm getting called in to meet with a committee sometime in the coming weeks.

I'm a first year with no prior issues -- I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this type of situation. Specifically, if I end up with a letter in my file, is that going to hurt my chances down the road of applying to residencies? I'm super freaking out and am wondering if I should just voluntarily leave school now so as not to waste my time and money. Advice/experience is welcome. Thanks everybody.

I suppose I should add some more information...

The proctor, my partner, and I were all in the room. I finished my assessment with fifteen minutes to spare so my partner started his. During his assessment, I realized that I had left out a tiny piece of the assessment which wasn't necessary for mine, but was for his. He was on that portion of the exam when I asked the proctor if I could add onto my exam since I had ten seconds left on the clock from when I started. The proctor said yes, and I exclaimed the answer -- after saying it, I knew my partner would continue with that piece of information but my true intention was to just get the point I had missed. After a long, long pause... my partner finally continued with that portion of the exam and I shouted, "Thank you! Christ..."

So it looks like I gave him the answer. I have a lot to say in my defense: the lax environment, the proctor gave me answers during the test, and I asked permission to add onto my assessment. I don't meet with the committee for several weeks and am getting headaches/losing sleep over it. Any idea what you think they'll do to me? If this goes in my file, are residency directors going to see that?

Honesty is always the best policy. If you lie, at all, or even leave out facts they're more likely to take action against you. To me, this looks like you got excited and weren't thinking - but to a proctor I could see how this is suspicious. I wish you the best.
 
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