Advice for conduct violation

[HopefulDentist23]

Hey all, so I had my undergrad university complete a Disclosure of Disciplinary Action form that essentially disclosed any misconduct (academic and general violations in regard to school rules/policies) per the request of the dental school I was admitted to.

Today I received an email from the dental school that read:

"I am writing to let you know that the Disciplinary Disclosure form was returned to us from [university name redacted], and listed an alcohol possession conduct violation in 2016. Because this violation was not self-reported on your AADSAS Application, you will be required to have a meeting with our Associate Dean, Dr. [name redacted], shortly after the new year. During this meeting you will discuss the specifics of the conduct incident, as well as the professional standards and ethical expectations of [dental university name redacted] students.

Pending the outcome of that meeting, a letter will be added to your academic record indicating the nature of the meeting and expectations of your behavior moving forward.

Our office will be closed for the holiday break, but I will reach out when we return in January to schedule the meeting with Dean [name redacted] (this can be via Skype or Zoom).

Please let me know if you have any questions."

A bit of background: my university's dorm/housing does not allow anyone to possess any alcohol. While I was away from my dorm, my roommate got a noise complaint and the RA came in and found my alcohol bottle on my desk. Consequently, I was written up for possessing alcohol. I am not sure why this is a big deal; it's not like I committed a violation that put my ethics into question (I have never cheated on a test or even got in trouble with the law). I was 21 at the time and in college...celebrating the end of finals with a few drinks; I didn't think that night would come back and bite me in the butt.

Anyone have any advice as to what I should say/address in the meeting with the dean? I already put down my deposit, do you think the school will rescind my offer (they said they would just put a letter in my file)?

This school is my top choice and I feel like this infraction could jeopardize everything...

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[bracketbuster68]

It's not a big deal. You should recognize that you were not allowed to have alcohol, but you did. Not saying you're a criminal or anything, but the school wants to know that this was some random thing that happened and you learned from it. Show them that and you're good.

 

[princeafrica]

For starters in your meeting don’t say “I not sure why this is a big deal”. The dean just probably wants to see that you will take full responsibility so don’t say that. I don’t think they will rescind your offer because you are about to just repeat everything that was in the report and if they want to rescind it they would have already.

But since they are going to keep this on record that probably means you can’t make any violations while in dental school

 

[Likkriue]

Looks like you are on a short leash. But yeah own up to the mistake. The fact that you still think it’s no big deal is an issue. Rules are rules and they want you to be able to follow them in clinic.

 

[ShortShortsDad]

As a tutor I got to participate in the interview process and sit in with the leadership whenever they were making the final decisions and had questions like this (most of the time the interview is just for you and unless you bomb it the results aren’t even looked at by the board). The alcohol thing is no big deal, not disclosing it is huge. At my institution that would have been a non-starter, your application would be filed in the trash. Saw it happen for a reported argument that involved a disagreement over what temperature the dorm should be set at - no violence/yelling but a report was filed that the applicant didn’t disclose. How you approach this is up to you, there really isn’t a great answer on what to say

 

[deleted480308]

What you’ve said so far is a great example of what not to do. You seem to be completely ducking two things. First you broke a rule that you agreed to and then passed it off as ok because you didn’t feel the rule was important. I assure you that your dental school will not be interested in you deciding which of their rules you will follow. You also seem to completely miss that if they asked on your app and you didn’t disclose you lied on your app and they are well within reason to withdraw your acceptance.

That can happen. That is on the table if you don’t do well at the dean’s meeting. You can lose your seat

 

[frozenicecreamDMD]

Just have a talk with a dean. If they wanted to withdraw your seat, they would have done it already. Just say it happened such a long time ago that you simply forgot until you read the email from the dental school that the memory comes back. that if you remembered it, you would have disclosed it on the application. Cite in the fact since then, you have not gotten any other things.

This seems like a paperwork must do thing dental schools do. but most likely,if you don't say anything like "it is not a big deal, it is just alcohol, you should be fine"

a thing like this should not stop you from coming to school and becoming a dentist.

best of luck!

 

[setdoc7]

I have learned from this mistake that rules are in place for a reason. I have also learned that I should have disclosed this infraction on my application, and that even if it was an oversight, it was wrong for me not to do so. I have not been in trouble with the university or any other authority since that infraction. I plan on knowing the rules of the dental school and this university, and abide by them.
Keep your head down, unless you think you will be class president.