Cheating IA… looking for guidance…

[krayon75]

---

Members do not see this ad.

I recognize that I’ve completely shot myself in the foot here, and it is the most shameful mistake of my life, so feel free to be as ruthless as possible. I will understand. Just looking for any guidance.

For context:

I’m a third year student, and I have a ~3.8 gpa, and I took the MCAT two weeks ago, and confident that I got a decent score. My exam was a couple days after the MCAT.

I was stressed from MCAT prep, as well as balancing my ECs and classwork, so I went in to the exam underprepared. In a moment of madness, I then decided to pull out my study guide during the last ten minutes of the exam, as I got desperate. It’s inexplicable and inexcusable, and I feel immense shame and regret.

I’m guaranteed to get an IA mark on my record, alongside a 0 on the exam and a full letter deduction from final grade. I have since withdrawn from the class, but the IA will remain in the school’s disciplinary records.

I understand that this is the worst possible IA, and that my app is DOA at basically every medical school according to this site and reddit. I just want to know if theres any hope for me here, and what I need to do to move on past this.

I recognize the fact that I need to grow as a person, not only to put time between the IA and application time, but to also understand why I would ever make the decision to cheat in the first place and to reform myself completely. I plan on taking a gap year(s) to hopefully address this.

If anyone has any additional guidance, please help me out. Thank you 🙏🏽

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Welcome to the forums.

What guidance are you seeking? You already said you plan to take some growth years before applying. Take your medicine, and accept the consequences. No shortcuts.

 

[PickaGodnPray]

Not really a whole lot to say here, sad thing is that you cheated so late in your undergraduate education it will be harder to reconcile and will require a longer time for adcoms to overlook, possibly longer than the MCAT is good for. Also the fact you are still deflecting and saying it was because you were so busy with your MCAT and other things that you didn't have time to study and resorted to cheating, but so many students I went to undergrad with balanced their loads so that's not really an excuse.

 

[Anthodite]

I recognize that I’ve completely shot myself in the foot here, and it is the most shameful mistake of my life, so feel free to be as ruthless as possible. I will understand. Just looking for any guidance.

For context:

I’m a third year student, and I have a ~3.8 gpa, and I took the MCAT two weeks ago, and confident that I got a decent score. My exam was a couple days after the MCAT.

I was stressed from MCAT prep, as well as balancing my ECs and classwork, so I went in to the exam underprepared. In a moment of madness, I then decided to pull out my study guide during the last ten minutes of the exam, as I got desperate. It’s inexplicable and inexcusable, and I feel immense shame and regret.

I’m guaranteed to get an IA mark on my record, alongside a 0 on the exam and a full letter deduction from final grade. I have since withdrawn from the class, but the IA will remain in the school’s disciplinary records.

I understand that this is the worst possible IA, and that my app is DOA at basically every medical school according to this site and reddit. I just want to know if theres any hope for me here, and what I need to do to move on past this.

I recognize the fact that I need to grow as a person, not only to put time between the IA and application time, but to also understand why I would ever make the decision to cheat in the first place and to reform myself completely. I plan on taking a gap year(s) to hopefully address this.

If anyone has any additional guidance, please help me out. Thank you 🙏🏽

Hi OP,

I know this is not the guidance you’re asking for but I encourage you to reach out counseling services in your school or call a local psychiatrists office. They’ll help you identify ways to move forward and still achieve your dream of medicine.

I know anxiety can make you do stupid things which you only realize out of foresight. I’m sorry this happened to you but I promise you can grow from it.