Hey guys, so there was a very unfortunate incident where almost everyone in my physics class (80%) had gotten accused of academic misconduct, including me, because one answer was similar to the answer on chegg. I know people who didnt use chegg (including me) had gotten the same answer. The conduct office couldn't figure out who had cheated and who didn't and there wasn't an interview or a conduct hearing due to the amount of people who were accused (it was more than 200). I and almost everyone else had gotten a university warning, even though I did not cheat. I had filed for an appeal but it was denied. I figured id cut my losses and just do the assigned sanction which was to write a paper and attend a workshop. I had talked to my advisor and they had said that the conduct office did not believe anyone on their appeals and that it was good i did the assigned sanction because if i had continued to fight it, it was just going to fall onto deaf ears. I had told my advisor my side of the story and they had said that it seemed that i could easily explain what had happened, and said how this was a judgement error on the conduct office's part, and that i should be fine when applying. I had contacted the head of my schools conduct office as well and he had said that since i had accepted the responsibility for an error in judgement and did the assigned sanctions had showed a lot about my character, and said as long as I disclose what happened and explained my side of the story I should be fine since this was a unique incident considering COVID-19 had resulted in distant learning and certain professors having it out to make students lives harder because of this situation. I have a 3.5 cGPA and a 3.65 sGPA, more than 90 hours volunteering in underserved communities. Since this was my very first offense for something that I had 0 control over, and had affected almost everyone in the class (even for those who didnt use chegg including myself), would i still have a shot at medical school? Or are my chances ruined due to me having an IA? I plan on attending a postbacc after i am done because i had a difficult time adjusting my freshman year and second semester sophomore year one of my family members were diagnosed with an illness, but other than that i have had a solid upward trend (3.7+ every semester after freshman year). Do yall think i can explain and get into a medical school in the US? This did not show up on my transcript btw.
