Good Stats & Institutional Action - What are my chances?

[pam278]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Hi all. I am applying this cycle and overall my stats are good, but I will be indicating yes on the institutional action question. The incident happened during my sophomore year when I was working in a study hall with peers. An acquaintance was present and mentioned that they were struggling with chemistry lab and didn't know how to write a good lab report. Because of the circumstances, I decided to offer to help without thinking about it. I described to them the important parts needed in a lab report and sent them my work from the previous year as an example. I thought that my work would serve as a useful starting point to figure out how to present their own data and conclusions. Considering this class used TurnItIn.com for plagiarism checking, I did not anticipate that they would possibly pass my work off as their own. Also, I had honestly forgotten the class policy on not having access to past student's work. Unfortunately, the other student turned in an exact copy of my work with their name on it. Because of this, the teacher reported it and a case was held. I was given conditional probation due to failure to safeguard my own work. This has since been removed from my transcript and all academic records. My committee letter writers know about the incident so I will be including it in my AMCAS application.

I have a 519 MCAT score, GPA over 3.6 in an engineering major, over 100 hours of clinical volunteering, research for 6 semesters and 3 summers, and consistent involvement in extracurricular activities and leadership positions. Given my stats and the presence of this institutional action on my application, what are my chances of getting into a competitive medical school?

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Dr. Anonymouss]

I don't think this is bad at all... I could be seeing it different than others, but I don't believe you were in the wrong, it was your friend who decided to plagiarize your work. Allowing him to see your laboratory work could be very beneficial as he can follow how you arrived at an answer. His data should be different than yours which is why you wouldn't think he would copy you, only see your approach towards concluding the lab. I think it is easily explainable. Just say you made a lapse in judgement and you thought he would review your work for your approach towards finding the results for his own data rather than using your data.

 

[907914]

Hi all. I am applying this cycle and overall my stats are good, but I will be indicating yes on the institutional action question. The incident happened during my sophomore year. I was the leader of a club's academic support program and we held regular study sessions with tutors present. An acquaintance was present and mentioned that they were struggling with chemistry lab and didn't know how to write a good lab report. Because of the circumstances, I decided to offer to help without thinking about it. I described to them the important parts needed in a lab report and sent them my work from the previous year as an example. I thought that my work would serve as a useful starting point to figure out how to present their own data and conclusions. Considering this class used TurnItIn.com for plagiarism checking, I did not anticipate that they would possibly pass my work off as their own. Also, I had honestly forgotten the class policy on not having access to past student's work. Unfortunately, the other student turned in an exact copy of my work with their name on it. Because of this, the teacher reported it and a case was held. I was given conditional probation due to failure to safeguard my own work. This has since been removed from my transcript and all academic records. My committee letter writers know about the incident so I will be including it in my AMCAS application.

I have a 519 MCAT score, 3.67 GPA in biomedical engineering at an Ivy League, over 100 hours of clinical volunteering, research for 6 semesters and 3 summers, and consistent involvement in extracurricular activities and leadership positions. Given my stats and the presence of this institutional action on my application, what are my chances of getting into a competitive medical school?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Wait, you got punished for someone else's academic dishonesty?! It might be an issue, however I do not forsee it greatly affecting chances.

 

[LizzyM]

Adcoms generally take a dim view of cheating but this situation is so ludicrous that we'll all laugh at how incredibly stupid your friend is and how sad it is that you tried to help but got bit in the butt due to his idiocy.

Come back and let us know next year how things go for you... I do think that you'll have a few offers by next Spring.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

That's really lame. Any school that would hold that against you is not a school you would want to attend. It always amazes me when great centers in academia filled with deep thinkers have zero tolerance policies, where there is no thinking involved. Good luck and best wishes. I think your future is brifht.

 

[AnMDtoB]

Wait, you got punished for someone else's academic dishonesty?! It might be an issue, however I do not forsee it greatly affecting chances.

I don't know about their school's policies surrounding situations like this, but at my UG it is made abundantly clear that sharing class related materials of any kind (past tests, essays, etc.) is a very big no no - technically even sharing notes from a lecture without prof permission is not allowed (though profs are very lax about that one unless you're selling them to online services). Technically, you gave that student an advantage that no other student (theoretically) had and, even according to your post, *did* violate a school policy.

Some adcoms may ding you for that, others may not - if they do they probably would care more about your (let's face it) lapse in judgement as that's more applicable to medicine. Either way, it's over now and there's nothing you can do about it so no point in stressing. Good luck with your cycle!

 

[Peter Pan.]

Wow that sucks. And to think that person was so lazy they just turned in your own work word for word. I had an experience like this in high school and thankfully only they were punished. Since then I never let people see my work. One friend even asked to see a copy of one of my lab reports. I told them no and only gave them advice. Well hopefully lesson learned. When you explain the IA you might want to state what you learned and how it could be wrong. Still don’t want to give off the impression you think it was BS. Even though it is. I believe you will be fine.

 

[chlorocruorin]

You may get dinged at few schools but it def won't keep you out. The IA report will likely not be worded in your favor as how you described it here. Also, as someone as mentioned, if your school's policy has this in writing not to share then you are at fault, potentially more than your friend. In any case, if explaining, you must state that you were 100% at fault (since you were), despite your classmate for doing the unthinkable. Goodluck. In your app do you have any hours serving the underserved?

 

[Moko]

You'll be fine. You were technically at fault (as you pointed out) for handing your work to another student, in essence enabling their cheating. But this does not appear malicious. Your acquaintance, on the other hand, is SOL if they are also pursuing a career in medicine.

When describing the IA, keep things factual, accept responsibility as you have done, and move on. As long as you handle this with grace and demonstrate maturity, it would not be held against you at the majority of schools. You may be asked about it at some interviews, so just have an answer ready. Good luck!

 

[Goro]

Hi all. I am applying this cycle and overall my stats are good, but I will be indicating yes on the institutional action question. The incident happened during my sophomore year. I was the leader of a club's academic support program and we held regular study sessions with tutors present. An acquaintance was present and mentioned that they were struggling with chemistry lab and didn't know how to write a good lab report. Because of the circumstances, I decided to offer to help without thinking about it. I described to them the important parts needed in a lab report and sent them my work from the previous year as an example. I thought that my work would serve as a useful starting point to figure out how to present their own data and conclusions. Considering this class used TurnItIn.com for plagiarism checking, I did not anticipate that they would possibly pass my work off as their own. Also, I had honestly forgotten the class policy on not having access to past student's work. Unfortunately, the other student turned in an exact copy of my work with their name on it. Because of this, the teacher reported it and a case was held. I was given conditional probation due to failure to safeguard my own work. This has since been removed from my transcript and all academic records. My committee letter writers know about the incident so I will be including it in my AMCAS application.

I have a 519 MCAT score, 3.67 GPA in biomedical engineering at an Ivy League, over 100 hours of clinical volunteering, research for 6 semesters and 3 summers, and consistent involvement in extracurricular activities and leadership positions. Given my stats and the presence of this institutional action on my application, what are my chances of getting into a competitive medical school?

Thanks in advance for your help!

Just own this and explain it just as you did here, and you'll be fine. Suggest deleting or heavily modifying the OP to maintain your anonymity as Admissions Deans do read SDN.