How bad is my IA?

[hp08]

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I want some advice on how bad this IA falls on the spectrum and what my chances are if I apply with it. My freshmen year of college I was in a online sociology class and the tests were open note/book. A friend in the class and I had the same class schedule and lived in the same residence hall so we took the test at the same time in the same location. We never discussed specific questions on the test but we did here and there talk about where general topics could be found in the notes. Looking back this was sooo stupid of us to just assume this was okay because of the open note policy. It was a mistake and I 100 percent own up to it. The professor emailed the class asking for people to come forward. We did and were completely honest about the whole thing. Luckily the only thing that happened was that I received a 0 on the assignment and had to fill out an internal form. The whole thing was handled informally and I was never contacted by a university official. I call the student code of conduct office, and they informed me that if someone where to ask for my records, they would not report this. But at the same time, depending on if I have to sign any release forms, it could be potentially uncovered at that point. So I believe this is an IA and would hate to get it uncovered if I do not disclose this. With that being said, how bad does this IA sound? I know it is not good to have but is there possibility of me still getting accepted anywhere? This was also 5 years ago.

 

[LizzyM]

You have a right to inspect any records the university has about you. The federal law covering this is called FERPA. Make a FERPA request and look at your record. Figure out what is there. Report any institutional action taken against you. Frankly, to me, it sounds as if there was no "institutional action", only the choice of the faculty member to ding you on the grade for the test to provide a wake-up call and a teachable moment but not to screw with your future. If that is the case, you are very lucky and you can apply without reporting this.

If you do need to report because there was an "institutional action" that is in your records just say, "My freshmen year of college in 2016, I was in a online sociology class that had tests that were open note/book. A friend in the class and I took the test at the same time in the same location. We never discussed specific questions on the test but we did talk about where general topics could be found in the notes. The professor emailed the class asking for people who had collaborated to come forward. We did so. I received a 0 on the assignment and had to fill out an internal form. The whole thing was handled informally and I was never contacted by a university official."

Frankly, if this is the whole story, you don't have an IA, IMHO.

 

[hp08]

You have a right to inspect any records the university has about you. The federal law covering this is called FERPA. Make a FERPA request and look at your record. Figure out what is there. Report any institutional action taken against you. Frankly, to me, it sounds as if there was no "institutional action", only the choice of the faculty member to ding you on the grade for the test to provide a wake-up call and a teachable moment but not to screw with your future. If that is the case, you are very lucky and you can apply without reporting this.

If you do need to report because there was an "institutional action" that is in your records just say, "My freshmen year of college in 2016, I was in a online sociology class that had tests that were open note/book. A friend in the class and I took the test at the same time in the same location. We never discussed specific questions on the test but we did talk about where general topics could be found in the notes. The professor emailed the class asking for people who had collaborated to come forward. We did so. I received a 0 on the assignment and had to fill out an internal form. The whole thing was handled informally and I was never contacted by a university official."

Frankly, if this is the whole story, you don't have an IA, IMHO.

Thank you so much for your help. I did request my records and the original form did show up when I requested under FERPA. Although, the director assured me that this was only because it was me who requested and that the form is not allowed to be disclosed to anyone else. The original email from my professor back in 2016 states that this was just a warning and if I ever had to answer if I had a misconduct on my file, I could honestly answer no. The wording of everything is very unclear so it’s hard to tell if this technically counts as an IA or not, especially since I was never contacted by the university.

 

[LizzyM]

Your professor gave you a warning. The professor is not the "university" and the university did not take an action as an institution. It knew about the warning from the professor and would have used that knowledge if another professor gave you a warning so that was a reason to keep a note of an professorial action in your file. I think that you can honestly say that you do not have any IAs.

 

[hp08]

Your professor gave you a warning. The professor is not the "university" and the university did not take an action as an institution. It knew about the warning from the professor and would have used that knowledge if another professor gave you a warning so that was a reason to keep a note of an professorial action in your file. I think that you can honestly say that you do not have any IAs.

Thank you!! You have been a great help!