IA Dilemma

[boolfish21]

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I'm currently facing a bit of a situation. I had an incident at the very beginning of my freshman year (almost four years ago) and got written up for drinking. When I was filling out my application, I did not think that this event was a conduct violation, as I did not meet with anyone from the office for student conduct. However, to be safe, I reached out to them and requested that my record be sent to me. I did not receive the file until today, and it turns out that I do indeed have a conduct violation under "Alcohol Violation." My dilemma is that I have already submitted my AMCAS application and marked no IA's to report, and I also have sent about half of my secondaries and didn't say any IA's on those as well. What should I do in this situation?

 

[boolfish21]

@Goro @gonnif @LizzyM

 

[907914]

I'm currently facing a bit of a situation. I had an incident at the very beginning of my freshman year (almost four years ago) and got written up for drinking. When I was filling out my application, I did not think that this event was a conduct violation, as I did not meet with anyone from the office for student conduct. However, to be safe, I reached out to them and requested that my record be sent to me. I did not receive the file until today, and it turns out that I do indeed have a conduct violation under "Alcohol Violation." My dilemma is that I have already submitted my AMCAS application and marked no IA's to report, and I also have sent about half of my secondaries and didn't say any IA's on those as well. What should I do in this situation?

You should reach out to every school you applied to:

Good afternoon, XYZ SOM

I have unfortunately made an error when submitting my AMCAS primary application. I incorrectly noted that I do not have any institutional actions. However, in MONTH of YEAR during my freshman year at ABC Undergraduate University, I was partaking in 123 activity in which I received a conduct violation for Alcohol use. I fully take responsibility for my actions and I apologize for this error on my part. I greatly appreciate your time and thank you for your continued consideration. Please let me know if there is anything else I can do on my end to further address the issue.

Thank you,
Boolfish21
AAMC ID - 12345678

 

[Moko]

There isn't a dilemma here. Be honest and let schools know as @MemeLord . They should be aware of this before they offer you an interview (otherwise the optics won't look good). Most schools will not care.

 

[boolfish21]

Thank y’all so much!

 

[boolfish21]

Should I email my note to schools? Or append it to my application as an additional document? And what about schools I haven’t gotten secondaries from yet.

 

[907914]

Should I email my note to schools? Or append it to my application as an additional document? And what about schools I haven’t gotten secondaries from yet.

Email all of them right meow.

 

[907914]

Right meow? No pussyfooting around for you as you know the OP will have to claw his way out of this else he will windup in the litter box. Yes, I would hiss at my jokes as well as they are far from purr-fect

You've got to be kitten me....

 

[PA_dud3]

You've got to be kitten me....

We're doing this again? Well, I guess the cat's out of the bag now...

 

[907914]

Not at all, my puns are fur-midable with endless paw-sibilities so dont get hiss-terical if I go caterwauling for some time

Look at this guy, middening all over with these dad jokes.

Edit: Middening is when male cats spray to mark their territory.Just to save you the google.

 

[907914]

If you have to explain a joke, it loses value. i would say before you were scoring ten but now your-an-eight

Such a piss poor sport. I guess I just can’t hack it in this bizz. I knead to do better next time. You, sir, truly are the cat’s meow.

 

[907914]

Its a dog eat dog world with these cat puns
View attachment 271115

What kind of egg whisk-ers do you think that cafe uses when making its treats?

 

[boolfish21]

You send a VERY SHORT (1-3 sentences) note to each and every school that ONLY says

Due to my own oversight, I neglected to include an institutional action I had as a freshman for drinking as an underage freshman. This was a one time incident and I was required to take a class on (or whatever your punishment was). Again, I apologize for this oversight

Is there any reason I shouldn't provide a bit more detail as to how this situation transpired/what I learned from it?

 

[Cawolf]

Is there any reason I shouldn't provide a bit more detail as to how this situation transpired/what I learned from it?

Because no one cares and you probably didn't learn anything. All anyone wants is a student who is professional, honest, and demonstrates good integrity. IMO.

 

[907914]

Sure spend as much time as you want, giving an adcom longer to wonder why you are spending so much time explaining NOW instead on your application in the first place, like you were supposed to. I mean just because not reporting an IA is sufficient grounds to reject, lets just keep explaining more and more. The less said the better

Do you suppose that even my brief-explanation example/draft thing above is too much information?

“I did this at this time and faced these consequences. I am sorry, please love me.”

Easy peasy donezo?

 

[LizzyM]

Among the oldest of the adcom members, the drinking age in college was 18. Most of our underage drinking took place in HS. For the rest of the adcom, the proportion who had a drink before the age of 21 is, I would guess, rather high. (We never play truth or dare at committee meetings although it would make things more interesting.)

So, as gonnif says, be short, sweet and to the point: I am writing to report that I recently learned that I have a conduct violation on my university record due to underage drinking in [month] of my freshman year. I was "written up" but not required to meet with the conduct board. My apologies for not reporting this on my AMCAS application (add, "and in the secondary", if applicable).

This is not something I've seen adcoms get upset about getting it out there today rather than waiting is the best policy. See the classic book, Forgive and Remember by Charles Bosk, a sociologist's investigation of how errors are treated in surgical training for an idea of how confessing such an error is the best approach in these situations.

 

[Goro]

Right meow? No pussyfooting around for you as you know the OP will have to claw his way out of this else he will windup in the litter box. Yes, I would hiss at my jokes as well as they are far from purr-fect

Cat got your tongue?

 

[907914]

You are ex-military aa, tell me how do you explainsomething you did wrong when the Sr NCO asks?

You don't tell the Sergeant what you did wrong. He tells you what you did wrong.

 

[907914]

I was going for “no excuse sir”

Without going in to the etiquette of calling an NCO sir (as that varies by branch) yes, you are correct. “This is what I did, this is the reprimand received, thank you” move on.