IA

[Flareicus]

No I am in my sophomore year. I am a sophomore.

Okay, that's actually a bit better than. Even if it goes on your record, you will have a reasonable amount of time before matriculation to make up for it. However, if it does end up on your record, you should not plan to apply next year. That's too close to your IA, you would probably be best suited to take one year after graduation to continue demonstrating service to others before applying.

And just to emphasize this, your record from now on has to be absolutely spotless. A second academic dishonesty IA will make your chances at med school zero. Behavioral IAs (underage drinking, Marijuana use, dorm disconduct) which may be looked over for other applicants will be seen as a recurring pattern for you. You have to be a perfect citizen from here on out, so make sure you won't have any habits which could put you at risk for another IA.

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[zacky123]

Okay, that's actually a bit better than. Even if it goes on your record, you will have a reasonable amount of time before matriculation to make up for it. However, if it does end up on your record, you should not plan to apply next year. That's too close to your IA, you would probably be best suited to take one year after graduation to continue demonstrating service to others before applying.

And just to emphasize this, your record from now on has to be absolutely spotless. A second academic dishonesty IA will make your chances at med school zero. Behavioral IAs (underage drinking, Marijuana use, dorm disconduct) which may be looked over for other applicants will be seen as a recurring pattern for you. You have to be a perfect citizen from here on out, so make sure you won't have any habits which could put you at risk for another IA.

Thank i will. From here on out I’m spotless and perfect. Thank you for the insight. So you think I should apply after my senior year?

 

[LizzyM]

Are you an international student? I ask because that will skew your likelihood of admission to medical school in the US becuase many medical schools do not admit international students. Keep that in mind irrespective of your GPA/MCAT/IA.

A position of academic trust and community service is what you'll need. Rising up to a position as a TA might help.

 

[Flareicus]

Thank i will. From here on out I’m spotless and perfect. Thank you for the insight. So you think I should apply after my senior year?

Yes, if it goes on your record. If not, go with your original plan.

 

[zacky123]

Are you an international student? I ask because that will skew your likelihood of admission to medical school in the US becuase many medical schools do not admit international students. Keep that in mind irrespective of your GPA/MCAT/IA.

A position of academic trust and community service is what you'll need. Rising up to a position as a TA might help.

No I am a student in California not international.

 

[zacky123]

Yes, if it goes on your record. If not, go with your original plan.

Okay perfect. I will update once I have my meetings.

 

[Detailsmatter]

OP has gotten good advice from med students and adcoms on here. Just want to mention and further emphasize that if youre pre-med you do not have the same leeway that other undergrads have when it comes to fxcking up. You may feel like you're being "uptight" or an "axxhole" for not doing something for a friend like OP was or like you cant "let loose" when having fun or about to do something stupid. IT IS NOT WORTH IT. you want to go to medical school you need to be beyond reproach. The stakes for messing up are too high and you need to be selfish. Your friends arent gonna pay the bills in the future or give you the career youve been dreaming of since you were a kid. Never put yourself at a disdvantage or do anything that can ruin your career. if your friends truly cared about you they would understand and not hold it against you. If they dont, you need to find new friends

 

[zacky123]

OP has gotten good advice from med students and adcoms on here. Just want to mention and further emphasize that if youre pre-med you do not have the same leeway that other undergrads have when it comes to fxcking up. You may feel like you're being "uptight" or an "axxhole" for not doing something for a friend like OP was or like you cant "let loose" when having fun or about to do something stupid. IT IS NOT WORTH IT. you want to go to medical school you need to be beyond reproach. The stakes for messing up are too high and you need to be selfish. Your friends arent gonna pay the bills in the future or give you the career youve been dreaming of since you were a kid. Never put yourself at a disdvantage or do anything that can ruin your career. if your friends truly cared about you they would understand and not hold it against you. If they dont, you need to find new friends

Yes I now understand this. I’ve had a talking to my friend and explained the situation as she is pre med too. She will not be contacting me over this stuff again and I now know to put myself first and to not help people like this.

 

[IlDestriero]

Hello,
So I’m in a bit of a bind. I was in orgo 2 and I had an A+ in the class. One of my closer friends was in the same class as me and a couple days before the final she had a death in her family ( a grandparent) and it threw her off completely. During our final she had a mental breakdown and a full on panic attack ans she asked me for help on the last two questions of the exam. Now, I know I made perhaps one of the worst mistakes of my life and I sent her my answer after I had submitted my exam. She decided to then copy it directly and our tests got flagged by our prof. I was given a D in the course and I have a meeting with the professor next week. I am NOT a cheater. I have worked my butt off to do well in my classes. Has this ruined my chances of med school or PA school? I know cheating is a big red flag, and I’m also not making excuses for my actions, but these were some extenuating circumstances. I don’t know if an IA will be on my record after this but if so, how bad does this look for my admission chances? I’m also a sophomore and am planning on applying next application cycle?

When you help someone cheat on a test, you become a cheater. That’s it. Own it.
Be glad your school doesn’t have a real honor code or you’d be expelled.

 

[Goro]

Horrible advice of the day: get a bunch of bad grades in the rest of your classes to make the D appear less anomalous, blame COVID to effect.
Post-bacc isn't necessary here, just have a good reason for why you got a bad grade.

I am 90% sure that the provost/professor would be in violation of FERPA if they responded to this without your consent.

This is NOT a FERPA violation

 

[LizzyM]

When you sign a release of your university records, FERPA goes out the window.

 

[zacky123]

This is NOT a FERPA violation

That’s fine. I will own up to it if asked about it even if it’s not reported as an IA. I know what I did was wrong

 

[zacky123]

Update:
I had my meeting with my professor. She was completely understanding and said she felt bad about my position Bc she know I’m a good kid. She said she couldn’t change my grade, but she said this isn’t likely to go on my record and even if it does it gets expunged as soon as I graduate. She is also open to writing me a LOR about the situation. Would a LOR help if this does end up going on my record after my next meeting with the provost?

 

[YCAGA]

It will still be on your record if you have a D which at many schools you will have to explain on a secondary and if not on the secondary, during the interview. Just explain the situation BRIEFLY, own up to it, and how it was a huge mistake with no excuses. And I don’t know about it being “expunged”. I have never heard of anything like that. I would be curious of the wording on AMCAS about IA’s. Fortunately wasn’t an issue for me so I don’t remember how it was phrased.

 

[Flareicus]

Update:
I had my meeting with my professor. She was completely understanding and said she felt bad about my position Bc she know I’m a good kid. She said she couldn’t change my grade, but she said this isn’t likely to go on my record and even if it does it gets expunged as soon as I graduate. She is also open to writing me a LOR about the situation. Would a LOR help if this does end up going on my record after my next meeting with the provost?

If you have a good relationship with the professor otherwise and are confident she would write you a good letter, it would be nice to have if you're hit with an official IA. If it doesn't go on your record, you want to avoid having it brought up in the letter.

 

[zacky123]

If you have a good relationship with the professor otherwise and are confident she would write you a good message in a bottle, it would be nice to have if you're hit with an official IA. If it doesn't go on your record, you want to avoid having it brought up in the message in a bottle.

If it’s not on my record, I’m still probably going to be asked to explain the one D on my transcript. So I think either way that LOR would be very helpful.

 

[zacky123]

Great news.
i spoke with my provost and there will be no formal action taken against me from the university. I will be getting an informal verbal warning. It will not be in my record and it is not an IA and my provost made it clear that it is not an IA and said the exact words “you do not have to report this on any application”. Also, she is in the process of trying to get my grade changed back from the D to the A I was going to get. I will update if this happens, as this meeting was only yesterday.

 

[Flareicus]

Great news.
i spoke with my provost and there will be no formal action taken against me from the university. I will be getting an informal verbal warning. It will not be in my record and it is not an IA and my provost made it clear that it is not an IA and said the exact words “you do not have to report this on any application”. Also, she is in the process of trying to get my grade changed back from the D to the A I was going to get. I will update if this happens, as this meeting was only yesterday.

That is indeed great news. Sounds like it pretty much resolved as best as it could.

 

[zacky123]

That is indeed great news. Sounds like it pretty much resolved as best as it could.

Yes it is. Just waiting to see if provost can get the professor to change the grade. Otherwise everything is done.

 

[LizzyM]

Provost should not have the power to get a faculty member to change a grade. That just isn't done. I'd be really concerned about a school that would do such a thing.

 

[Banco]

It's good that it isn't a formal IA, happy for you. In that case, if your grade still remains a D - just explain that you messed up in the semester for X reason. Do not say you cheated or helped someone out, or get a letter that explains the situation in detail. You're being given a free pass here, don't bring attention to it. You're gonna have to retake the pre-req anyway, so just crush it the next go around and eat the damage to your GPA.

If you can somehow get the grade reversed, then you've won the lottery.

 

[Monkeymojo]

I think the OP already won the lottery by having such understanding faculty haha. Either way, I'm glad this can be a near miss and not a lethal blow to his/her app.

 

[zacky123]

Provost should not have the power to get a faculty member to change a grade. That just isn't done. I'd be really concerned about a school that would do such a thing.

Provost doesn’t have the power to. She just said she will talk to the professor about possibly changing it

 

[zacky123]

It's good that it isn't a formal IA, happy for you. In that case, if your grade still remains a D - just explain that you messed up in the semester for X reason. Do not say you cheated or helped someone out, or get a letter that explains the situation in detail. You're being given a free pass here, don't bring attention to it. You're gonna have to retake the pre-req anyway, so just crush it the next go around and eat the damage to your GPA.

If you can somehow get the grade reversed, then you've won the lottery.

If I get asked about the D, can’t the adcoms ask the professor about what I got a D in the class? Or is that not something that happens?

 

[zacky123]

I think the OP already won the lottery by having such understanding faculty haha. Either way, I'm glad this can be a near miss and not a lethal blow to his/her app.

Haha yes I really did I’m really thankful

 

[zacky123]

It's good that it isn't a formal IA, happy for you. In that case, if your grade still remains a D - just explain that you messed up in the semester for X reason. Do not say you cheated or helped someone out, or get a letter that explains the situation in detail. You're being given a free pass here, don't bring attention to it. You're gonna have to retake the pre-req anyway, so just crush it the next go around and eat the damage to your GPA.

If you can somehow get the grade reversed, then you've won the lottery.

Would admitting to the situation and explaining it and getting a LOR from said professor explaining it be best? It would saying I just struggled that quarter but learned my lesson and did better next time around be better?

 

[Banco]

Would admitting to the situation and explaining it and getting a LOR from said professor explaining it be best? It would saying I just struggled that quarter but learned my lesson and did better next time around be better?

If I get asked about the D, can’t the adcoms ask the professor about what I got a D in the class? Or is that not something that happens?

I highly, highly doubt any adcoms are going to reach out to any professors to inquire about a bad grade.

Listen at this point on paper it just looks like you have one bad grade. It sucks but it isn’t some big red flag. It can happen to anyone for any number of reasons (tough semester, personal issues etc...get creative). But when you admit it was a cheating incident and bring attention to it - attention that you 100% don’t need to bring - then it can become a red flag. Cheating is a very serious charge and you’ve been given a clean out from the situation. Why would you want to bring it back into play?

 

[LizzyM]

No adcom is going to ask and without your permission the faculty member can't talk about it with anyone (it's a violation of a federal law called FERPA, similar to HIPAA).

O-chem is almost always an applicant's lowest grade so having one bad grade and have it be o-chem does not cause me to raise an eyebrow.

 

[Goro]

Yes it is. Just waiting to see if provost can get the professor to change the grade. Otherwise everything is done.

to follow up on what the wise Lizzie M said, a Provost cannot change a grade, and if that were to happen it would be an accreditation violation. Ditto for Dean's or Department chairs.

Course coordinator is the only one who determines what a grade is.

 

[zacky123]

No adcom is going to ask and without your permission the faculty member can't talk about it with anyone (it's a violation of a federal law called FERPA, similar to HIPAA).

O-chem is almost always an applicant's lowest grade so having one bad grade and have it be o-chem does not cause me to raise an eyebrow.

I did not know this. I most certainly won’t bring up this incident then.

 

[Goro]

If I get asked about the D, can’t the adcoms ask the professor about what I got a D in the class? Or is that not something that happens?

If I see a D or an F grade in a sea of A's, it will draw my attention and make me suspicious.

At interview I will ask the candidate about it.
And no we don't call up faculty to find out about it either. I've no idea who your faculty are!

 

[zacky123]

If I see a d or an f grade in a sea of a s, it will draw my attention and make me suspicious.

At interview I will ask the candidate about it.
And no we don't call up faculty to find out about it either. I've no idea who your faculty are!

Okay and in the interview since there’s nothing in my record I wouldn’t have to bring any unwanted attention to the situation.

 

[fluorescent colors]

Do you think doing a post bac would help?

I would say no. It is not a question of your grades, but your integrity.

 

[zacky123]

Update:
Grade is staying a D.

 

[rothguy]

What's the final consensus on this then? OP is getting a D, but technically has no official IA?

Would OP just have to be brutally honest if this grade was brought up in an interview? As opposed to beating around the bush, not outright lying of course.

 

[Goro]

What's the final consensus on this then? OP is getting a D, but technically has no official IA?

Would OP just have to be brutally honest if this grade was brought up in an interview? As opposed to beating around the bush, not outright lying of course.

As a word of warning, I have seen people get rejected when they were outed by LOR writers who wrote something like "rothguy has grown so much since the X incident", and the applicants failed to note the IA.

As I mentioned above, a D in a sea of As sets off my radar, just like a black spot on a while canvas.

 

[zacky123]

What's the final consensus on this then? OP is getting a D, but technically has no official IA?

Would OP just have to be brutally honest if this grade was brought up in an interview? As opposed to beating around the bush, not outright lying of course.

Yep. No official IA on my record, but still a D on transcript.

 

[zacky123]

As a word of warning, I have seen people get rejected when they were outed by LOR writers who wrote something like "rothguy has grown so much since the X incident", and the applicants failed to note the IA.

As I mentioned above, a D in a sea of As sets off my radar, just like a black spot on a while canvas.

I didn’t have a D in a sea of As. The I got a 4.0 the quarter before this incident, but before that 4.0, most of my grades were B’s or b+ with a few a- sprinkled in.

 

[Goro]

I didn’t have a D in a sea of As. The I got a 4.0 the quarter before this incident, but before that 4.0, most of my grades were B’s or b+ with a few a- sprinkled in.

in that case you might not have to worry about an IA on your medical school application if your GPA is not competitive!

 

[zacky123]

in that case you might not have to worry about an IA on your medical school application if your GPA is not competitive!

My gpa will still be a 3.5 after this quarter if I can get a 4.0 this quarter. Isnt a 3.5 competitive?

 

[maybeDRmaybenot]

My gpa will still be a 3.5 after this quarter if I can get a 4.0 this quarter. Isnt a 3.5 competitive?

Average applicant cgpa is 3.6 for MD and 3.5 for DO. Accepted is 3.7 MD and 3.6 DO.

 

[Goro]

My gpa will still be a 3.5 after this quarter if I can get a 4.0 this quarter. Isnt a 3.5 competitive?

Yes. I think that you'll be fine, overall.

 

[zacky123]

Average applicant cgpa is 3.6 for MD and 3.5 for DO. Accepted is 3.7 MD and 3.6 DO.

I still have three more quarters after this one before I apply. My gpa will be in that range I believe.

 

[zacky123]

Yes. I think that you'll be fine, overall.

Awesome

 

[bcf_lasagna]

I agree with everyone that You will need some time between the incident and your application cycle. Try joining the school’s honor council, and a gap year is almost warranted. IMO, crushing the MCAT will go a long way, if you can pull off 525+.

Geez that’s a high MCAT score. OP, do the best that you can, if you get a 510, 515, etc. it’s not the end of the world

 

[chilly_md]

Geez that’s a high MCAT score. OP, do the best that you can, if you get a 510, 515, etc. it’s not the end of the world

Locking this thread as the OP has not been active in over a year. Please refrain from bumping old threads.