Institutional Action Advice

[Eb123]

Thought I would reach out for advice about an institutional action on my file that I must disclose to medical schools, and will be mentioned in my committee letter.

The incident occurred in 2012, while a junior at college. My friend and I were out on campus and had had a few drinks (legally--this is not part of the IA). We were passing by a house adjacent to campus and as a joke, my friend asked me to push him into a bush, which in my state and lacking foresight and maturity I did, causing damage to the bush. A campus police officer witnessed the event and I was cited for destruction of property and disturbance of the peace. The matter was resolved by meeting with the dean of students wherein I personally apologized as well as drafting an official letter of apology to the homeowner for causing damage to his property. I do deeply regret this immature decision, and it taught me a valuable lesson about thinking before acting and the consequences of my actions. I take full responsibility and have certainly matured and grown in the years since.

I am wondering how you would approach this in your application, and whether or not this will be looked at as a big deal. It seems minor--a few branches were broken from the bush and no one was injured, my friend explained it was in jest and that he had requested I push him into the bush. How will this affect my candidacy, and should I apply to more programs given that I will have an official IA on my application?

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[DrHart]

should not influence your candidacy. I'm sure the adcom members here would have more insight but from what I've seen them say of things like this: one sentence of what happened. one sentence of what you learned from it. most everyone has been young and stupid before.

 

[235009]

This isn't an institutional action and should not be mentioned

 

[ndafife]

Thought I would reach out for advice about an institutional action on my file that I must disclose to medical schools, and will be mentioned in my committee letter.

The incident occurred in 2012, while a junior at college. My friend and I were out on campus and had had a few drinks (legally--this is not part of the IA). We were passing by a house adjacent to campus and as a joke, my friend asked me to push him into a bush, which in my state and lacking foresight and maturity I did, causing damage to the bush. A campus police officer witnessed the event and I was cited for destruction of property and disturbance of the peace. The matter was resolved by meeting with the dean of students wherein I personally apologized as well as drafting an official letter of apology to the homeowner for causing damage to his property. I do deeply regret this immature decision, and it taught me a valuable lesson about thinking before acting and the consequences of my actions. I take full responsibility and have certainly matured and grown in the years since.

I am wondering how you would approach this in your application, and whether or not this will be looked at as a big deal. It seems minor--a few branches were broken from the bush and no one was injured, my friend explained it was in jest and that he had requested I push him into the bush. How will this affect my candidacy, and should I apply to more programs given that I will have an official IA on my application?

1. Explain the basics - "I had been legally drinking and a friend and I accidentally fell into/damaged a bush" - Don't waste your time with excuses like your final paragraph (only a few branches broken, friend asked you to). It just comes across as immature like you didnt learn anything
2. Explain the punishment - I met with the dean/court and took a class or got no punishment or paid a fine, etc... - again keep it brief. If something got reduced (like a fine perhaps) I would definitely mention that.
3. Show its not an issue - isolated incident 3 years ago while you were younger and immature, flawless other record, something that shows you learned from the mistakes (like if you had to take a class or something)

And something that minor, that long ago should not be an issue unless you have other misdemeanors/IAs or feel the need to explain it with excuses

 

[Eb123]

This isn't an institutional action and should not be mentioned

Unfortunately, at my institution it is part of my permanent record, will be mentioned in my panel letter, and thus I was informed that I need to write about it on my AMCAS application.

To all others--thanks for the input. I appreciate the advice and will compose a statement accordingly.

 

[Goro]

You write it/explain it exactly as you wrote it here.

The incident occurred in 2012, while a junior at college. My friend and I were out on campus and had had a few drinks (legally--this is not part of the IA). We were passing by a house adjacent to campus and as a joke, my friend asked me to push him into a bush, which in my state and lacking foresight and maturity I did, causing damage to the bush. A campus police officer witnessed the event and I was cited for destruction of property and disturbance of the peace. The matter was resolved by meeting with the dean of students wherein I personally apologized as well as drafting an official letter of apology to the homeowner for causing damage to his property. I do deeply regret this immature decision, and it taught me a valuable lesson about thinking before acting and the consequences of my actions. I take full responsibility and have certainly matured and grown in the years since.

We were all young and stupid once.

I am wondering how you would approach this in your application, and whether or not this will be looked at as a big deal.


This will get you rejected if you keep this mindset. OWN your transgression.
It seems minor--a few branches were broken from the bush and no one was injured, my friend explained it was in jest and that he had requested I push him into the bush.

 

[DokterMom]

Your friend ASKED you to push him into a bush? That doesn't sound very plausible. However horsing around, pushing each other in jest, and then pushing him into a bush does sound like a run-of-the-mill stupid drunk guy kind of thing that is easily forgiven.

Own the transgression and property damage; admit the foolishness and lack of foresight. You don't need to minimize things because honestly, they're pretty minimal.

 

[NeuResurgens]

Your friend ASKED you to push him into a bush? That doesn't sound very plausible. However horsing around, pushing each other in jest, and then pushing him into a bush does sound like a run-of-the-mill stupid drunk guy kind of thing that is easily forgiven.

Own the transgression and property damage; admit the foolishness and lack of foresight. You don't need to minimize things because honestly, they're pretty minimal.

I don't know - alcohol is a pretty potent source of logic substitutes.

"Hey man, shove me into a bush. It'll totally be funny." I could see this going down, honestly.

OP, just mention it where AMCAAS tells you to mention it - a few sentences about what happened and what you did to correct it/what you learned/no making excuses and you should be ok.

 

[Eb123]

Your friend ASKED you to push him into a bush? That doesn't sound very plausible. However horsing around, pushing each other in jest, and then pushing him into a bush does sound like a run-of-the-mill stupid drunk guy kind of thing that is easily forgiven.

Own the transgression and property damage; admit the foolishness and lack of foresight. You don't need to minimize things because honestly, they're pretty minimal.

While he did indeed ask me to do so, I agree it would be best to leave that portion out because it is an excuse. I will definitely own up to it and move on with the application process--I am glad adcoms are understanding and forgive immature mistakes.

 

[mehc012]

Why even mention that you had been drinking? Just leave it as "my friend and I were horsing around while walking on campus, blah blah blah I shoved him into a bush. There was minor damage to the foliage. I was cited for these things, and drafted an apology letter to the homeowner for the damage to his property."

Alcohol was not a part of your IA, why make it one?

And I'm not sure how touchy-feely you need to be about the hindsight on this one. You don't want to seem insincere...I mean, come on, how terrible could you really feel about something as meaningless as this? To me, it would seem odd to go on and on about how you learned the value of respecting others' property when really all you learned is that people can get a bug in their bonnet over some truly ridiculous ish.

Or, to quote someone far more respectable than myself on these matters:

Most of the time the "I learned from this blah blah blah... " is forced B.S. and wastes our time. What the student did and what the punishment was (a measure of how serious an infraction the school believed this to be) is enough for me.