Institutional Action Question!

[thenoobrules]

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Hello everyone!
I had a question about how to approach the institutional action question and how my situation will impact my chances of getting into medical school.

Here is my info: 4.0 GPA through junior year (waiting on the grade for one last class from the spring semester) at a big state school; aiming to score in the 96th percentile on my MCAT on May 22 (35-36 on the old MCAT); lots of quality research experience; good, diverse volunteering experience; good leadership experience; have shadowed three docs and plan to do more this summer

During my freshman year I got in trouble for using the school network to download (torrent) movies. I had to pay a fine, take a quiz on copyright laws/DMCA, and go to an ethics seminar. As a freshman (I was only 17), I did not realize the moral and institutional implications of my actions so I did not truly learn/change my mindset after this first incident. This first incident is not on my record.

I had a second incident in the fall of my junior year. This time my original intention when I started P2P downloading was to download MCAT prep books, but I got tempted and decided to download a movie as well. I had to meet with a lady in Student Ethics, attend a seminar, pay a fine, and take the quiz again. This incident is on my record.

The Institutional Action section asks for incidents that are not on your record as well as incidents that are on your record. However, my school (technically) will only reveal the second incident. I would feel bad (and scared) if I only mentioned the incident that is on my record so I am going to write about both on the primary application as well as on any other materials schools may send me. So here are my questions:

1. What should I write about? Should I just give a description of the incident and what the consequences were? Or should I include why I didn't learn after the first incident and what I did learn after the second incident?
2. How should I approach this in interviews? Any advice?
3. How will this impact my chances of getting into medical schools? Should I shy away from elite schools because of this (even though I have a pretty good application otherwise)?


Thank you for your help!

P.S. I'm pretty sure this is something I should write about on the AMCAS, but do any of you guys think this doesn't fall under "if you were ever the recipient of any institutional action by any college or medical school for unacceptable academic performance or conduct violation, even if such action did not interrupt your enrollment or require you to withdraw?"

 

[DK2014]

Like you said, you should definitely definitely write about both cases in your application. You don't want an adcom committee member to contact your school to ask about this incidence, only to find out that you are a 2 time offender.

Depending on how you approach this in interviews and whether you are sincere or not, this could be enough to keep you out of certain medschools. You will be asked how you can be trusted to not do this again. Also keep in mind that many students who apply do not have such a record on their application. Ethics are also highly regarded at all medical schools, perhaps, more important than grades. You can't have physicians downloading content illegally on a hospital's network.

 

[DK2014]

And yes, this is something you must include. It falls under the "conduct violation".
""if you were ever the recipient of any institutional action by any college or medical school for unacceptable academic performance or conduct violation,"

 

[Ismet]

Moving to pre-allo

 

[DokterMom]

The first incident could be filed under 'young and stupid'. You attended the seminar, paid your fine, took your punishment -- learned your lesson.

Oh wait - you didn't.

The second one - I would file under "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me." Sorry, but I'd also know just where to file your application...

 

[deleted577188]

Fool me one time, shame on you. Fool me twice, can't put the blame on you! Fool me 3 times..... I won't finish that last part.

Seriously though, did you not learn your lesson? You can get into a lot more trouble and face greater consequences than what your institution put you through. I would chill on the illegal downloads.

 

[IlDestriero]

 

[cactusinmyhead]

Hello @thenoobrules ,

I would include both if I were you, like you said.

To answer your other questions:
1. Briefly describe the incident/timeline. Acknowledge your mistake(s) and explained what you learned from it. Sound remorseful but genuine.
2. If you're asked about it in interviews be prepared to explain what you learned from it and be able to assure your interviewer nothing similar will happen again.
3. I'm no adcom, but from what I've read about IA's the worst ones are academic dishonesty or violence. For example, an alcohol violation isn't going to keep you out of med school (as long as it wasn't a repeat offense). I'm not sure how they view illegal downloading. It's stealing...keep that in mind.

I wish you the best of luck!

 

[CaliforniaDreamer]

Wow that's annoying, I went on campus once and forgot to stop seeding something and I connected to the WiFi. I got an email telling me that I had been detected with files that violated the blahblahblah, and they disallowed me from connecting to the internet for 2 weeks. I didn't live on campus and didn't bring my computer to class so it wasn't a big deal. I think it is strange that we did essentially the same thing but you have an "IA" while I have a non-issue.

 

[hoihaie]

There was a guy I remember rr reading about from some New York med school who got caught selling pirated usmle prep materials.