Institutional Action

[Kpitts]

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Hey I'm new to SDN but need some help on a recent issue.

So I'm a freshman at the moment and about a month ago I received an Institutional Action. It was an extremely small, stupid mistake. For my stats class, we are technically allowed to work together on homework assignments, so two of my friends and I were working on it and ended up writing down the same exact answers in the same exact format for some questions. We were cited for academic misconduct, but we were never reported to speak to the dean/assistant dean at all. All that really happened was that the teacher gave us a 0 for the assignment (even though the lowest homework is dropped), and he told us it was supposed to be a "learning experience."

However, what is making me freak out is that although the teacher said for no further action should be done, he did have to send a record of the incident to the office of the assistant dean. So my questions are:

1. Do I still have to say that this was an institutional action given that it only involved the professor to act and not actually the university itself?

2. If I do have to report this as an institutional action, am I basically out of contention for medical school? It was a small stupid mistake in freshman year that I don't plan on repeating. Also, how do you all think I should approach explaining this?

 

[Runner500]

I think it's either an IA or it's not, in which case you would have to report it, and the Caribbean would be happy to look past it for you.

 

[Kpitts]

@LizzyM @Goro could you provide your perspective?

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

1. From my understanding, given that you were reported to the assistant dean's office for academic dishonesty, your situation is now an "institutional" one, meeting the criteria for it being an "IA".
2. Your situation is honestly very very bad, if you have to report it as an IA. The best way to explain IA is to take full responsibility for it, and show how you overcame it. Having a good academic record, long amount of time from the incident, and a history of service to others would be beneficial to you. Your career in medicine is not over, but this makes it significantly more difficult, if you indeed to have to report it as an IA.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

Plagiarism means no future in medicine

Given that people have gotten into med school with plagiarism on their record, this is outright false.

 

[Kpitts]

1. From my understanding, given that you were reported to the assistant dean's office for academic dishonesty, your situation is now an "institutional" one, meeting the criteria for it being an "IA".
2. Your situation is honestly very very bad, if you have to report it as an IA. The best way to explain IA is to take full responsibility for it, and show how you overcame it. Having a good academic record, long amount of time from the incident, and a history of service to others would be beneficial to you. Your career in medicine is not over, but this makes it significantly more difficult, if you indeed to have to report it as an IA.

But if I was never reported to the assistant dean's office then would I be fine. The only thing involving the assistant dean would be that a record of the incident was given and that's it. I never had to meet with anyone during this whole process.

 

[LizzyM]

But if I was never reported to the assistant dean's office then would I be fine. The only thing involving the assistant dean would be that a record of the incident was given and that's it. I never had to meet with anyone during this whole process.

What action did the institution take? From my reading of this, the institution took no action on this report from a faculty member. The only action was taken by the faculty member who gave you a zero. AMCAS instructions say that if you have any doubt, you should check with the institution. I would advise you to do so when it comes time to apply. I suspect that some schools will have mercy on a student and make a record of an action taken by a faculty member so that if a student who has a record of having been sanctioned by a faculty member has a second or third infraction, they are suitably punished.

 

[hopefulERdoc251]

Hey I'm new to SDN but need some help on a recent issue.

So I'm a freshman at the moment and about a month ago I received an Institutional Action. It was an extremely small, stupid mistake. For my stats class, we are technically allowed to work together on homework assignments, so two of my friends and I were working on it and ended up writing down the same exact answers in the same exact format for some questions. We were cited for academic misconduct, but we were never reported to speak to the dean/assistant dean at all. All that really happened was that the teacher gave us a 0 for the assignment (even though the lowest homework is dropped), and he told us it was supposed to be a "learning experience."

However, what is making me freak out is that although the teacher said for no further action should be done, he did have to send a record of the incident to the office of the assistant dean. So my questions are:

1. Do I still have to say that this was an institutional action given that it only involved the professor to act and not actually the university itself?

2. If I do have to report this as an institutional action, am I basically out of contention for medical school? It was a small stupid mistake in freshman year that I don't plan on repeating. Also, how do you all think I should approach explaining this?

This may sound naive but it sort of boggles my mind as to how this can be considered an IA. If you're working on the same assignments and the same questions, you will typically take the same route to answer a question. Also he's letting you work on it together...it shouldn't be surprising that students will have the same methodology/steps to get to the right answer....

 

[Kpitts]

What action did the institution take? From my reading of this, the institution took no action on this report from a faculty member. The only action was taken by the faculty member who gave you a zero. AMCAS instructions say that if you have any doubt, you should check with the institution. I would advise you to do so when it comes time to apply. I suspect that some schools will have mercy on a student and make a record of an action taken by a faculty member so that if a student who has a record of having been sanctioned by a faculty member has a second or third infraction, they are suitably punished.

The institution essentially took no action. Your statement that the record of the action taken by a faculty member so that if I have a record of having been sanctioned by a faculty member for a second or third infraction, I should suitably punished seems correct. That is what the professor who gave me the 0 on the homework told me at least.

 

[Kpitts]

This may sound naive but it sort of boggles my mind as to how this can be considered an IA. If you're working on the same assignments and the same questions, you will typically take the same route to answer a question. Also he's letting you work on it together...it shouldn't be surprising that students will have the same methodology/steps to get to the right answer....

I thought the same thing too. I guess our formats were just too similar for it to seem like normal collaboration.

 

[Goro]

If it wasn't escalated beyond the professor, then it's not an IA.

Hey I'm new to SDN but need some help on a recent issue.

So I'm a freshman at the moment and about a month ago I received an Institutional Action. It was an extremely small, stupid mistake. For my stats class, we are technically allowed to work together on homework assignments, so two of my friends and I were working on it and ended up writing down the same exact answers in the same exact format for some questions. We were cited for academic misconduct, but we were never reported to speak to the dean/assistant dean at all. All that really happened was that the teacher gave us a 0 for the assignment (even though the lowest homework is dropped), and he told us it was supposed to be a "learning experience."

However, what is making me freak out is that although the teacher said for no further action should be done, he did have to send a record of the incident to the office of the assistant dean. So my questions are:

1. Do I still have to say that this was an institutional action given that it only involved the professor to act and not actually the university itself?

2. If I do have to report this as an institutional action, am I basically out of contention for medical school? It was a small stupid mistake in freshman year that I don't plan on repeating. Also, how do you all think I should approach explaining this?

 

[Kpitts]

If it wasn't escalated beyond the professor, then it's not an IA.

So do you think that even though a record of the incident was sent to the office of the assistant dean, it still wouldn't be "Institutional Action" because the institution itself didn't do anything at all?

 

[gyngyn]

So do you think that even though a record of the incident was sent to the office of the assistant dean, it still wouldn't be "Institutional Action" because the institution itself didn't do anything at all?

I recommend that you ask your Student Affairs Dean if this is an IA.
If it is, you need to report it. If it is not, no requirement to report.

 

[Goro]

So do you think that even though a record of the incident was sent to the office of the assistant dean, it still wouldn't be "Institutional Action" because the institution itself didn't do anything at all?

What the wise gyngyn said.