Is this an institutional action that I need to report?

[theeasymushroom]

During my sophomore year of college (April 2015) I attended a small party at a friends dorm room on campus. I remember there were people drinking in the room, and the RAs needed to write everyone up because of that. I was required to attend an educational course that taught students to be more respectful of those within their community. When I called my undergraduate's community standards office, they said that this course was required because I was simply issued a warning for violating the quiet hours policy. They said that there was no mention of the alcohol on the record. They also said that I was always in good standing, and that they generally don't report the details of warnings unless I sign a release form. However, I think they may say something minimal like "so and so violated the quiet hours policy and was issued x sanction."

In that case, is this something I should have to report as an IA on the primary? My other issue is that I am in the middle of the 2019-2020 application cycle and did not even think about this incident when I submitted the primary. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until I read some SDN threads. I was leaning towards simply emailing my schools and explaining the incident, and also apologizing for failing to disclose on the primary. Do others agree?

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[Isoval]

Edited out my reply: see below for faculty responses.

 

[Seihai]

During my sophomore year of college (April 2015) I attended a small party at a friends dorm room on campus. I remember there were people drinking in the room, and the RAs needed to write everyone up because of that. I was required to attend an educational course that taught students to be more respectful of those within their community. When I called my undergraduate's community standards office, they said that this course was required because I was simply issued a warning for violating the quiet hours policy. They said that there was no mention of the alcohol on the record. They also said that I was always in good standing, and that they generally don't report the details of warnings unless I sign a release form. However, I think they may say something minimal like "so and so violated the quiet hours policy and was issued x sanction."

In that case, is this something I should have to report as an IA on the primary? My other issue is that I am in the middle of the 2019-2020 application cycle and did not even think about this incident when I submitted the primary. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until I read some SDN threads. I was leaning towards simply emailing my schools and explaining the incident, and also apologizing for failing to disclose on the primary. Do others agree?

Sounds like an IA. They went as far as giving you an action: you had to take a course. If you had disclosed it and mentioned the details of the incident in brief, it would have barely mattered.

As it stands now, it may be a bit concerning that you didn't mention it. I would err on the side of caution, personally, and email them with a brief note.

 

[GreenDuck12]

During my sophomore year of college (April 2015) I attended a small party at a friends dorm room on campus. I remember there were people drinking in the room, and the RAs needed to write everyone up because of that. I was required to attend an educational course that taught students to be more respectful of those within their community. When I called my undergraduate's community standards office, they said that this course was required because I was simply issued a warning for violating the quiet hours policy. They said that there was no mention of the alcohol on the record. They also said that I was always in good standing, and that they generally don't report the details of warnings unless I sign a release form. However, I think they may say something minimal like "so and so violated the quiet hours policy and was issued x sanction."

In that case, is this something I should have to report as an IA on the primary? My other issue is that I am in the middle of the 2019-2020 application cycle and did not even think about this incident when I submitted the primary. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until I read some SDN threads. I was leaning towards simply emailing my schools and explaining the incident, and also apologizing for failing to disclose on the primary. Do others agree?

I would highly recommend NOT taking the advice of premed/medical students on this question. Either wait for an adcom/faculty response or ask your university for guidance about whether or not this needs to be reported. If you do ask your university, bring in the AAMC’s guidance for what qualifies as an IA. If I remember correctly the definition is quite broad. Good luck to you.

 

[LizzyM]

So this sounds like an institutional action because you were issued a warning (that's a warning (action) from your institution) and required to undergo additional educational course about campus behavior. While they won't report it unless you sign a release, you most likely signed a release of your records to AMCAS.

You could update the schools saying, "In Spring 2015, I received a warning for violating dormitory "quiet hours" policy because I was present at a loud party in a friend's dorm room. As a result, I was required to take a training session on respect for the members of the school community. I was not aware that this was "Institutional Action" until recently and thus my delay in reporting it to you."

 

[theeasymushroom]

So this sounds like an institutional action because you were issued a warning (that's a warning (action) from your institution) and required to undergo additional educational course about campus behavior. While they won't report it unless you sign a release, you most likely signed a release of your records to AMCAS.

You could update the schools saying, "In Spring 2015, I received a warning for violating dormitory "quiet hours" policy because I was present at a loud party in a friend's dorm room. As a result, I was required to take a training session on respect for the members of the school community. I was not aware that this was "Institutional Action" until recently and thus my delay in reporting it to you."

Thank you for the prompt response. Do you think this is something that will hurt my chances?

 

[LizzyM]

Thank you for the prompt response. Do you think this is something that will hurt my chances?

It shouldn't it. Small potatoes.

 

[Goro]

During my sophomore year of college (April 2015) I attended a small party at a friends dorm room on campus. I remember there were people drinking in the room, and the RAs needed to write everyone up because of that. I was required to attend an educational course that taught students to be more respectful of those within their community. When I called my undergraduate's community standards office, they said that this course was required because I was simply issued a warning for violating the quiet hours policy. They said that there was no mention of the alcohol on the record. They also said that I was always in good standing, and that they generally don't report the details of warnings unless I sign a release form. However, I think they may say something minimal like "so and so violated the quiet hours policy and was issued x sanction."

In that case, is this something I should have to report as an IA on the primary? My other issue is that I am in the middle of the 2019-2020 application cycle and did not even think about this incident when I submitted the primary. In fact, I had completely forgotten about it until I read some SDN threads. I was leaning towards simply emailing my schools and explaining the incident, and also apologizing for failing to disclose on the primary. Do others agree?

Sounds like an IA and yes, you have to report it. This will NOT be lethal.