Kind of a unique situation (IA)

[Josh7]

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Help an old lady out: what is IA?

Institutional Action, the equivalent of an honors code violation

 

[stupid1001]

Help an old lady out: what is IA?

If you really don't know, its an " institutional action". If this is a sarcastic statement based on my last post, I am sorry. I did not mean to offend any of the members here. I was only trying to say that there are some generational differences when it comes to the use of technology. Sorry again if I offended you. That was not my intention in the last post.

 

[stupid1001]

Help an old lady out: what is IA?

If you really don't know, its an " institutional action". If this is a sarcastic statement based on my last post, I am sorry. I did not mean to offend any of the members here. I was only trying to say that there are some generational differences when it comes to the use of technology. Sorry again if I offended you. That was not my intention in the last post.

 

[stupid1001]

I'm not exactly sure. What exactly is cramster? I'd assume it's just like a step by step solution of the problems? If you were just copying those exactly and then turning in the assignment I don't think there's much you can do but if you were just using the solutions as a reference occasionally you could say that it's no different than doing the assignment with a friend.

Yes it contains step by step solution of each problem for multiple math and engineering books. I was not copying it word for word. Its basically an online version of the solution manual which is something that anyone can buy.

 

[music2doc]

The appeal could only have been done 2 business days after the agreement in the meeting. The appeal would send the case to the honor committee.

If all else fails, get a lawyer and suit up. Gather evidence. Meet with your Dean and Provost. Sit in and weigh in on board meetings. Become a royal pain in the *ss to the necessary individuals (but ALWAYS in a respectful and appropriate manner and while working twice as hard to build strategic alliances). Gather students, faculty, and administration to your side. In other words, wage war if necessary.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Institutional Action, the equivalent of an honors code violation

Thanks.

If you really don't know, its an " institutional action". If this is a sarcastic statement based on my last post, I am sorry. I did not mean to offend any of the members here. I was only trying to say that there are some generational differences when it comes to the use of technology. Sorry again if I offended you. That was not my intention in the last post.

Not offended (didn't even see your post). I honestly wasn't familiar with the acronym.

However, I think you need to realize that "a generation older than you" is more than familiar with the use of technology. After all, we and our parents were the first ones to have home video games, home computers, answering machines, cell phones and the like. Technology wasn't invented in 1990. 😉

 

[stupid1001]

Thanks.



Not offended (didn't even see your post). I honestly wasn't familiar with the acronym.

However, I think you need to realize that "a generation older than you" is more than familiar with the use of technology. After all, we and our parents were the first ones to have home video games, home computers, answering machines, cell phones and the like. Technology wasn't invented in 1990. 😉

Agreed, thank you. So what do you think about my situation. Do you think it would be a major hurdle for me during application? Really appreciate your input. Thanks again.

 

[aspiring20]

Institutional Action, the equivalent of an honors code violation

not necessarily. it is considered as any violation of university policy that resulted in disciplinary action. it includes but not limited to academic violations, alcohol violations, drug violations, noise violations, and any/all violations of the university code of conduct.

for example, if i have a pet ball python in my school dorm, i would have committed a violation of the "no pet except legal fish species" policy listed in the student handbook. the school, then, has the right and obligation to "punish" this violation via an institutional action.

serious violations result in serious IAs like suspension and/or expulsion

minor violations result in warnings, reprimands, community services.

middling violations result in probation

 

[stupid1001]

not necessarily. it is considered as any violation of university policy that resulted in disciplinary action. it includes but not limited to academic violations, alcohol violations, drug violations, noise violations, and any/all violations of the university code of conduct.

for example, if i have a pet ball python in my school dorm, i would have committed a violation of the "no pet except legal fish species" policy listed in the student handbook. the school, then, has the right and obligation to "punish" this violation via an institutional action.

serious violations result in serious IAs like suspension and/or expulsion

minor violations result in warnings, reprimands, community services.

middling violations result in probation

So where would my IA rank on this pedigree?

 

[aspiring20]

So where would my IA rank on this pedigree?

i would say the most minor. the school didn't place you on probation or worse, and based on what you said, it didn't even give you a warning. and like LizzyM said, there is still an off chance that this isn't considered an IA.

i think that many people with IAs tend to overestimate their impact.

if you have to disclose this incident, i would make it 1000000000000000 % clear that the professor didn't say that cramster is not allowed. you assumed it was okay (based on other prof in the depart.), but you were wrong.

imo, this has nothing to do with cheating, and you need to make that crystal clear.

 

[SaturnRX]

Schools want you to think they have all the power (ex, they convinced you going to a review board had worse consequences then standing up to them). They can't take away your right to defend yourself, but they can make it seem like they have. Don't let them. If you don't like one person's answer, ask the person above them. This was clearly unfair and you shouldn't have to explain yourself to ADCOMs or stress. So don't. Fight it.

 

[ScholarStud]

My goodness your situation is absolutely ridiculous. My physics professor literally told the class to use Chegg.

 

[Shenanigan]

not necessarily. it is considered as any violation of university policy that resulted in disciplinary action. it includes but not limited to academic violations, alcohol violations, drug violations, noise violations, and any/all violations of the university code of conduct.

for example, if i have a pet ball python in my school dorm, i would have committed a violation of the "no pet except legal fish species" policy listed in the student handbook. the school, then, has the right and obligation to "punish" this violation via an institutional action.

serious violations result in serious IAs like suspension and/or expulsion

minor violations result in warnings, reprimands, community services.

middling violations result in probation

I really don't think a noise violation with no action, just a warning counts as something you need to report.

 

[aspiring20]

I really don't think a noise violation with no action, just a warning counts as something you need to report.

that depends on the school and their disciplinary/IA policy. many/most schools explicitly state on their premed websites that such violations need to be reported, though their impact is close to zero.

some would argue that a "warning" doesn't qualify as an action because nothing happened; you weren't put on probation or worse. but unfortunately, a warning does count as an IA at most places.

 

[music2doc]

that depends on the school and their disciplinary/IA policy. many/most schools explicitly state on their premed websites that such violations need to be reported, though their impact is close to zero.

some would argue that a "warning" doesn't qualify as an action because nothing happened; you weren't put on probation or worse. but unfortunately, a warning does count as an IA at most places.

I don't really think this is true. A warning is not a disciplinary action. The institution took no action if it's a "warning." Instead, they deferred action. An example similar to the OP's would be in a lab I taught where I had a couple of students work on and submit the same graph for a lab -- per their course syllabus, this is cheating. Instead of submitting it to the Honors Council, I chose to speak with the Chair of the Dept. and clarify what my options were. He agreed it was appropriate to just give them a 0 on the graph since it appeared they did not mean to "cheat" (as they put both of their names on the graph on both of their assignments). I talked with them and he kept the report on file at the Dept.-level, so that if something were to happen again, their prior offense and future offense would both be sent. In that case, there was no institutional action. It was simply a warning with a small "punishment" at the course level.

You can always verify what is a reportable IA by asking your Dean of Students for the report they will give inquiring medical schools. At least at my UG, there was no problem in asking this. All I had to do was call, fax over a signed letter requesting the release to myself, and wait a couple of days. I was wondering whether any of the minor things I did as an UG would be reportable. They weren't.

 

[deleted393595]

Hello everyone,

So this past semester, I received an IA. Here is the background:

As an engineering major, most teacher in the department at my school recommend using a website that used to be called Cramster which contains solutions to multiple textbooks to assist us with homework. The main attractiveness of the website is that it shows you the work to get the solution. I, along with most of my class in the engineering course, used the website to help with our homework. The professor found out that we were using this course and reported, 8 students out of 20 total in the class, to the honor code office of my school.

All of us were called into a meeting with a representative of the honor code office and told us to work out the situation in the meeting or it would go to a committee to decide. All 8 of us of course admitted that we used the site.

The professor wanted to give us all to end up with C's in the class so he decided to deal out the punishment based on what our grades were at that time (middle of the semester). I, along with one other student, had an A and therefor the prof decided to drop both of our final grades by 2 letter grades. Others who had a C or lower were not reduced any points and some were reduced 1 letter grade.

I ended up getting a B as my final grade at the end of the semester which was dropped down to a D.

I understand that I should have made sure with the prof if it was ok with him if we used the website for help with HW but based on my experience with other professors in the department, i didnt think he would mind. Usually for engineering classes, most teachers give you the ans or the solution to the question because that same question will never show up on a test. Its not like you can just memorize it and get an A. You are suppose to use the solution to the question to learn the concept.

How big and how bad of an impact with this have on my ability to be admitted to medical school.

Some info about me: 3.55 cGPA, 3.72 sGPA, studying for MCAT right now, Great EC, Lots of research (2 publications).

I will be applying the upcoming cycle.

You'll got trolled big time. Take a look at his username

 

[Ismet]

You'll got trolled big time. Take a look at his username

😕 what does his username have to do with being a troll? this is the only thread he's ever made and there's nothing troll-like about it.

 

[aspiring20]

😕 what does his username have to do with being a troll? this is the only thread he's ever made and there's nothing troll-like about it.

agreed. the OP's username makes sense. he probably feels stupid that he got caught up in such a situation, which is understandable. but i really dont think this will cost him anything in the long run.

 

[stupid1001]

agreed. the OP's username makes sense. he probably feels stupid that he got caught up in such a situation, which is understandable. but i really dont think this will cost him anything in the long run.

Yep, my username represents how I feel for getting caught up in this situation. Not a troll. Thank you for your advise.

 

[aspiring20]

Yep, my username represents how I feel for getting caught up in this situation. Not a troll. Thank you for your advise.

no problem, best of luck with everything.

and know that whatever happens, all of this will pass when we get in

 

[deleted393595]

😕 what does his username have to do with being a troll? this is the only thread he's ever made and there's nothing troll-like about it.

agreed. the OP's username makes sense. he probably feels stupid that he got caught up in such a situation, which is understandable. but i really dont think this will cost him anything in the long run.

I thought that he could be one since most trolls make usernames like that for their threads.Anyone remember sreggin?

My apologies though if you really are real.

 

[aspiring20]

I thought that he could be one since most trolls make usernames like that for their threads.Anyone remember sreggin?

My apologies though if you really are real.

i think i do remember that particular user. but i dont recall what he was trolling about

 

[stupid1001]

I thought that he could be one since most trolls make usernames like that for their threads.Anyone remember sreggin?

My apologies though if you really are real.

Yep, I am totally real.

So, I am trying to figure out exactly what to write in the IA section of the application and I found out that I have 1325 characters to write. Do these characters include spaces or not? The reason I ask is because Microsoft Word shows both characters with space and characters without space.

Thanks

 

[aspiring20]

Yep, I am totally real.

So, I am trying to figure out exactly what to write in the IA section of the application and I found out that I have 1325 characters to write. Do these characters include spaces or not? The reason I ask is because Microsoft Word shows both characters with space and characters without space.

Thanks

on the amcas, those include spaces and punctuation marks.

 

[thesauce]

If it's just a study aide, for the homework, I think you got screwed. Our engineering exams were all open-book, open-note, open-computer, open anything-but-your-partner. Often the numerical answers were given to you on the exam and you would have to show how you got there. Homeworks were a negligible amount of your grade and you were encouraged/expected to work together. Sorry. I wish you the best in the upcoming cycle.

 

[Showtime14]

nv mind

 

[stupid1001]

Hello everyone,

So this past semester, I received an IA. Here is the background:

As an engineering major, most teacher in the department at my school recommend using a website that used to be called Cramster which contains solutions to multiple textbooks to assist us with homework. The main attractiveness of the website is that it shows you the work to get the solution. I, along with most of my class in the engineering course, used the website to help with our homework. The professor found out that we were using this course and reported, 8 students out of 20 total in the class, to the honor code office of my school.

All of us were called into a meeting with a representative of the honor code office and told us to work out the situation in the meeting or it would go to a committee to decide. All 8 of us of course admitted that we used the site.

The professor wanted to give us all to end up with C's in the class so he decided to deal out the punishment based on what our grades were at that time (middle of the semester). I, along with one other student, had an A and therefor the prof decided to drop both of our final grades by 2 letter grades. Others who had a C or lower were not reduced any points and some were reduced 1 letter grade.

I ended up getting a B as my final grade at the end of the semester which was dropped down to a D.

I understand that I should have made sure with the prof if it was ok with him if we used the website for help with HW but based on my experience with other professors in the department, i didnt think he would mind. Usually for engineering classes, most teachers give you the ans or the solution to the question because that same question will never show up on a test. Its not like you can just memorize it and get an A. You are suppose to use the solution to the question to learn the concept.

How big and how bad of an impact with this have on my ability to be admitted to medical school.

Some info about me: 3.55 cGPA, 3.72 sGPA, 31 MCAT , Great EC, Lots of research (2 publications).

I will be applying the upcoming cycle.

Hey guys,

So I had my appointment with my Premed adviser. He told me that he didnt think I did anything wrong and that he thinks its more of a misunderstanding. He also stated that he would not be saying anything about this in his LOR (his letter counts as the cover letter to my committee letter) unless I specifically asked him to do so. I am planning on asking him to mention the incident in his letter and stress that it was not a big academic dishonesty violation. He also said that he would be willing to add a letter written by me explaining the incident in more detail (since AAMC only gives small amount of space to do so) to the committee letter so that I can better defend myself.

 

[IniestaDeMiVida]

Hey guys,

So I had my appointment with my Premed adviser. He told me that he didnt think I did anything wrong and that he thinks its more of a misunderstanding. He also stated that he would not be saying anything about this in his LOR (his letter counts as the cover letter to my committee letter) unless I specifically asked him to do so. I am planning on asking him to mention the incident in his letter and stress that it was not a big academic dishonesty violation. He also said that he would be willing to add a letter written by me explaining the incident in more detail (since AAMC only gives small amount of space to do so) to the committee letter so that I can better defend myself.

Hooray!

 

[stupid1001]

Hooray!

Thanks man. Ya the conversation with my premed adviser defiantly lifted the stone of my chest a little bit.

btw, here is my WAMC thread if anyone cares to comment: http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=987692

 

[Arbor Vitae]

Just posted a new comment at the end as an update from my meeting with my Premed adviser

Hello everyone,

So this past semester, I received an IA. Here is the background:

As an engineering major, most teacher in the department at my school recommend using a website that used to be called Cramster which contains solutions to multiple textbooks to assist us with homework. The main attractiveness of the website is that it shows you the work to get the solution. I, along with most of my class in the engineering course, used the website to help with our homework. The professor found out that we were using this course and reported, 8 students out of 20 total in the class, to the honor code office of my school.

All of us were called into a meeting with a representative of the honor code office and told us to work out the situation in the meeting or it would go to a committee to decide. All 8 of us of course admitted that we used the site.

The professor wanted to give us all to end up with C's in the class so he decided to deal out the punishment based on what our grades were at that time (middle of the semester). I, along with one other student, had an A and therefor the prof decided to drop both of our final grades by 2 letter grades. Others who had a C or lower were not reduced any points and some were reduced 1 letter grade.

I ended up getting a B as my final grade at the end of the semester which was dropped down to a D.

I understand that I should have made sure with the prof if it was ok with him if we used the website for help with HW but based on my experience with other professors in the department, i didnt think he would mind. Usually for engineering classes, most teachers give you the ans or the solution to the question because that same question will never show up on a test. Its not like you can just memorize it and get an A. You are suppose to use the solution to the question to learn the concept.

How big and how bad of an impact with this have on my ability to be admitted to medical school.

Some info about me: 3.55 cGPA, 3.72 sGPA, 31 MCAT , Great EC, Lots of research (2 publications).

I will be applying the upcoming cycle.

That is the most BS thing I've ever heard. Who cares if you get help on homework? That's how you learn. People who can afford a tutor aren't reprimanded for cheating. I would have fought that situation. You should find out if it shows up anywhere, and if it doesn't I wouldn't report it.

 

[stupid1001]

That is the most BS thing I've ever heard. Who cares if you get help on homework? That's how you learn. People who can afford a tutor aren't reprimanded for cheating. I would have fought that situation. You should find out if it shows up anywhere, and if it doesn't I wouldn't report it.

You and me both man. I just hope the admission committee sees it that way also.

 

[WompyWomperton]

Dude, I think that the situation is total and absolute BS and, if it were my institution, I would appeal to get your sentence reversed and possibly get that professor fired. In my opinion, he handled the situation in a totally inappropriate manner. I used answer books ALL THE TIME in college (you could even check them out in the library), but the thing is: they do nothing for you on an exam if you don't actually understand the material. If the professor thinks that this is cheating, he is obviously a BAD PROFESSOR. Any resource that helps to teach the material, in my opinion, is fair game. What's the other alternative? Come see said professor every time you have a question about anything on the homework???

What percentage of the class grade was turning in homework? Usually, they accounted for <10%, if we even had to turn homework in (usually we didn't) and the exams made up the biggest part of our grade, so I may be biased.