Plagiarized off of

[Phillyroll9]

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Hello, I need advice on a recent incident.

One of my former friends, I don't consider him a friend anymore, asked to read one of my lab reports but actually lied and plagiarized it instead. Our professor emailed us both and now I'm facing risk of receiving punishment as well. The other student asked to take full responsibility and the professor expressed sympathy but still said she had to report my name to the department out of protocol. I was also accepted to medical school through an early BS/MD program and am most worried how this will affect my admission if it goes on any academic honesty case list.

Does anyone have any thoughts on if I will get punished, if it will affect my admission, and if I should report it explaining what happened to my future medical school? Thank you

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

It's entirely school dependent to say if it will affect your admission. The first person to escalate this to would be the department head. Explain your situation take accountability, and explain your worries. Do not shift the blame, but fully and truthfully explain the situation. Ask if the school will take any action against you due to this. Agree to any stipulations that keep this off your record. Explain your intentions, provide documentation if it supports that claim.

If the answer is still a yes, and this ends up on your transcript, your best bet will be to contact your school and explain the situation. I would go as far as to request documentation and letters of support from the professor that you are taking the class with. The key here is taking responsibility for your action. It would certainly be within the realm of possibility for the program to revoke your acceptance, but imho this is one of the mildest form of academic dishonesty, so I wouldn't expect a terrible outcome.

Good luck!

 

[GoSpursGo]

The short answer to your question is it depends on your school’s policies and the temperament of the people reviewing this infraction to decide how this will affect your BS/MD. We can all express sympathy for you and speculate that you’ll be fine, but in reality it only matters what the school officials decide.

As a thought experiment, what did you think your classmate was doing when they asked to read your lab report? Maybe you didn’t think they would outright copy your results, but surely you realized they were hoping to get a sense of your approach rather than figuring it out on their own… right? Seriously consider your answer to this question, because if I were in your school’s shoes that is the first question I would ask you, and you need something better than “I don’t know.”

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What does the student conduct office report say?

You will need to ask your BS/MD administration about the student conduct report, especially if you wind up not being found culpable.

I tend to be a bit more harsh. I know what most orientation programs for undergrads emphasize when it comes to a focus on academic integrity, and I am sure the vast majority pay no attention to warnings about plagiarism. It should be made clear that just like you are attentive to your security, you need to truly value your reputation and integrity. Not every faculty member is sympathetic. If you let someone else drive your car and the person gets into an accident without insurance or a license, guess who pays (pending local laws)?

EDIT: As I would have told my prehealth advisees: guard your SSNs. passwords, credit cards, exams, and papers.

 

[that redhead]

If you let someone else drive your car and the person gets into an accident without insurance or a license, guess who pays (pending local laws)?

At least someone asking to borrow your car is far more likely to have good intentions doing so. Someone asking to read your homework has zero good intentions. I agree with @GoSpursGo that you need to think very carefully how you plan to defend yourself on this one.

 

[Phillyroll9]

First off I would like to thank everyone for your advice. I have definitely learned from this experience the value of safeguarding my work just as I do any other prized possession and will not repeat this mistake again.

As far as an update, my academic honesty policy states that I will hear back from the department within 5 class days of being reported. However, it has been 9 class days and I have heard nothing. What does this mean?

 

[LizzyM]

It might be 5 business days and if school has been on a Thanksgiving break, those days the school is on break don't count.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I agree... I would contact them Monday afternoon (to give time in case you get an email Monday morning).

 

[GoSpursGo]

First off I would like to thank everyone for your advice. I have definitely learned from this experience the value of safeguarding my work just as I do any other prized possession and will not repeat this mistake again.

As far as an update, my academic honesty policy states that I will hear back from the department within 5 class days of being reported. However, it has been 9 class days and I have heard nothing. What does this mean?

Impossible for us to guess. Just reach out to your prof on monday

 

[Phillyroll9]

It might be 5 business days and if school has been on a Thanksgiving break, those days the school is on break don't count.

I am not including the thanksgiving break days. I will most likely just reach out to see what happened.