Possible Institutional action: terrified

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She said that it will not be put on our transcript and that we would not have to report it to graduate school/professional school applications unless they ask.
And your problem is?
 
No insight here--but I'm sorry 🙁 Hopefully the prof will drop the charges when s/he realizes that you have all learned from your mistake.
 
Have you tried talking with the professor? Once she hears your situation and knows her message has gotten across, she may change her mind and drop the charges.
 
Have you tried talking with the professor? Once she hears your situation and knows her message has gotten across, she may change her mind and drop the charges.
Or she might go "You? A doctor? A person who cheats will never make a good doctor", cue extracurricular lecture on morality.

To the OP, just stay calm. While an IA may hurt your chances, it will certainly not diminish them. It's not even clear whether this will end up being an IA anyway.
 
I understand that the Dean can't make your prof drop the chargers, but I'm surprised she doesn't have any power over the outcome of the hearing... I would recommend you talk to your professor individually and say what you've told us here. Hopefully he/she will be understanding and see how you could have been confused and that you would never intentionally break the rules. If not, your professor is a jerk for charging 2/3 of the class.
 
If you honestly feel that you were not doing anything wrong then I would contest it to the fullest. I wouldn't just accept the mark on the record if your professor was not clear about the expectations, and since over 50 percent of the class seems to be in violation here I can only assume that he/she wasn't. I would also try and get some sort of class-action complaint filed against this professor if he/she does decide to take institutional action against the majority of the class. I am not exactly sure what can be done but I would just do everything possible to keep this from your record.

I wouldn't worry too much, since this teacher is a grad student and not a tenured faculty member, if you and your class mates start to complain it is likely that the tenured faculty that is this teachers advisor will most likely want to avoid the mess and instruct him/her to drop the matter and to stop giving take home quizes in the near future.
 
you need to get better at cheating, so you can be a good student.
 
I'm missing something. Why did you think it was ok to do something beyond what you were instructed to do?
 
If you honestly feel that you were not doing anything wrong then I would contest it to the fullest. I wouldn't just accept the mark on the record if your professor was not clear about the expectations, and since over 50 percent of the class seems to be in violation here I can only assume that he/she wasn't. I would also try and get some sort of class-action complaint filed against this professor if he/she does decide to take institutional action against the majority of the class. I am not exactly sure what can be done but I would just do everything possible to keep this from your record.

I wouldn't worry too much, since this teacher is a grad student and not a tenured faculty member, if you and your class mates start to complain it is likely that the tenured faculty that is this teachers advisor will most likely want to avoid the mess and instruct him/her to drop the matter and to stop giving take home quizes in the near future.

This. If you're giving a take home language quiz, you damn well better be clear that no dictionaries/online tools are allowed because by default everyone will use one. I'm guessing the people who didn't get charged just used a different tool.

You probably want to avoid this course of action unless it's a last resort though. Try being nice first. Then wait for the hearing to finish. Then complain.
 
I think the professor is a douche bag for reporting the majority of the class after not explicitly stating that resources can't be used IMO
 
Over one of our school vacations, I was assigned a take home quiz for a 101 language class

Here is your first problem. College language classes are notoriously more difficult than they should be. Avoid them like the plague. A far better option is to take four years of a language in high school and then attend an undergraduate institution where this obviates the need for further study.

Oh well, water under the bridge.

As for the rest of it, if the TA was truly not clear about what resources were acceptable, the 12 of you should band together and consult an attorney. If the school senses that this is going to be a protracted fight, they may be more inclined to call off the hounds over such a nebulous infraction.

Lastly, if you were going to use online resources, you should have fed the story through multiple translators and then attempted to resolve any discrepancies between them. Those translators are widely known to be terrible, but at least you would have gotten a unique (if not entirely correct) product and avoided this mess.

Good luck.
 
I think your professor will drop the charges...this seems like she really wanted to teach you guys a lesson. I think this was probably just the last straw for her...I used to work in the language lab at my university, and was basically an on call tutor for Spanish. While the resource is there for the purpose of helping people with grammar, helping them study for tests, and working WITH people on essays, the majority of the people would come in to the lab wanting us to do their homework for them, or brought in essays for us to "correct". I would say that in about 75% of the essays I looked at, I was able to tell in the first sentence that it was written entirely in English and typed into an online translator. I'm not necessarily saying you typed the WHOLE thing into a translator...but I honestly can't see a teacher getting this mad if it this was not the case. And this probably wasn't the first time...maybe not with your class...but after seeing essay after essay that was obviously not done by the student, I could see her getting frustrated. However, I don't think she will go through with it. I would definitely go and talk to her. Don't go in accusing her of not explaining what can and can't be used, because online translators are NEVER a source that should be used in a language class. Maybe for 1 word here or there if you are too lazy to look it up in a dictionary (but a better online dictionary would be wordreference.com-which most teachers even recommend). But, I would go in apologetic, and say that you realize now that using that translator was wrong, and you will gladly take a 0 for the assignment, but that the institutional action would be extremely detrimental to your future. DO NOT accuse her of being unfair, etc. because this will only make her more mad. Good luck.
 
I think the professor is a douche bag for reporting the majority of the class after not explicitly stating that resources can't be used IMO

An online translator is NOT a resource for a language class. A dictionary is a resource, the grammar book is a resource, etc. Just like in a science lab a resource would be your book, or a periodic table or something, NOT a pre-made lab that somebody else did that you copied and turned in. Not to mention the fact that online translators translate things word for word...and the word order is different in another language. That is why it is so easy to pick out which people used them.
 
And this probably wasn't the first time...maybe not with your class...but after seeing essay after essay that was obviously not done by the student, I could see her getting frustrated.

I have a friend who is an English professor at a mid-tier university, and the tales of plagiarism that occur every semester never cease to astound me. The vast majority of coursework (including papers) is submitted online, and the system the school purchased automatically scans the make sure they haven't been lifted from somewhere else. And it's pretty good at what it does.

What I find bewildering is that despite standing up on day one and explaining this process of automatic, computerized detection of plagiarized writings, people still do it. Moreover, they do it badly. I have seen papers where the student will extract multiple paragraphs on tangentially-related topics and simply paste them into Word. The resulting document makes no sense, and the scanner flags the whole thing in bright red. But to the student this is considered an acceptable finished product.

I like it even better when someone tries to embed well written material in their own sloppy, misspelled, trite sentences. The sudden jolt from garbage to fluid prose will give you whiplash.

Thank God I went to college pre-interwebs, when email was novel.
 
I understand the predicament you're in and the stress that it's causing you. I would encourage to remain confident since you have the Dean's sympathy. Also, worst case scenario, you are penalized for this lapse in judgement and it goes on your record. When you report it on AMCAS and they see it's over the use of an online translator and you mention it involved over 50% of your class, I think med schools may be like "wtf" (in a good way)...That's the optimistic way of looking at things.

I would also suggest that you first show your professor you've learned your lesson and explain to her much of what you've told us--you want to be a doctor, you sincerely had no idea it was wrong (even though I personally think if it's a quiz, you shouldn't have used a translator--homework assignments yes, quiz no...), and that you understand what you did was wrong and you've learned your lesson. Hopefully she'll be sympathetic (bear in mind, she's in grad school). Don't attack her, criticize her, or say bluntly she wasn't clear. You can maybe say "I didn't understand that this take-home quiz was an assignment in which we could not use a dictionary"--rather than saying "you weren't clear in your directions"...no one wants to hear that they're wrong.

Goood luck!! Everything will be okay---honestly, this type of institutional action is much less of an issue than cheating on a final exam (in my opinion at least). This is over the use of a translator, not actively looking over someone's paper or stuffing notes under your seat.
 
I think the professor is a douche bag for reporting the majority of the class after not explicitly stating that resources can't be used IMO
I hope the school scares the snot out of all of them and then in the end backs down. It should be a learning experience for all of them.

It sounds like 2/3rds of the class are clueless weenies.
 
I'm missing something. Why did you think it was ok to do something beyond what you were instructed to do?

At the time, I as long as the rest of the class believed that her only stipulation was independent work. I realize that it is wrong to assume that, especially given what my school's honor board says. Even though she wasn't clear, we were all at fault.

I just don't think this blunder should mess up my entire future.
 
There are probably two things that you will never get into med school with: prescription drug abuse and academic dishonesty.

You need to do whatever you can to keep yourself out of it. GO to the professor. Beg, cry, explain why it shouldn't ruin your future. Say you'll take an F in the assignment, the class, do whatever makeup you need to do.

Whatever you need to do. And then hope for the best.
 
It does. But you will still have to report it. Or you could be dismissed from medical school, and sometimes even have your degree revoked.
 
I really don't think it is going to get that far....especially with the dean willing to talk to the teacher about it. Maybe you and a couple of students (not the whole class ganging up on her) should go and have a very calm, very humble conversation with her on Monday. I think you guys should be able to reason with her. Just say you know what you did was wrong, and are willing to take a 0 for the assignment, and you will never ever use a translator again. I really don't see her pursuing this...it would probably be a very lengthy process for her because of the amount of students involved. Don't worry too much yet. Just go talk to her.
 
Or she might go "You? A doctor? A person who cheats will never make a good doctor", cue extracurricular lecture on morality.

To the OP, just stay calm. While an IA may hurt your chances, it will certainly not diminish them. It's not even clear whether this will end up being an IA anyway.

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–verb (used with object) 1. to make or cause to seem smaller, less, less important, etc.; lessen; reduce

You're not very smart, are you?
 
Just looking for some opinions/insight on the matter.

Over one of our school vacations, I was assigned a take home quiz for a 101 language class that consisted of a short story to translate. Our quizzes/exams have usually been vocabulary/grammar so it was definitely a departure from the normal and very difficult. I had to utilize an online translator for a lot of it, as did the rest of the class. As a result a lot of our class turned in similar assignments. Without speaking to us beforehand, the prof charged 12/18 of us with academic misconduct. The prof's claim was that our translations had similar grammatical mistakes and she was confident that we used the same online resource.

All our professor (a grad student) explicitly said was that we were not allowed to work with other students on the quiz. After reviewing the honor code, there is a clause stating that all take home examinations should automatically assumed to be "closed book" unless noted otherwise.

I am absolutely terrified that is will result in it being game over in terms of medical school admissions. I know that what I have did is wrong and I am willing to own up to what I did, but I can't help but think this slight lapse of judgement will affect the rest of my life. I haven't stopped crying all day.

I met with the dean of students this afternoon and she was actually sympathetic to our cause because in her opinion the professor was not clear in what resources could and could not be used. Unfortunately she said that though she will speak to our professor, she cannot force her to drop the charges. She said that if she does not, each of us individually will have to attend a hearing and most likely we will receive a 0% on that quiz and a cheating violation on our permanent record. She said that it will not be put on our transcript and that we would not have to report it to graduate school/professional school applications unless they ask.

I just wish I could receive a 0% on the quiz instead of a mark of academic dishonesty on my record. Each quiz is worth 2.5% of our final grade. I received a 100 on our only midterm, and perfect scores on the 7 quizzes we have taken so far. I'm a sophomore with a 3.7 and I have been basically devoting my life to schoolwork this semester to raise my GPA. I'm doing extremely well this semester while taking 3 prerequisites but I am utterly depressed that this incident can destroy everything I have worked so hard for. I know I am just being emotional but school is my life right now. I know what I did was wrong and I am willing to pay appropriate consequences, but not to have my dream destroyed.

I guess I am just looking for some insight. I won't find out if the charges are dropped until monday. I've been kind of in the blues lately so this is going to be a very long depressing weekend.


Talking to the Dean of Students was a good call because they are sort of separate from the department.

Within the department, talk to people sequentially in order of power, try not to jump any rungs in the "power ladder"

I suggest talking to the "professor" and seeing if anything can be worked out (zero on assignment, drop final grade by a letter, F in class, etc.)

If that doesn't work, don't give up. Your lucky because the "professor" is actually just a grad student. Talk the the dean of the department, your grad student's faculty adviser, other senior lecturers, your adviser, etc.

There was clearly ambiguity in the assignment, just don't take "no" for an answer and if someone won't budge go over their head to next person.
 
I remember LizzyM stating that any form of academic dishonesty = 99% rejection.

Maybe someone could search for that thread?
 
Language major who has graded underclassman work here to interject.

In terms of most foreign language departments, there's a clear understanding that use of an automatic translator is considered cheating. You know by now that it is. I don't know what could've possessed you to think otherwise.

BUT.

The fact is, at the time you cheated, you didn't know it was cheating. You also did not have prior incidents (unlike the people in your class who cheated on the midterm). To my department, that's grounds for a warning - not IA. But we get to that warning through a conduct hearing.

My advice is to be honest. Shoot straight and bring evidence to support you - the syllabus with no statement about what is and isn't cheating might be a good idea. Other than that, it's a waiting game.

And like everyone else has said, if it goes through and is documented as IA, you need to fight it. Don't let it stick.

Good luck. Here's hoping the TA realizes what a jerk she's being and lets up.
 
I remember LizzyM stating that any form of academic dishonesty = 99% rejection.

Maybe someone could search for that thread?

Even though I kind of knew that is true... it made me sick to my stomach to read that.
If for some reason I cannot get this dropped and have to explain it will adcoms understand that its not on the severity of cheating on a final/plagiarizing a term paper. Or is there some automatic filter that won't even get you a review of your file? Please LizzyM if you're skimming through this for whatever reason, I'd really appreciate any insight!

I hope the professor realizes that its either institutional action (a 0 + the record) or a 0 on the exam. Both teach all of us involved a serious lesson, but the former seriously destroys my future.
 
I remember LizzyM stating that any form of academic dishonesty = 99% rejection.

Maybe someone could search for that thread?

How could it not be a rejection, unless you have a parent in the admissions office. The way most schools give out interviews is by scanning through applications and look for things that stand out. If the main thing that stands out is an academic dishonesty, there is no way they are offering an interview with thousands of qualified apps.
 
Even though I kind of knew that is true... it made me sick to my stomach to read that.
If for some reason I cannot get this dropped and have to explain it will adcoms understand that its not on the severity of cheating on a final/plagiarizing a term paper. Or is there some automatic filter that won't even get you a review of your file? Please LizzyM if you're skimming through this for whatever reason, I'd really appreciate any insight!

I hope the professor realizes that its either institutional action (a 0 + the record) or a 0 on the exam. Both teach all of us involved a serious lesson, but the former seriously destroys my future.

I didn't intend to cause you more stress, but simply to illustrate something that I'm 99% sure LizzyM said. Moreover, I'm sorry that you are in this situation because even though you knowingly cheated (blunt, but true), it shouldn't necessarily equate a disqualification from your dreams. The truth is that people make mistakes in life, but it seems that sometimes these mistakes result in life changing consequences.

I wish you the best of luck through this situation. 👍
 
I am absolutely no expert on this topic but logically... I don't see an admission committee that lets people in with past DUIs, MIPs, and lots of other federal convictions discriminating against someone that was caught cheating once on a QUIZ- a take-home quiz at that! The more important the test, the more security around it (ie. the MCAT requires fingerprinting). Everyone screws up and I'm sure the admission committee knows that-- otherwise they'd have a pretty tough time filling a class.
 
Even though I kind of knew that is true... it made me sick to my stomach to read that.
If for some reason I cannot get this dropped and have to explain it will adcoms understand that its not on the severity of cheating on a final/plagiarizing a term paper. Or is there some automatic filter that won't even get you a review of your file? Please LizzyM if you're skimming through this for whatever reason, I'd really appreciate any insight!

I hope the professor realizes that its either institutional action (a 0 + the record) or a 0 on the exam. Both teach all of us involved a serious lesson, but the former seriously destroys my future.

I am not LizzyM, so if you are only interested in her opinion, you can ignore this. Medical school admissions committees are made up of individuals who want the best students and future physicians in their class. Therefore, they carefully read applications when there is institutional action. They do not generally automatically dismiss people for them. Action relation to cheating accusations are serious, but, they can be overcome.

In this specific case, if you continue to do well in school, have an otherwise strong application and have appropriate letters of reference, then a brief but clear description of what happened, with contriteness, should not exclude you from medical school admissions. All adcom members are different and view these things differently, it is possible that some would reject you outright based on this event, but, in my opinion, as an adcom member for over a decade, many or most would not if you handle it properly. I personally would consider this a relative non-issue in the presence of an otherwise strong application.

Now, you need to focus on resolving the situation as best you can and moving forward personally and academically.
 
I think part of the reason as to why IAs are viewed in such a negative light is that it generally (from a statistical POV) takes several instances of cheating for it to take place. Therefore excuses like "It only happened once" are hard to take at face value.

It was a take-home quiz and generally with take-home quizzes/tests the rules are murkier than written assignments or in-class exams so hopefully if it does get reported it won't be taken that negatively.

BTW, just like to echo that online translators suck. They're bad for related languages and horrible for non-related languages.
 
Even though I kind of knew that is true... it made me sick to my stomach to read that.
If for some reason I cannot get this dropped and have to explain it will adcoms understand that its not on the severity of cheating on a final/plagiarizing a term paper. Or is there some automatic filter that won't even get you a review of your file? Please LizzyM if you're skimming through this for whatever reason, I'd really appreciate any insight!

I hope the professor realizes that its either institutional action (a 0 + the record) or a 0 on the exam. Both teach all of us involved a serious lesson, but the former seriously destroys my future.

It has been years since I served on the panel that looked at Instituitional Actions. The cheating cases I remember were things like changing answers on a lab report or test & then asking for a re-grade. That sort of thing was a killer... not sure how using a computer program for a take home assignment would be viewed.... maybe not as bad as changing answers or sharing information during a test.

You do get to tell the story on your AMCAS but you should do all you can to avoid getting an institutional action. The school may also want to avoid institutional action if at all possible. I was the faculty member in a case that I thought would result in "institutional action" but the university policy was so involved at the graduate level (three faculty members including the dept chair had to convene after sending a registered letter to the student, then the possibility of an appeal, etc) that it was the Dean's preference to "plea bargain" with the student & faculty member to take an F for the assignment (it was a big assignment) which resulted in an F for the course but no institutional record (it coud have been explusion) but no opportunity for appeal either.
 
I am not LizzyM, so if you are only interested in her opinion, you can ignore this. Medical school admissions committees are made up of individuals who want the best students and future physicians in their class. Therefore, they carefully read applications when there is institutional action. They do not generally automatically dismiss people for them. Action relation to cheating accusations are serious, but, they can be overcome.

In this specific case, if you continue to do well in school, have an otherwise strong application and have appropriate letters of reference, then a brief but clear description of what happened, with contriteness, should not exclude you from medical school admissions. All adcom members are different and view these things differently, it is possible that some would reject you outright based on this event, but, in my opinion, as an adcom member for over a decade, many or most would not if you handle it properly. I personally would consider this a relative non-issue in the presence of an otherwise strong application.

Now, you need to focus on resolving the situation as best you can and moving forward personally and academically.

I would never dismiss your insight, Tildy! I really appreciate it. It does put my mind at ease that if this matter is not resolved in my favor that I do not have to give up on my dream. I've been working so hard to do well this semester because I want to make myself the best possible candidate, and just the thought that an unintentional incident could take everything I've worked so hard for away is devastating. But you're absolutely right, the best thing I can do is to move on.

As long as I have a shot, I can't let this kill my dream.
 
It has been years since I served on the panel that looked at Instituitional Actions. The cheating cases I remember were things like changing answers on a lab report or test & then asking for a re-grade. That sort of thing was a killer... not sure how using a computer program for a take home assignment would be viewed.... maybe not as bad as changing answers or sharing information during a test.

You do get to tell the story on your AMCAS but you should do all you can to avoid getting an institutional action. The school may also want to avoid institutional action if at all possible. I was the faculty member in a case that I thought would result in "institutional action" but the university policy was so involved at the graduate level (three faculty members including the dept chair had to convene after sending a registered letter to the student, then the possibility of an appeal, etc) that it was the Dean's preference to "plea bargain" with the student & faculty member to take an F for the assignment (it was a big assignment) which resulted in an F for the course but no institutional record (it coud have been explusion) but no opportunity for appeal either.

Thank you for the reply, LizzyM. What I did was wrong but I don't think that my actions reflects an integrity issue as plagiarizing a term paper or changing answers for a re-grade would. Hopefully an adcom would feel the same way, but I guess there is no way to know for sure. I do find it reassuring that if I can't get the charges dropped that it won't result in an auto-reject. It will make things a lot harder in an already incredibly difficult process, but I hope adcoms will understand the situation.

After speaking with the dean, I got the feeling that she did not want to press further with the charges and I hope that is the case. If offered, I would absolutely take a similar plea bargain. A 0 on the assignment would only result in -2.5% of my grade, but I'd take 5 0s to avoid an IA.
 
I just thought I'd update: THE CHARGES WERE DROPPED this morning. This is such a relief.
I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that this worked out. I really, really, really, really,really appreciate all the input that was provided, as it helped me get through this stressful weekend somewhat (but not entirely sanely).
 
I just thought I'd update: THE CHARGES WERE DROPPED this morning. This is such a relief.
I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that this worked out. I really, really, really, really,really appreciate all the input that was provided, as it helped me get through this stressful weekend somewhat (but not entirely sanely).

So happy for you! What a relief.
 
I just thought I'd update: THE CHARGES WERE DROPPED this morning. This is such a relief.
I can't even begin to explain how happy I am that this worked out. I really, really, really, really,really appreciate all the input that was provided, as it helped me get through this stressful weekend somewhat (but not entirely sanely).

Glad to hear it.

Out of curiosity did the professor drop the charges or did someone else throw them out?
 
I think the professor is a douche bag for reporting the majority of the class after not explicitly stating that resources can't be used IMO
this/10.

congrats on charges being dropped 👍
 
congrats and i am happy for you!

still can't imagine what you were thinking to begin with though. it's been so so clear for so long (since i was in undergrad ten years ago!) that directly using online sources without direct attribution is a total no-no. let that be a lesson for everyone.
 
Thanks again everyone!

The professor was the one who formally dropped the charges, but, I think the dean put a lot of pressure on her to. I am so thankful for the dean. She was able to explain the severity of honor board violations and how it would result in a lot more than a 0 on the assignment. It'd be a lot of work for her to trial that many students.

Regardless, lesson learned. This is the last semester of my language requirement but I am NEVER going to use an online translator again. And if I am to ever receive a take home quiz, in any class, I am going to make sure the guidelines are absolutely clear.
 
Regardless, lesson learned. This is the last semester of my language requirement but I am NEVER going to use an online translator again. And if I am to ever receive a take home quiz, in any class, I am going to make sure the guidelines are absolutely clear.

Really, that's all you learned? How about this one "For any situation of any kind where there are choices to make and the path is unclear, apply common sense".

That's what your failure was, from what I an see.
 
Really, that's all you learned? How about this one "For any situation of any kind where there are choices to make and the path is unclear, apply common sense".

That's what your failure was, from what I an see.

👍

I've never really thought about applying common sense to everyday decisions before I was enlightened by this comment, thank you.

(kidding aside: point noted)
 
Thanks again everyone!

The professor was the one who formally dropped the charges, but, I think the dean put a lot of pressure on her to. I am so thankful for the dean. She was able to explain the severity of honor board violations and how it would result in a lot more than a 0 on the assignment. It'd be a lot of work for her to trial that many students.

Regardless, lesson learned. This is the last semester of my language requirement but I am NEVER going to use an online translator again. And if I am to ever receive a take home quiz, in any class, I am going to make sure the guidelines are absolutely clear.
I feel like you probably will, it just won't be for a class :laugh: but in all seriousness I'm really happy for you that the charges were dropped, I know I would've been just as stressed 🙁 but yay 🙂
 
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