question about IA on AMCAS form

[hopeful555]

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Hey guys
I am in the process of filling out the AMCAS form right now and I had a question about the IA portion. I don't know if my situation qualifies as one that needs to be reported.

Basically, my junior year I was taking a physics lab in which we had to type up abstracts each week. This lab had a strict academic dishonesty policy and the front page of the lab manual said that we were not allowed to share or copy lab reports/abstracts and if caught doing so, both parties would be in trouble. I knew this and as someone who has never done anything bad at school I tried to follow the rules. One week, we had an abstract due and being the student I am, i went and got mine checked by the TA a week before it was due, and she gave me the go-ahead and told me it was fine. My lab partner came texted me and said that she was super super stressed and wasn't sure how an abstract should be since it was our first one, and asked if she could see mine for inspiration. I was naive, and knew that everyone shared lab reports and abstracts to help everyone out, so I sent my partner an email of my abstract. Flash forward to a week later and this girl has copied a line word for word out of my abstract and put it into hers. Thus, i get an email from the professor who's not happy and told me that I made a violation and that what happened was really bad. He said that he and the department is still deciding how to deal with the whole situation. Weeks go by and he never actually tells me what he's going to do with me and if I actually formally got in trouble or not, and so each week I'd go to his office, cry and beg, and each week he'd tell me that he's still making a choice. Turns out, I got a 0 on that assignment but I still managed to get an A- in the class. I don't think this incident was officially recorded and i was never notified of it ever getting put on a personal record. I know I am stupid and should have been more careful, but i am gullible and used to feeling bad for people so I gave in to this girl.

But now my question is, do I need to report this? I don't want to if I don't need to and ruin my chances of applying. It hasn't hampered anything since then and I was recently awarded a award from my college last semester.
Any help is appreciated thanks guys

 

[cantankerous]

An IA would have had a process of getting student conduct involved w/ trials and a whole judicial process. Probably, the professor did not want to go through with the HA of getting all the paperwork in order or he did not have good enough proof to make a case. If you just got a 0 without notification, then you're likely fine.

 

[DokterMom]

Sounds like no official action was taken so this would not qualify. Also sounds like the prof was waiting to see what kind of student he was dealing with before deciding what to do. I think you're in the clear on this one and learned a very valuable lesson rather cheaply.