Unintentional Plagiarism - do I have a shot at any top schools?

[momodynasty17]

I attend a top 10 college in the U.S. and am a senior in my last term. I have a 4.0, a Phi Betta Kappa inductee, would-be valedictorian, and have received multiple recognitions by my professors for outstanding work in a class. I have very high MCAT score as well, an overall prior to this incident, thought I was a solid applicant with a compelling story.

I am going to explain the situation to the best of my abilities with complete honesty:
So I was writing my 2nd paper for a philosophy class (had gotten an A on the first), and I forgot to put in citations for about 2-3 paragraphs of a 5 page paper. To further elaborate, I normally have a separate document where I have the specific text from the source I want to discuss, and then below that have my analysis and thoughts of it with an appropriate reference. I then usually copy my analysis into a final document, edit it, and then submit the final document. The paper was due at 2pm on a Monday, and I was busy most of the weekend, but had spent time writing most of it and had analyzed the necessary texts and created my own thoughts for the last part so all that was left was really to finish the latter third of the paper by putting my thoughts into my final document and edit. It was decently late around 11pm and I figured what I didn't finish in the next hour or so I would do the next morning. Additionally, due to some personal health reasons I take some sleeping pills to help me sleep, and I took them around 11:30 or so, so when I finished up I could go to sleep. However, I ended up trying to finish that night and went to sleep around 2ish in the morning. As a result of the medication, I can't say with absolute certainty that this is what happened but my best guess is that instead of putting my pre-written analysis in my final document, I put the actual text from my sources which was directly above it. The next day, I skimmed it but didn't think I had made any mistakes,and turned it in thinking I had done a good job.

I got an email from my professor about a week later saying he reported me to Judicial Affairs before he talked with me. When I first got the email I was shocked, since I didn't think I had done anything wrong. When I saw the passages my professor was concerned about, it became pretty clear what had happened. There was no penalty for citing your sources, that is, you could cite anything you wanted, and I had cited other sources throughout the paper. The passages in question were almost directly cut and pasted from certain sources. I tried telling my professor and judicial affairs that as a perfect student about to graduate why would I intentionally plagiarize something so close to graduation, and in such a crude manner when I have never been accused of anything before. I tried telling them what I thought happened, that this was a terrible mistake, but they said that regardless of the circumstances and intentions, their policy was suspension.

I worked so hard to maintain a 4.0 across my 4 years, but my integrity and academic standing didn't matter to my school. So now I want to know is my future over? Based on other threads it looks like I have no chance at a top 20 school, is this true? Any chance at other schools? I take full responsibility for my actions, since I probably should not have continued to work so late into the night on medications, but it's just so sad that my 4 years of work and what I have been through are going down the drain for a terrible accident.

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[Goro]

What I'm seeing below is your valiant attempt to make an explanation, but it is coming off as a bunch of excuses.

So let's start by saying, you OWN this.

Do whatever it takes to keep this off your record. Usually, this type of plagiarism is as bad as wholesale cut and paste, but schools , especially top schools, can say "why take this kid when we have so many other candidates who didn't cheat"???"

I attend a top 10 college in the U.S. and am a senior in my last term. I have a 4.0, a Phi Betta Kappa inductee, would-be valedictorian, and have received multiple recognitions by my professors for outstanding work in a class. I have very high MCAT score as well, an overall prior to this incident, thought I was a solid applicant with a compelling story.

I am going to explain the situation to the best of my abilities with complete honesty:
So I was writing my 2nd paper for a philosophy class (had gotten an A on the first), and I forgot to put in citations for about 2-3 paragraphs of a 5 page paper. To further elaborate, I normally have a separate document where I have the specific text from the source I want to discuss, and then below that have my analysis and thoughts of it with an appropriate reference. I then usually copy my analysis into a final document, edit it, and then submit the final document. The paper was due at 2pm on a Monday, and I was busy most of the weekend, but had spent time writing most of it and had analyzed the necessary texts and created my own thoughts for the last part so all that was left was really to finish the latter third of the paper by putting my thoughts into my final document and edit. It was decently late around 11pm and I figured what I didn't finish in the next hour or so I would do the next morning. Additionally, due to some personal health reasons I take some sleeping pills to help me sleep, and I took them around 11:30 or so, so when I finished up I could go to sleep. However, I ended up trying to finish that night and went to sleep around 2ish in the morning. As a result of the medication, I can't say with absolute certainty that this is what happened but my best guess is that instead of putting my pre-written analysis in my final document, I put the actual text from my sources which was directly above it. The next day, I skimmed it but didn't think I had made any mistakes,and turned it in thinking I had done a good job.

I got an email from my professor about a week later saying he reported me to Judicial Affairs before he talked with me. When I first got the email I was shocked, since I didn't think I had done anything wrong. When I saw the passages my professor was concerned about, it became pretty clear what had happened. There was no penalty for citing your sources, that is, you could cite anything you wanted, and I had cited other sources throughout the paper. The passages in question were almost directly cut and pasted from certain sources. I tried telling my professor and judicial affairs that as a perfect student about to graduate why would I intentionally plagiarize something so close to graduation, and in such a crude manner when I have never been accused of anything before. I tried telling them what I thought happened, that this was a terrible mistake, but they said that regardless of the circumstances and intentions, their policy was suspension.

I worked so hard to maintain a 4.0 across my 4 years, but my integrity and academic standing didn't matter to my school. So now I want to know is my future over? Based on other threads it looks like I have no chance at a top 20 school, is this true? Any chance at other schools? I take full responsibility for my actions, since I probably should not have continued to work so late into the night on medications, but it's just so sad that my 4 years of work and what I have been through are going down the drain for a terrible accident.

 

[momodynasty17]

What I'm seeing below is your valiant attempt to make an explanation, but it is coming off as a bunch of excuses.

So let's start by saying, you OWN this.

Do whatever it takes to keep this off your record. Usually, this type of plagiarism is as bad as wholesale cut and paste, but schools , especially top schools, can say "why take this kid when we have so many other candidates who didn't cheat"???"

How can I keep this off my record? It's already too late. Judicial Affairs is already involved and taking up the case. And I'm not trying to make excuses, but it is the explanation. And that explanation is an attempt to demonstrate that I'm not some sleaze who thought I could get away with it. I'm a top student in my class at a top school, well-respected by my peers and professors, and would never do something like this on purpose. So should I just give up on becoming a doctor then? No hope left

 

[Goro]

You keep it off your record by hoping that they'll offer to give you an F in the course, and that's it.

How can I keep this off my record? It's already too late. Judicial Affairs is already involved and taking up the case. And I'm not trying to make excuses, but it is the explanation. And that explanation is an attempt to demonstrate that I'm not some sleaze who thought I could get away with it. I'm a top student in my class at a top school, well-respected by my peers and professors, and would never do something like this on purpose. So should I just give up on becoming a doctor then? No hope left

 

[momodynasty17]

You keep it off your record by hoping that they'll offer to give you an F in the course, and that's it.

My school doesn't work like that. Once judicial affairs is involved they have complete discretion in terms of punishment. Failing the course is entirely up to the professor and is not a punishment in the eyes of judicial affairs . So that's why I'm asking, should I even bother applying anywhere or should I just give up and change my life plans?

 

[shopsteward]

You need to find out whether there is an appeal process which you can invoke against the decision to suspend you. You then need evidence to put before the appeal panel. You have two possible lines of evidence, and will need both of them.

Can you get a computer expert to recover exactly what you did on your computer when writing the paper, with actions and timelines? I don't know whether such a thing is possible, but if you can produce evidence of your process and show where and when it went wrong you might have a chance.

You also need a statement from whoever prescribed those sleeping pills to explain the health issues which led them to prescribe the pills and describe what their effects would be in the circumstances you outline - ie how they would have effected you between 11.30pm and 2am. If you then have computer evidence to show that you were writing the problematic paragraphs at that time, you may have a case.

This is important enough in your life to get expect advice on how to proceed, rather than just taking a stranger's advice over the internet. What resources are available to students at your institution? Exhaust all the possibilities. And then look at getting a lawyer who is an expert in this sort of thing.

 

[momodynasty17]

You need to find out whether there is an appeal process which you can invoke against the decision to suspend you. You then need evidence to put before the appeal panel. You have two possible lines of evidence, and will need both of them.

Can you get a computer expert to recover exactly what you did on your computer when writing the paper, with actions and timelines? I don't know whether such a thing is possible, but if you can produce evidence of your process and show where and when it went wrong you might have a chance.

You also need a statement from whoever prescribed those sleeping pills to explain the health issues which led them to prescribe the pills and describe what their effects would be in the circumstances you outline - ie how they would have effected you between 11.30pm and 2am. If you then have computer evidence to show that you were writing the problematic paragraphs at that time, you may have a case.

This is important enough in your life to get expect advice on how to proceed, rather than just taking a stranger's advice over the internet. What resources are available to students at your institution? Exhaust all the possibilities. And then look at getting a lawyer who is an expert in this sort of thing.

The appeals process at my school only works if there is new evidence. In terms of the paths you suggested, I've talked with a computer expert and they said they would look into it but aren't too optimistic. I can disclose that I took the medication because I was coming off surgery and it was tough to sleep. Overall though, my dean and the people at judicial affairs said that regardless of intent or circumstances, unless you are not guilty i.e. you believe you didn't plagiarize, they usually suspend students. So I'm preparing for the worst. So should I just give up on medical school, I don't see any path forward for me.

 

[allanMED15]

Wow OP, this sounds like a terrible situation to be in. So sorry. Could you not present the document that you mentioned where you have the original text along with the citations and your analysis and words on that text? Would that not be new evidence?

 

[momodynasty17]

Wow OP, this sounds like a terrible situation to be in. So sorry. Could you not present the document that you mentioned where you have the original text along with the citations and your analysis and words on that text? Would that not be new evidence?

I don't know if the document would be much help. I usually cut and paste everything related to the passage (both the passage and my analysis) onto my final document and get rid of the passage, and keep my analysis/thoughts. Since I got confused on this one, deleted mine kept the other one. Only way to view that history would be to recover saved over versions of documents, but the computer expert I asked wasn't too optimistic since Word doesn't save previous drafts automatically. But I just want to know if applying to schools is a waste of time, and I should just give up now since I don't see a way forward.

 

[allanMED15]

I don't know if the document would be much help. I usually cut and paste everything related to the passage (both the passage and my analysis) onto my final document and get rid of the passage, and keep my analysis/thoughts. Since I got confused on this one, deleted mine kept the other one. Only way to view that history would be to recover saved over versions of documents, but the computer expert I asked wasn't too optimistic since Word doesn't save previous drafts automatically. But I just want to know if applying to schools is a waste of time, and I should just give up now since I don't see a way forward.

Ok I understand now.
As far as your question goes, any of these types of thread that I have seen over the past 3 years of being on SDN, the general consensus that I have read has really had to do with what comes up on your transcript. Most of the adcoms in these situations have given the advice to spend a few years doing something else, being a model citizen/student, doing work to help others. I am sure these are all things that you have been doing, but with plagiarism noted on your application, it is quite an uphill battle.

My advice would be to separate now and the time of your first application by a few years. Continue building your application to show you are still committed to the pursuit of medicine. While you are a great student shown by your GPA, I believe it is @Goro that has a great quote that he usually gives to students with weak GPAs when suggesting a post-bacc or SMP. "You have to show that the student of then is not the student of now." While you have not changed as a student, you have to show that this infraction does not define you. That is my advice, but I am just a recently accepted student. I would hope for some advice from @LizzyM as well.

 

[momodynasty17]

Ok I understand now.
As far as your question goes, any of these types of thread that I have seen over the past 3 years of being on SDN, the general consensus that I have read has really had to do with what comes up on your transcript. Most of the adcoms in these situations have given the advice to spend a few years doing something else, being a model citizen/student, doing work to help others. I am sure these are all things that you have been doing, but with plagiarism noted on your application, it is quite an uphill battle.

My advice would be to separate now and the time of your first application by a few years. Continue building your application to show you are still committed to the pursuit of medicine. While you are a great student shown by your GPA, I believe it is @Goro that has a great quote that he usually gives to students with weak GPAs when suggesting a post-bacc or SMP. "You have to show that the student of then is not the student of now." While you have not changed as a student, you have to show that this infraction does not define you. That is my advice, but I am just a recently accepted student. I would hope for some advice from @LizzyM as well.

Yeah thanks for taking the time to respond. I don't think the suspension comes up on my transcript but I'll obviously have to indicate on my applications what happened.

 

[allanMED15]

Yeah thanks for taking the time to respond. I don't think the suspension comes up on my transcript but I'll obviously have to indicate on my applications what happened.

Right. You will have to declare it either way. I wish you the best. Good luck!

 

[efle]

If you have the file of cited passages + analyses , it should be fairly straightforward to show the file's date of creation and/or last save was back prior to submission of the paper ? You can show them that as evidence of the writing process you are claiming, and that you had an analysis intended and simply didn't copy over the correct part

 

[LizzyM]

You don't have any chance in the coming cycle. You might have a chance someday but, frankly, schools don't want to take people with a history of something that they wouldn't want a student in their school to do. If you had a similar incident in med school, people would point fingers at the adcom and say "given his history, why did you let him in? You knew he had a record of this behavior!" So, adcoms tend to distance themselves from students with a history of academic dishonesty.

Of course, you still have some hope that the judicial board will buy your story (not saying it is not a true story but it is still your account of what happened) and find that you were not guilty of academic dishonesty.

If things do not work out as you would wish, you need to look at your motivations for medicine and find another career that will be fulfilling but where the admission process is a bit less rigorous.

 

[momodynasty17]

You don't have any chance in the coming cycle. You might have a chance someday but, frankly, schools don't want to take people with a history of something that they wouldn't want a student in their school to do. If you had a similar incident in med school, people would point fingers at the adcom and say "given his history, why did you let him in? You knew he had a record of this behavior!" So, adcoms tend to distance themselves from students with a history of academic dishonesty.

Of course, you still have some hope that the judicial board will buy your story (not saying it is not a true story but it is still your account of what happened) and find that you were not guilty of academic dishonesty.

If things do not work out as you would wish, you need to look at your motivations for medicine and find another career that will be fulfilling but where the admission process is a bit less rigorous.

You don't have any chance in the coming cycle. You might have a chance someday but, frankly, schools don't want to take people with a history of something that they wouldn't want a student in their school to do. If you had a similar incident in med school, people would point fingers at the adcom and say "given his history, why did you let him in? You knew he had a record of this behavior!" So, adcoms tend to distance themselves from students with a history of academic dishonesty.

Of course, you still have some hope that the judicial board will buy your story (not saying it is not a true story but it is still your account of what happened) and find that you were not guilty of academic dishonesty.

If things do not work out as you would wish, you need to look at your motivations for medicine and find another career that will be fulfilling but where the admission process is a bit less rigorous.

I've explained the situation to people who work in the judicial affairs office (not on the actual committee) and they said that they believe my explanation but that regardless of intent, the committee will find me guilty and suspend me. I've talked to people who have had similar situations happen to them at my school and have all said that judicial affairs applies little lee-way in sentencing. Well there goes 4 years of wasted blood, sweat, tears, and money at an Ivy League school.

 

[kneeshoe]

I really feel for you OP, I couldn't imagine being in this situation. That being said, it sounds like the judicial affairs office is extremely stringent and inflexible regardless of your story. I would definitely look into getting a lawyer or appealing to a higher Dean if possible. I would not apply this cycle, get all of this sorted out, and then have a fulfilling gap year.

If suspension does not appear on your transcript, then what does appear? An F for the course? Good luck with everything.

 

[efle]

I've explained the situation to people who work in the judicial affairs office (not on the actual committee) and they said that they believe my explanation but that regardless of intent, the committee will find me guilty and suspend me. I've talked to people who have had similar situations happen to them at my school and have all said that judicial affairs applies little lee-way in sentencing. Well there goes 4 years of wasted blood, sweat, tears, and money at an Ivy League school.

What about your analysis file? Don't you have a word document that was created and saved back at the time of submission that will clear all of this up?

 

[momodynasty17]

I really feel for you OP, I couldn't imagine being in this situation. That being said, it sounds like the judicial affairs office is extremely stringent and inflexible regardless of your story. I would definitely look into getting a lawyer or appealing to a higher Dean if possible. I would not apply this cycle, get all of this sorted out, and then have a fulfilling gap year.

If suspension does not appear on your transcript, then what does appear? An F for the course? Good luck with everything.

I've tried talking to higher ranking figures but they all reiterated what judicial affairs office told me. I don't know if I could afford a lawyer, but even then unless I come up with new evidence, the lawyer won't really have any standing since that's the only way to appeal.

From my understanding, the suspension goes away from your transcript after the suspension is served or a term after it is served. In terms of the grade for the course that is left to the professors discretion. I got an A on my first paper and probably my final paper, but the professor is not allowed to grade anything until my hearing is concluded. I don't know if he's an understanding person either, but given how everything has gone down so far, I don't expect much.

 

[allanMED15]

What about your analysis file? Don't you have a word document that was created and saved back at the time of submission that will clear all of this up?

I think that OP mentioned they do not have that document anymore because they would copy paste the original passage with their analysis and write up into the actual paper document and then delete the analysis and original passage.

 

[efle]

I think that OP mentioned they do not have that document anymore because they would copy paste the original passage with their analysis and write up into the actual paper document and then delete the analysis and original passage.

Well, that's either very tragic, or very convenient

 

[momodynasty17]

Well, that's either very tragic, or very convenient

I have the notes document with bits and pieces of things I never ended up using, but I don't know how to recover saved over versions of documents to get the original content since Word doesn't let you recover previous versions. I know it's natural to be skeptical, and you don't know me personally but can you give me a good reason for why as 4.0 student with excellent academic standing, with a few months to go before graduation, who received an A on their first paper in the class would suddenly decide to crudely plagiarize an article when there is no penalty for citing sources and other sources were cited throughout the paper. I'm not trying to be defensive, but I've been telling my story since this ordeal started, no one seems to care, and all my future plans are ruined so I'm a little frustrated to say the least.

 

[efle]

I have the notes document with bits and pieces of things I never ended up using, but I don't know how to recover saved over versions of documents to get the original content since Word doesn't let you recover previous versions. I know it's natural to be skeptical, and you don't know me personally but can you give me a good reason for why as 4.0 student with excellent academic standing, with a few months to go before graduation, who received an A on their first paper in the class would suddenly decide to crudely plagiarize an article when there is no penalty for citing sources and other sources were cited throughout the paper. I'm not trying to be defensive, but I've been telling my story since this ordeal started, no one seems to care, and all my future plans are ruined so I'm a little frustrated to say the least.

My skepticism is of the crudeness actually. I'm shocked that a professor could read a well-written paper that abruptly changes to a 3 paragraph copy/paste from somebody's book/pub with no lead in or analysis and then reverts to the student's writing, and think that something with dishonest intention had occurred.

So if you right click the word doc and go Restore Previous Versions there is nothing old enough to provide evidence of your writing process?

 

[momodynasty17]

My skepticism is of the crudeness actually. I'm shocked that a professor could read a well-written paper that abruptly changes to a 3 paragraph copy/paste from somebody's book/pub with no lead in or analysis and then reverts to the student's writing, and think that something with dishonest intention had occurred.

So if you right click the word doc and go Restore Previous Versions there is nothing old enough to provide evidence of your writing process?

Yeah I use windows 10 and apparently they got rid of the restore previous versions feature of windows 7. I tried looking into the File History feature of Windows 10 but that only works if File History was turned on at the time but since it's not on by default it wasn't on at the time. I asked a computer guy who said they'd look into it but they said it was unlikely since Windows doesn't back files up by default.
I could have explained everything to my professor had he asked me but he reported it immediately, and from that point on he said we were not allowed to meet in person 1 on 1, and the one time I tried to meet with him and another faculty member he was in a rush and the meeting lasted less than 10 minutes.
People in judicial affairs believe me, but they say the punishment is the same regardless of intent.

 

[LizzyM]

I've explained the situation to people who work in the judicial affairs office (not on the actual committee) and they said that they believe my explanation but that regardless of intent, the committee will find me guilty and suspend me. I've talked to people who have had similar situations happen to them at my school and have all said that judicial affairs applies little lee-way in sentencing. Well there goes 4 years of wasted blood, sweat, tears, and money at an Ivy League school.

The committee's opinion is what matters. Don't worry about the people who work in the office. Worry about the committee itself. Also, read your school's published policy on academic integrity and know your rights. There is always a right to an appeal. You may be encouraged to accept a punishment by the professor (an F on the paper, or an F in the course) but foregoing the actual judicial affairs committee meeting (these meetings are a pain in the neck for faculty). This sort of plea bargain may or may not leave you with an "institutional action" that would need to be reported on the AMCAS (if the only action is that the professor flunks you but the institution itself declines to hear your case or punish you, it is debatable whether it is an institutional action). The people in the office may be softening you up for a plea bargain telling you that to go before the committee means certain suspension (bad cop) and then they'll come around to offering you an F for the course in exchange for giving up the right to appeal that decision.

At my school, if we suspect something and report to the authority assigned to handle academic misconduct, the first question is, "have you spoken to the student?" and we are encouraged/required to do that before making an official report to the academic authorities.

 

[efle]

Yeah I use windows 10 and apparently they got rid of the restore previous versions feature of windows 7. I tried looking into the File History feature of Windows 10 but that only works if File History was turned on at the time but since it's not on by default it wasn't on at the time. I asked a computer guy who said they'd look into it but they said it was unlikely since Windows doesn't back files up by default.

Wow I didn't realize they destroyed all usefulness of system restore by default in W10, that sucks.

I could have explained everything to my professor had he asked me but he reported it immediately, and from that point on he said we were not allowed to meet in person 1 on 1, and the one time I tried to meet with him and another faculty member he was in a rush and the meeting lasted less than 10 minutes.
People in judicial affairs believe me, but they say the punishment is the same regardless of intent.

See LizzyM's post above. This shouldn't all be set in stone, killing a stellar student's future because they accidentally submitted a rough draft is a purely negative thing for both the university and student

 

[momodynasty17]

The committee's opinion is what matters. Don't worry about the people who work in the office. Worry about the committee itself. Also, read your school's published policy on academic integrity and know your rights. There is always a right to an appeal. You may be encouraged to accept a punishment by the professor (an F on the paper, or an F in the course) but foregoing the actual judicial affairs committee meeting (these meetings are a pain in the neck for faculty). This sort of plea bargain may or may not leave you with an "institutional action" that would need to be reported on the AMCAS (if the only action is that the professor flunks you but the institution itself declines to hear your case or punish you, it is debatable whether it is an institutional action). The people in the office may be softening you up for a plea bargain telling you that to go before the committee means certain suspension (bad cop) and then they'll come around to offering you an F for the course in exchange for giving up the right to appeal that decision.

At my school, if we suspect something and report to the authority assigned to handle academic misconduct, the first question is, "have you spoken to the student?" and we are encouraged/required to do that before making an official report to the academic authorities.

I truly appreciate the advice. Our student handbook says that plagiarism is plagiarism, "whether intentional or not, and all students found guilty should expect to be suspended." Clearly what I did was an accident, but I was told to plead guilty since I'm not contesting that it constitutes plagiarism, only that it was entirely unintentional. In terms of an appeal, unless I discover new evidence such as recovering my old documents, I have no right to an appeal. Even with those documents, I don't know if judicial affairs would change their decision since I'd just be providing evidence to back up my version of events, which they generally have accepted already. Basically, judicial affairs and my dean have strongly hinted that they have very little choice other than suspension. That's just how our honor code is written.
How my professor grades me and the outcome of this hearing are independent in that my professor can do what he wants and they can't/won't offer a bad grade in exchange for no official action being taken. Generally, I'm sure most professors talk to students before reporting things to judicial affairs, but my professor is just someone who I guess doesn't want to/care enough to discuss things with his students. Most professors I know try to settle things in house when possible and avoid involving judicial affairs. I don't want to blame him as it was ultimately my mistake, just that he amplified the price.

 

[momodynasty17]

Wow I didn't realize they destroyed all usefulness of system restore by default in W10, that sucks.


See LizzyM's post above. This shouldn't all be set in stone, killing a stellar student's future because they accidentally submitted a rough draft is a purely negative thing for both the university and student

Sadly I think they care more about their reputation than their students well-being.

 

[shopsteward]

I'm a bit confused as to what stage of the institutional action process you are at, and frankly everything you have done so far sounds rather ineffectual for someone who claims to be at a top 10 college and have a 4.0 GPA.

I understand that you are currently shocked and uncomprehending. But if you are really at a top 10 college with a 4.0 GPA you've got brains and initiative. You need to apply both those attributes to getting an A+ in a class you never expected to take: Subject of an Institutional Action 401. You need to ace this one.

Find out what the timetable for dealing with the action is. And then your job is to be as thoroughly and completely prepared for the hearing as you can be. My suggestions are -

1) Find an expert in this process at your institution who will be on your side. Student affairs? Student union? Fraternity brothers? Student welfare? Someone somewhere will know someone who can help. Scour your institution's constitution and employee lists and organograms for clues on who might help you.

2) Find a computer expert who will actually look at your computer and recover what they can. Don't just talk to someone who isn't sure and hasn't done anything about it anyway. Find an expert who will get on the case in time to present something for you at the hearing. I bet some expert somewhere knows how to get plenty out of your system, you just have to find them. In the meantime, make a document setting out your process, recreating how you did this paper, recreating how you think it went wrong, with as much supporting evidence from your computer and from other examples of your work as you can find.

3) Get that sworn statement about your health issues from your medical adviser. Ask them if they will appear at the hearing on your behalf.

4) Get as many testimonials from people in good standing at your institution as you can, and ask if any of them will come and speak for you.

You may not get anywhere with this. But it is worth a try. Your aim is to try to prove your case, and if you can't prove your case at least to sow enough doubt about it, coupled with lots of evidence about your sterling qualities, that whoever decides these things decides to be merciful.

 

[momodynasty17]

I'm a bit confused as to what stage of the institutional action process you are at, and frankly everything you have done so far sounds rather ineffectual for someone who claims to be at a top 10 college and have a 4.0 GPA.

I understand that you are currently shocked and uncomprehending. But if you are really at a top 10 college with a 4.0 GPA you've got brains and initiative. You need to apply both those attributes to getting an A+ in a class you never expected to take: Subject of an Institutional Action 401. You need to ace this one.

Find out what the timetable for dealing with the action is. And then your job is to be as thoroughly and completely prepared for the hearing as you can be. My suggestions are -

1) Find an expert in this process at your institution who will be on your side. Student affairs? Student union? Fraternity brothers? Student welfare? Someone somewhere will know someone who can help. Scour your institution's constitution and employee lists and organograms for clues on who might help you.

2) Find a computer expert who will actually look at your computer and recover what they can. Don't just talk to someone who isn't sure and hasn't done anything about it anyway. Find an expert who will get on the case in time to present something for you at the hearing. I bet some expert somewhere knows how to get plenty out of your system, you just have to find them. In the meantime, make a document setting out your process, recreating how you did this paper, recreating how you think it went wrong, with as much supporting evidence from your computer and from other examples of your work as you can find.

3) Get that sworn statement about your health issues from your medical adviser. Ask them if they will appear at the hearing on your behalf.

4) Get as many testimonials from people in good standing at your institution as you can, and ask if any of them will come and speak for you.

You may not get anywhere with this. But it is worth a try. Your aim is to try to prove your case, and if you can't prove your case at least to sow enough doubt about it, coupled with lots of evidence about your sterling qualities, that whoever decides these things decides to be merciful.

So basically you can have a 1 on 1 hearing or a hearing with the entire committee. I chose the 1 on 1 hearing with a committee member scheduled for early next week. We are required to, and I already have submitted a 5 page statement detailing my writing process, explaining what I believe happened, any and all exigent circumstances, and my academic body of work. As I've said, I don't think it's a case of belief, but rather judicial affairs is most likely going to suspend me whether it be for one term or two. With any evidence I can produce, I hope they are somewhat merciful. I think a lot of people assume this is like a trial and they have to meet a certain burden of proof. Unfortunately, they do not. So long as they determine guilt, regardless of if it was accidental or not, they have full authority and consistently exercise their authority to suspend students.
I just wanted to know if there was any hope left for medical school, which at this point I don't think there is and my 4 years have essentially been useless.

 

[shopsteward]

Actually, you asked if there was hope for top schools and got the opinion that with an institutional action for plagiarism on your CV you don't have much of a hope at any schools, so I suppose you've learnt something from coming here.

 

[Smash Atoms]

If you walk out with a degree then the 4 years were not useless. If you really want to get into medical school then it may require finishing your degree and pursuing life outside of medicine for a time to develop some life experience and proof of investment into the profession as well as a penchant for community health and welfare.

Maybe spend some time in medical sales while volunteering on the side. You have options. I know it may seem like the end of the world, but it isn't.
As said before also, you will have to get to a point where you own this. Sure, it may have been an accident, but that doesn't matter.

Chin up and good luck. You sound young, so there is at least that as a silver lining.

 

[mwsapphire]

Actually, you asked if there was hope for top schools and got the opinion that with an institutional action for plagiarism on your CV you don't have much of a hope at any schools, so I suppose you've learnt something from coming here.

Dude....he isn't an ax murderer or somebody who cheated on purpose. He's somebody who made a tragic mistake, that was aggravated by the prof going directly to Judicial affairs before asking OP what happened, along with the fact that they were on medication and had the rotten luck of not having previous drafts saved.
They really don't deserve this snark.
Lay off, man.

 

[tarheelpenner]

This thread gives me anxiety. I'm sorry this happened to you. I would probably be handling this much worst than you (READ: morbidly depressed, eating everything in sight, crying constantly), so props for being a stronger person. Hang in there!

 

[mwsapphire]

This thread gives me anxiety. I'm sorry this happened to you. I would probably be handling this much worst than you (READ: morbidly depressed, eating everything in sight, crying constantly), so props for being a stronger person. Hang in there!

Agreed. This is the nightmare situations I was afraid of freshman year. Cue paranoia fuel.
I literally feel a bit sick reading this.

 

[mwsapphire]

Seriously . I don't have any additional advice, but God Help you, OP>

 

[shopsteward]

Dude....he isn't an ax murderer or somebody who cheated on purpose. He's somebody who made a tragic mistake, that was aggravated by the prof going directly to Judicial affairs before asking OP what happened, along with the fact that they were on medication and had the rotten luck of not having previous drafts saved.
They really don't deserve this snark.
Lay off, man.

I'm just getting a bit pissed off at OP's fatalism, that's all. They need to buck up their ideas and get on the case. Turning up to the hearing by themselves with 5 pages of excuses isn't going to change anything. Turning up to the hearing with a computer expert or their statement setting out an analysis and timing of the various drafts, a doctor (or doctor's statement) attesting to the health issues and the malign effects the sleeping pills would have had at the precise time evidenced on the drafts of the papers, and a whole host of high-up people willing to testify to OP's sterling personal qualities, might.

 

[momodynasty17]

I'm just getting a bit pissed off at OP's fatalism, that's all. They need to buck up their ideas and get on the case. Turning up to the hearing by themselves with 5 pages of excuses isn't going to change anything. Turning up to the hearing with a computer expert or their statement setting out an analysis and timing of the various drafts, a doctor (or doctor's statement) attesting to the health issues and the malign effects the sleeping pills would have had at the precise time evidenced on the drafts of the papers, and a whole host of high-up people willing to testify to OP's sterling personal qualities, might.

It's not fatalism it's the truth. Don't think I haven't explored all my options and have gotten testimonies from profs and peers (only allowed to submit written testimonials). I've tried pretty much everything, and have a letter from my doctor. Like I said before, it's not a trial where they have to prove guilt and intent, they only have to prove guilt. Whether intentional or not, they basically have mandatory minimums. I didn't really come here for advice on my hearing, any advice given to me is something I've already explored. But given the nature of my school's disciplinary process, I have very little hope. I'll fight for myself, but it's a sad reality.

 

[efle]

I still cannot believe your school has that sort of policy with no discretion on when to enforce. Like what, if a student accidentally left a piece of draft at the end of their honors thesis, suddenly they're going to get denied Latins and suspended? With no chance for anybody in judicial to dismiss? Stupid, stupid system

 

[momodynasty17]

I still cannot believe your school has that sort of policy with no discretion on when to enforce. Like what, if a student accidentally left a piece of draft at the end of their honors thesis, suddenly they're going to get denied Latins and suspended? With no chance for anybody in judicial to dismiss? Stupid, stupid system

I'd like to think most professors for minor things like that just talk to the student first before reporting anything and then afterwards if they think it's worth pursuing then would report it to judicial affairs. Once judicial affairs gets the case and they think it's plagiarism then it'll probably end up as a suspension once they are involved. I think for the most part professors try to resolve it between the student for minor things since judicial affairs is so brutal.

 

[candbgirl]

So you pled guilty already?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

 

[momodynasty17]

So you pled guilty already?


Sent from my iPhone using SDN mobile app

So they tell you if you think you plagiarized that you should plead guilty regardless of intent while if you say you don't plagiarize then there is like a trial process with the professor in front of the committee arguing if it's plagiarism or not. In my case it was a total accident but it constituted plagiarism so I plead guilty. Now I have like a sentencing hearing to determine what happened and the punishment. As I've mentioned before, they really don't care about circumstances and just suspend students.

 

[shopsteward]

So they tell you if you think you plagiarized that you should plead guilty regardless of intent while if you say you don't plagiarize then there is like a trial process with the professor in front of the committee arguing if it's plagiarism or not. In my case it was a total accident but it constituted plagiarism so I plead guilty. Now I have like a sentencing hearing to determine what happened and the punishment. As I've mentioned before, they really don't care about circumstances and just suspend students.

So your last chance (and I can't believe I'm saying this again) is to show them 1) computer records showing what time you drafted the relevant sections of the paper, 2) that your doctor agrees that you were under the effects of prescription drugs at the time which removed your intent to plagiarise and 3) you have a whole line up of high-up people who say you are good news, that they believe 1) and 2) and that these mitigating circumstances mean that you should be let off with a "we understand the unfortunate circumstances and don't let it happen again".

Alternatively, you can crawl away into a lifetime of ignominy. Your choice.

 

[educ8r]

You can recover word document versions on OneDrive: Recover a previous version of a document - Office Support

 

[efle]

You can recover word document versions on OneDrive: Recover a previous version of a document - Office Support

This would only help if he was saving his work to OneDrive instead of locally

 

[educ8r]

This would only help if he was saving his work to OneDrive instead of locally

Which is why I always do.

 

[tarheelpenner]

I don't get it. Can you just hit the undo button? Unless you saved the version with your analysis deleted, and then closed the document, which would be an incredible amount of oversight. why wouldn't you keep the whole document to begin with? Why delete the analysis? Then you only have a document full of quotes. I have so many questions.