urgent help -- academic warning possible IA

[circestree]

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During my junior year, I received an incomplete grade in a course due to illness at the time of the exam and not being allowed to test per university policy (COVID policy, exam was in-person). My professor reassured me that I could take an incomplete and that it was no big deal, which is what I did (took the final at the next possible time). Because I took an incomplete, I received an email saying I was on academic warning from my college's committee on academic standing. Of note, the email ALSO stated several academic standing policy item violations that were not true (they referred to me as a freshman when I was a junior and said I did not take the required freshman survey courses, though I had taken those courses as a freshman, and said I had too few credits in a particular distribution when I was actually over the credit requirement). I spoke with my advisor about it and she told me she'd handle it and that it seemed strange. She later got back to me and said I just needed to clear the incomplete for good standing, which I did. She said not to worry for medical school and that it wouldn't appear on my transcript. I later got an email saying I was voted back to good standing (this was actually before the INC cleared, which is also confusing). So, I didn't worry and actually fully forgot about it until literally today when I was looking for another old email of hers.

I have called my college's registrar office twice about the matter and they haven't picked up. I emailed and am waiting on a response. It seems that the committee on academic standing that originally sent me the email does not exist anymore. Because of the term "warning", I am really really worried that I should have reported this on AMCAS. Of course, the incomplete is visible in my grades entries, but I did not report anything in the IA section because I truly had forgotten about this until now. I submitted the 28th, so I am freaking out at the idea of needing to email all of my schools about this and them discounting my application on account of dishonesty in my primary application. Does anybody know 1) if this actually needed to be reported and 2) if so, what the next steps are and how it will be viewed by adcoms?

Thank you for any advice/help.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

You should report it on AMCAS, even if the record of the incident has been sealed or expunged due to policy from your student conduct office. Forgive me that I cannot take your description at face value (because who can trust the internet), but under the circumstances of COVID-19, your description of the incident might be taken less seriously by adcoms. Keep to the facts of the situation without sounding like you're making excuses (have the student conduct office help with this).

 

[LunaOri]

Please don't worry about this--it won't matter to any medical school. Plus, it sounds like maybe your school sent you a warning letter meant for someone else. Most applications have some sort of "anything else you want us to know" secondary, and this would be the place to talk about it. If you end up not being accepted this cycle, make sure to include on AMCAS next time.

 

[circestree]

You should report it on AMCAS, even if the record of the incident has been sealed or expunged due to policy from your student conduct office. Forgive me that I cannot take your description at face value (because who can trust the internet), but under the circumstances of COVID-19, your description of the incident might be taken less seriously by adcoms. Keep to the facts of the situation without sounding like you're making excuses (have the student conduct office help with this).

I already submitted my AMCAS primary, and I have no record with the student conduct office -- rather, this was through my college's committee on academic standing which is under the registrar's office. Do you think I should email schools about it since I already submitted, and if so how would that be perceived?

 

[circestree]

Please don't worry about this--it won't matter to any medical school. Plus, it sounds like maybe your school sent you a warning letter meant for someone else.

I think it was definitely for me because the part about the incomplete grade was correct. Do you think that this doesn't count as a true institutional action since it was not on transcript and no action aside from the emails was taken?

 

[LunaOri]

I think it was definitely for me because the part about the incomplete grade was correct. Do you think that this doesn't count as a true institutional action since it was not on transcript and no action aside from the emails was taken?

Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to reporting IA. There's no harm in emailing schools, or you can wait and mention it on secondaries. It's not the kind of IA that would affect your application, and the only explanation necessary is that you were given an academic warning for having an incomplete in a course (it's okay to say why) and the warning was removed when you completed the course.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

I already submitted my AMCAS primary, and I have no record with the student conduct office -- rather, this was through my college's committee on academic standing which is under the registrar's office. Do you think I should email schools about it since I already submitted, and if so how would that be perceived?

How many schools?

You can email some of the schools after you receive their secondaries. As mentioned, sometimes the secondary essays give you a chance to explain "anything else." Then you can email the ones who don't ask.

 

[Pile O' Nephritis]

FYI

https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/11616/download

"You may answer no if the action was deleted, expunged, or otherwise removed from your record by the institution." (p. 20)

Not saying this is your situation, but it would be good news.

 

[circestree]

https://students-residents.aamc.org/media/11616/download

"You may answer no if the action was deleted, expunged, or otherwise removed from your record by the institution." (p. 20)

Not saying this is your situation, but it would be good news.

How many schools?

You can email some of the schools after you receive their secondaries. As mentioned, sometimes the secondary essays give you a chance to explain "anything else." Then you can email the ones who don't ask.

Always better to be safe than sorry when it comes to reporting IA. There's no harm in emailing schools, or you can wait and mention it on secondaries. It's not the kind of IA that would affect your application, and the only explanation necessary is that you were given an academic warning for having an incomplete in a course (it's okay to say why) and the warning was removed when you completed the course.

Update: per my university's policies, academic warnings are deleted after the semester they were issued as long as you return to good standing (which I did), and they are not externally reportable once deleted. So, looks like per Pile O' Nephritis (haha) and the recent AMCAS change to IA reporting, I do not need to inform schools (someone correct me if I misunderstood this). Thank you all for your advice and reassurance!