Medical What are my med & grad school prospects with academic dishonesty transcript notation?

[Goro]

Hey everyone,

I'm seeking advice on my prospects for medical school and especially graduate school (e.g. Masters in Sciences). I'm entering my last year of undergrad in Ontario and have decent prereqs (see below). However in my 3rd year, I made a terrible mistake and a notation reading a grade of F assigned for academic dishonesty was placed on my transcript for a course. This notation sticks for 5 years and the F remains forever. My actions were abominable and I have since been learning from my mistakes and working on myself. Any insight is appreciated if I have any chance for medical school. In addition, my backup plan is to pursue graduate studies. Thus, how will this affect my application to jobs and graduate schools? Do I have any chance of pursuing a Master's? Thank you for your time.

Stats:

Cumulative GPA: ~3.85 - Significant drop due to F

MCAT: 520 (129 CARS)

ECs: Paid Summer research (with thesis), 200+ hours hospital volunteering, 100+ hours clinical volunteering, 350+ hours general volunteering, paid medical clinic staff, 5 part-time jobs during undergrad (once acting as an exam invigilator), executive member for multiple student-run clubs, intramural sports, etc.)

Thank you for your time.

Not all cheating is alike. What was the nature of the transgression?

I'm surmising you must have had close to a 4.0 GPA, if an F only knocks you down to a 3.85.

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[Goro]

First of all, thank you for taking the time to reply. The incident occurred for a written assignment worth 15% of the course mark. My report was flagged for plagiarism and I do admit to that. I had a classmate who took the course the previous year and I had a copy of their assignment. Near the due date of this assignment, I was going through a tough time personally and had more responsibilities than I could handle. This resulted in rash decision making on my part and I used their earlier assignment for more than simply a template. I fully accept that what I did is 100% my fault and not acceptable. Prior to this incident, I had a ~3.97 cumulative GPA.

Explain like you did here, own it, and you should be OK.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

I agree with Goro. As someone who reviews applications in my field, we come across (graduate-level) academic dishonesty situations at times. It's generally not an outright killer of an application; how the situation is explained, how the applicant further describes the event in interview, and what they have perhaps learned from it are often more important than the act itself.