Hi everyone,
on Fall semester I have got disciplinary action for cheating on my transcript for cheating (in community college).
I have already completed my bachelor and was taking some courses (credit course but not related to medschool prerequisite) in a community college. We had two schedule for doing an assignment and one of my friend who was in afternoon class asked me about the questions! I send him a screen shot of the morning class questions which I took and he posted them on the internet to find the answers! He got caught and the committee disciplined both of us.
Now I am applying for medical school and got in tears because of this.
My MCAT 518
GPA 3.73
My bachelor major: Industrial Engineering
Experts, do you know if I have a chance getting into a medical school ever? how should I approach this?
I have read about what happened to you, as well as the ongoing discussion.
I presume you had an administrative hearing on this issue, right? If an administrative determination was made against you, without a formal hearing (but that would be unlikely), you should be able to challenge the final punishment. However, normally there is a period of time you have to do that.
I agree (and disagree) with what has been written, in terms of putting some time between you and the event. While we can NOT go back in time, I do wish you had realized how serious this was and immediately had an attorney acting on your behalf, to preserve medical school as that goal in the near future.
I do not know what state you are in, nor is that my kind of work. But you do have the ability to challenge the permanent suspension, exhaust all administrative remedies at the community college, and then initiate a private law suit, you could take it that far, this is VERY important...BUT your win here, would be limited. You have already had conversations with people, given your version of events, your goal would be limited to, perhaps lifting the permanent suspension, and informally, in exchange for nothing negative on your transcript, never again enrolling at the community college.
That would be the best outcome, and I am not saying you will succeed. There are a few other ways to accomplish your goal, while temporarily giving the university its lump of flesh for the infraction.
Now, I am basing what I am saying, on what you have said in the forum. Cheating requires, not carelessness or negligence, it requires a specific intent, that is something a court of law, presuming it got that far, would review. In my view, just my opinion, you DO NOT want it to get that far. Rather, you want the threat of a potential libel suit ( from what appears on your transcript) or slander lawsuit (from what is said) and a few other claims in there, because see, if the community college got it wrong, IF this happened before, or something even more drastic, BUT in those cases, a lesser or no punishment occur, well then, we start getting into other issues, potential discrimination, records that could be subpoenaed that the community college does not want out.
You need to understand, if I read correctly, you are a Syrian Refugee, and a Muslim(as am I), right? So, maybe a second chance or benefit of the doubt, maybe you get it, or maybe you run into some intolerance and have no more chances.
I think you made a mistake, whether it was one in a long line or just one, I do not know. I do know we live in a country where if you ask foreign governments to interfere in a national election, cheat and defraud thousands at a self-named university and have to pay millions, (just 2 of many endless things I could cite) there are 70 million people who be fine with still being President of The United States.
You need the threat of action, and to take this out of what Mr. X or Mrs. Y would say is cheating, and get up to that legal standard where, not being funny, criminals walk free.
Lawsuits can be very expensive. I suggest, if you can spare retaining a lawyer for 4-5 hours, a few letters, an in person meeting, might run you at least $1000-$1500 (whereas a lawsuit, the paper trail and attention it can create, you could win, and yet still lose.) I believe, an accommodation could be reached. But, a warning, you say you did not intend to cheat, was merely sharing an assignment with an classmate absent from class (who would have seen the questions had she/he been in class, and presumably could have requested or received from the professor if the absence was excused.)...who did cheat. You have to understand, presuming all you shared is spot on accurate on the facts, you need to show remorse and contrition.
I sincerely hope you will be successful. Unfortunately, and I say this with the utmost respect as a Muslim person of color: When you are a Muslim Syrian refugee and an immigrant, there are still a lot of people, unfortunately, who are waiting to see you fail, feel like you mentioning your life circumstances are a crutch, and wish you had never came to The U.S, but yet see no contradiction or injustice from people at the heights of power, who have admittedly done far worse. So, you have to be most careful, most vigilant, and most importantly, learn from your mistakes.
