<p>I'm looking for some advice on my current situation. </p>
<p>I have been accused of academic dishonesty and have accepted the charges so that I do not have to face the executive committee and face potentially greater punishments. I am a premed student at the moment, and I'm wondering if I should change my life's direction because of this terrible mistake. I'm not going to justify my actions because 1) they cannot be justified and 2) the damage is done. </p>
<p>I am a current undergraduate at Yale university. I am a sophomore, and after taking an F in the class which caused this problem, I have a 3.5 GPA. I know I will be able to raise it to a 3.8 with the right course load, I am conducting research related to medicine, and I am Native American. </p>
<p>With these stats plus 2 years worth volunteer hours at a free clinic (starting next year) is it still possible for me to enter the medical field with the dishonesty marked on my permanent record? </p>
<p>Would it be better for me to begin looking towards something like business school instead? If I were to get a lot of work experience and maybe some research with an economics professor or a professor at the school of management, would business school look to experience more than academic history? </p>
<p>Thanks for reading guys. Also, sorry for any typos, I am making this post on my cell phone.</p>
<p>Depends who you ask. You WILL have to mention your IA (Institutional Action) to each school per AMCAS. Cheating is a big deal and many adcoms consider it a such a big red flag that they would auto-reject on it (as it calls everything else you’ve done into question as well as everything you may do in the future). It really depends upon the school and who reads the file.</p>
<p>1) for top MBA programs, work experience is much more important that undergrad work. Of course, it takes top undergrad work to get the plum jobs after college.</p>
<p>2) After Enron and the current fiscal mess, b-schools are much more focused on integrity and ethics. </p>
<p>Thus, I don’t know if explaining your “mistake” will be any easier to top b-schools that it will be to med schools. The only difference is that there are hundreds of good b-schools…</p>
<p>I have a question, will employers in the business world ask for academic dishonesty that happened in college/grad programs? I know this sounds a little bit extreme, but I think they should…(like bluebayou said past couple of years, we have seen a lot of corruption)</p>
<p>Academic dishonesty is one of the worst things you can have on your application.</p>
<p>Being Native American is one of the best.</p>
<p>With a 3.6 and a decent MCAT score, you would’ve been earmarked for Harvard Med and the like. I do think that this thing on your record will keep you out of the very best schools. But, if you spin things the right way, I don’t forsee you having a problem getting into mid and low tier med schools.</p>
<p>as norcalguy suggested I think that if you decide to stay in pre med, you should reverse this situation ‘like a lawyer’: meaning that you should demonstrate the optimistic view of this situation. Don’t try omitting it, because if the admissions in med school find out then that will bring you to a bad situation. You could try explaining that although this event occured, you have learnt from it, I think that most importantly after something like this, honesty is a virtue.</p>