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Expelled and PA School


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I am getting ready to apply to PA programs for the 2016-17 cycle for CASPA. While looking at the application I saw the section for academic infraction including conduct violations. After high school I attended a small, liberal arts school and towards the end of my second semester I had a conduct violation for theft of a fellow student's wallet. I was asked to leave through immediate expulsion by the judiciary committee. However, after appealing to the president of the college I was given the chance to take my final exams for my classes. After that year I transferred to a 4-year state university and was able to successfully complete my undergraduate education with a 3.5+ science/overall GPA. Since then I have also been certified as an EMT and have been working to gain my HCE for PA school. 

 

I realize that I have to report this conduct violation on my application and it won't look favorable. However, I was wondering if it would completely take me off the list of considered applicants? I also plan on reaching out to programs after submitting CASPA in order to provide them a more detailed explanation of the incident because the 500 characters provided on CASPA aren't enough to explain everything I've learned from the conduct violation. I would greatly appreciate any input anyone can provide regarding the matter. Thank you in advance!!

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It's really hard to say.  Theft is such a different situation than say, underage drinking.  You very well may have learned your lesson and grown as a person, but the fact that you did it at all in the first place - at an age when you should have known better - doesn't speak highly to your decision making skills. 

 

You have to look at it from an adcom perspective - if your app is the same as every other (grades/HCE/LORs etc), why would they pick you over someone with no red mark on their record?

 

Before you even apply you may want to feel out programs specifically and ask if your situation would be prohibitive.

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You may try the "ask an admissions director" thread. If you had additional circumstances pushing you to steal at that time in your life you could make a good basis for a personal statement imho...

 

Thank you for your help! I did post it on that thread and I'm hoping for some more insight on the situation. 

 

 

It's really hard to say.  Theft is such a different situation than say, underage drinking.  You very well may have learned your lesson and grown as a person, but the fact that you did it at all in the first place - at an age when you should have known better - doesn't speak highly to your decision making skills. 

 

You have to look at it from an adcom perspective - if your app is the same as every other (grades/HCE/LORs etc), why would they pick you over someone with no red mark on their record?

 

Before you even apply you may want to feel out programs specifically and ask if your situation would be prohibitive.

 

I agree it's a very difficult situation and it was an immature decision I made at the time in order to fit in and it's something I deeply regret. When the situation occurred, I had realized what I had done wrong right away and I came forward myself to state what I had done, and I provided restitutions right away. Also, I have taken the initiative to contact all the programs I'm interested in to explain the situation that occurred and ask them if it would disqualify me for entry into the specific programs. Most of the programs replied stating they appreciate my honesty and they use a holistic approach so it wouldn't disqualify me since it wasn't a criminal conduct and didn't involve any sort of misdemeanor/felony charges or anything like that; it was strictly a matter within the school. However, I also realize that the programs won't give me an outright answer so I was hoping for more insight on this forum!

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If you did do this when you were 17 then I think its very possible to overcome this. We have all done stupid things during our youth. The only difference is some of us were caught and others weren't. Just tell the truth, say what youve learned from that mistake and how you've developed and matured since then. I'm not aware of any adcom members on this forum so if you want the opinion of an adcom member then i would say go to SDN and PM some of their adcom members (goro or lizzym).  I've received alot of help and advice from them during this last application cycle.

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If you did do this when you were 17 then I think its very possible to overcome this. We have all done stupid things during our youth. The only difference is some of us were caught and others weren't. Just tell the truth, say what youve learned from that mistake and how you've developed and matured since then. I'm not aware of any adcom members on this forum so if you want the opinion of an adcom member then i would say go to SDN and PM some of their adcom members (goro or lizzym).  I've received alot of help and advice from them during this last application cycle.

Thank you for your insight on this, I really appreciate it! What does SDN mean exactly? I'm sorry I'm not as familiar with the forum lingo yet

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SDN is studentdoctornetwork which is a different forum. SDN have several adcom members that go on that forum religiously to help out premeds and answer questions. From what i've gathered on SDN, the only thing that would really end your aspirations in medicine is academic dishonesty institutional action(any sort of cheating). Theft might be worse than alcohol but you were 17 so i'm not sure how it's perceived actually. I reported an alcohol violation from my freshmen year and I received 10 interviews and have been accepted. 

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SDN is studentdoctornetwork which is a different forum. SDN have several adcom members that go on that forum religiously to help out premeds and answer questions. From what i've gathered on SDN, the only thing that would really end your aspirations in medicine is academic dishonesty institutional action(any sort of cheating). Theft might be worse than alcohol but you were 17 so i'm not sure how it's perceived actually. I reported an alcohol violation from my freshmen year and I received 10 interviews and have been accepted. 

 

Oh yeah I have heard of that forum and have done some browsing on there, but I will have to go back and DM adcom members. Thank you for your help! I'm really glad things worked out for you and I really hope that an immature mistake I made doesn't jeopardize my dreams of becoming a PA!

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There are.  Many choose not to publicly identify as such.

 

^ This is very accurate, so just be aware.

 

The bottom line is what you originally said - be up front and honest. If a program finds out you were expelled one way or another and this was not something you disclosed, you'll be in a much worse position than you are already in. Basically if the programs are going to find out, you want them to find out from you, on your terms, so you can properly explain yourself. If you truly believe this was something that was a silly act of youthful misconduct, than you should treat it as such and not attempt to handle it as something worth hiding.

 

I think your best bet is to ask around at schools you are interested in applying to and feel out their responses; like anything else, this may be seen differently by different people who make up ad coms. If you get a unfavorable response, go elsewhere and don't waste your time. Keep in mind, you can argue all you want about making a mistake and it being stupid, but you have to keep in mind that when admissions committees have a stack of qualified people to choose from, you are asking them to take a risk on someone with a questionable record versus someone who may be equally qualified but less of a risk. Am I saying everyone will care and you won't get in? No. People have gotten in with plenty of issues, but those who did put the odds in their favor by asking a lot of questions and applying to the right places.

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^ This is very accurate, so just be aware.

 

The bottom line is what you originally said - be up front and honest. If a program finds out you were expelled one way or another and this was not something you disclosed, you'll be in a much worse position than you are already in. Basically if the programs are going to find out, you want them to find out from you, on your terms, so you can properly explain yourself. If you truly believe this was something that was a silly act of youthful misconduct, than you should treat it as such and not attempt to handle it as something worth hiding.

 

I think your best bet is to ask around at schools you are interested in applying to and feel out their responses; like anything else, this may be seen differently by different people who make up ad coms. If you get a unfavorable response, go elsewhere and don't waste your time. Keep in mind, you can argue all you want about making a mistake and it being stupid, but you have to keep in mind that when admissions committees have a stack of qualified people to choose from, you are asking them to take a risk on someone with a questionable record versus someone who may be equally qualified but less of a risk. Am I saying everyone will care and you won't get in? No. People have gotten in with plenty of issues, but those who did put the odds in their favor by asking a lot of questions and applying to the right places.

 

That definitely helps a lot, thank you! I have emailed/called every program that I am interested in regarding my conduct violation just to ensure that it would not disqualify me from applying and to get a sense of whether they would be willing to take a chance on me or not. I am hoping that there's a program that will be willing to take a chance on me!

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