Academic Dishonesty

[redrodger]

Hello all,

I transferred to a new college 1 1/2 years ago. I did very well at my last college. However, during 3 semesters at this college I committed three separate acts of academic dishonesty on homework and was dismissed form the school. I have decided that I want to pursue dental medicine, and it will take 3 years before I can apply. I know what I did was wrong. I was selfish, prideful and arrogant and broke the values of the institution I badly wanted a degree from. I am remorseful of this and am unsure if I can pave a path to dental grad school even if get a good DAT and a good GPA. The reality is I failed greatly and I want this to be a road to redemption. As professors and workers on admissions board. Could you see a path to redemption for me, and how could I take steps to prove I have moved passed this and have become an exemplary leader throughout my failures.

[lkaitlyn]

Okay, I've pondered this for a few days. I don't really have a magic answer for you, and I'm hoping someone with experience in the specific thing you want to study will weigh in.

So I think you will certainly need to spend a lot of time working on redeeming yourself, perhaps over more than the 3 years you mentioned. Personally, I think you'll need to have killer recommendation letters from three professors (assuming you need three rec letters) that can address what happened and/or attest to your character and honesty in their classes after the fact (so keep taking college courses and work with your professors to build strong relationships and trust). You need people who can say that they've worked with you and they think you've redeemed yourself. I also think you're doing the right thing in owning up to it instead of excusing it, so that's a good start as well (there is no excuse, obviously), but if I were on an admissions committee, I wouldn't just take your word that you've changed after doing it three times — I'd want to hear confirmation from your professors that you're trustworthy.

Work hard, work honestly, and also be honest with yourself about whether you think you'd do this again in a high-stress situation with lots of homework. If you think you might cheat if given the opportunity and you felt you could get away with it (seriously, think about this), don't go back to school yet. Best of luck!

[katina]

You will almost assuredly be denied admission to any dental school in the United States with that. It is extraordinarily risky for a dental school to allow you to treat patients.