<p>I recently had my work plagiarized(unintentionally), and I was accused of Academic Malpractice. I got a zero on the assignment, and an "incident report" was filed. The teacher said if I didn't do it again, I would be fine. Frankly, if the worst that happens is that zero I will be thankful. How will this affect my college admission? I am a sophomore currently at an extremely high ranked school with almost a 3.9 GPA.</p>
<p>If you were not a party to academic dishonesty but somebody copied your stuff without your permission, I’d fight this charge and make sure the guilty parties are held totally responsible. Hell, that may even be worth getting beat up over. Accusations of academic dishonesty on your record are real red flags for colleges. There was another poster who had a second questionable incident and is now potentially in real trouble. It’s much harder to fight the second charge when you have the first charge on your record. Your credibility is less and nobody is going to revisit that one two years later. </p>
<p>If you maintain your integrity, you should not allow anyone to tarnish your reputation without a fight. Get your parents involved. </p>
<p>On the other hand, if you had knowledge that someone was copying your work, you are a participant and you have to take your lumps.</p>
<p>It is complicated. I was the scribe for a group in a science experiment, and I emailed them data in a fairly finalized form(a mistake). However instead of copying the data from the files I sent them they copied it verbatim.</p>
<p>Was this a group project? This is one of the MANY reasons why I hate group projects.</p>
<p>I’d ask the school if this is going to be reported on GC reports. If so, I’d consider transferring out of that school.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, it was a group project. And what exactly do you mean by GC report? I am unfamiliar with the term, sorry.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for your wonderful responses. =]</p>
<p>This isn’t good. The most competitive schools don’t spend hours digging around your application to glean a reason to accept you, they’re looking for any reason to put you in the reject pile so they can move along to the next application. </p>
<p>You need to fight this. But be calm–your motivation for getting this expunged needs to (or appear) as if it’s only for the principle of the thing, not because you’re hyper-obsessed with getting into Harvard. Be rational. </p>
<p>Try your teacher first–ask her if you can speak one day after class, and rationally and calmly explain the exact parameters of the situation. If that doesn’t work, approach your guidance counselor, and then, if she ignores you, go to the principal (this is where overprotective mommy comes into play if necessary). The (slightly unfair) thing about high school is that if you complain enough, someone will humor you to shut you up. </p>
<p>And in the future, be much more careful. Plagerizing is a huge issue, and colleges, especially those who hold their honor codes near and dear, are not looking for those who cut corners (not that that’s what you did…this is an unfortunate situation).</p>
<p>Did you save the email? If you did, you may have evidence of your innocence to an integrity violation. </p>
<p>I think it’s important that you at least get the school to acknowledge on your records that your violation was not an integrity violation but a negligence violation. One makes you look dishonest, and the other makes you look careless and naive. Careless and naive is forgivable. Dishonesty is much, much, worse. It is important that the distinction is made for anything in your record. </p>
<p>The Guidance Counselor (GC) report is the recommendation letter sent along with the transcript when you apply to college. They often have to report any disciplinary actions.</p>