Could you possibly chance me for the University of Minnesota Twin Cities? (applying for engineering)
Residency: OOS
Race: Indian (first generation immigrant)
Sex: Male
GPA: 3.7 unweighted / Top 10% of class
SAT: 1520 (730 Verbal, 790 Math)
APs: European History, US History, Government, Language, Literature, Psychology, Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, Physics 1, Chemistry, Calculus AB, Calculus BC, Statistics
ALL 4s & 5s, except Physics (3)
EC: Academic Competition Team - 4 years
Debate Team - 4 Years
Model UN - 2 Years
Cross Country - 3 Years
NHS Treasurer - 2 Years
Volunteering: 20 hrs at a Senior Home
115 hrs at a local hospital
Disciplinary Action:
In 9th grade, I was suspended for changing my computer background to a meme which offended a girl who sat behind me in class. She reported me for “harassment” and I was officially suspended for “violating the computer policy”.
The part I am most worried about is the disciplinary action on my record. Do you know to what extent it would hinder my chances of getting into the University of Minnesota? I just don’t want a silly mistake that took place in my freshman year to stop me from getting into one of my top choices.
Obviously your stats are great and point to an admission to CSE. Did you bring up this infraction in a “what I learned” essay? That might help your case because it shows you are meeting your mistakes head on.
A couple of points: 1) this was in 9th grade; but 2) a suspension seems pretty serious - perhaps suggesting that more might have happened than you are disclosing here. Only you know the truth. If you didn’t fight the suspension, perhaps you agreed with the severity of the consequence? In that case, refer back to the “what I learned” essay.
I don’t think what seems like a dumb 14 year old mistake will make that much of a dent. Obviously, you mature a lot in four years and because you have no other disciplinary infractions, it will look like you learned from it. Also, I’m not suggesting you lie or anything like that, but probably don’t mention the harassment aspect. Just stick to the violation of computer policy and explain what happened the way your school explained it. What part of the policy did it violate (offensive, distracting, etc)?
The part of the computer policy which I broke was by changing my computer background in the first place. Even more so, the meme that I put as my computer background was deemed racially insensitive and it was a female of African descent who was offended and reported me.
I did indeed reference the infraction in my essay. The reason for the suspension was that the meme was deemed racially insensitive since it included a cartoon member in a white hood (looked like a Klan member) and an African American female was the one who reported it and apparently she felt ‘threatened’ by the image.
Your best bet is to have the counselor address this. The box on the common app just says if you got suspended. It sounds like officially you were only in trouble for changing the background even though there is more back story on why you were reported. I don’t think you need go into who found it offensive and why because the school didn’t exactly discipline you for that and this is a disciplinary record. Find out what your counselor is going to say about the incident if anything. If she isn’t going to discuss the “racially insensitive” aspect, I don’t think you need to either. TMI. If she is, I agree with the above that it would be a good what I learned essay.