Last spring in AP Biology class, a student copied off of me on a lab notebook without me knowing. The student would not confess and I was charged with an honor code. However, the student then confessed to copying off of me and that I knew nothing of the event. The school has not removed the honor code despite the fact that the other student confessed it was all her own doing. How will this impact my college admissions? I am likely applying to UGA, UNC Chapel Hill, Ohio State and UT Austin. I have no other disciplines of any type, not a simple detention. The school also has her written statement that I knew nothing of her cheating.
I would advise against mentioning or trying to explain it yourself; adcom’s just take it as whining and trying to make an excuse. If you do want to address it, it should be in your counselor’s recommendation letter. Talk to him/her and see what they think of the issue and if they are willing to explain it in their letter. Colleges take honor codes faulty seriously, so it would be good for it to be addressed- just by a school official.
It’s an honor code VIOLATION or INCIDENT, not an “honor code”.
Do u know whether the incident is actually mentioned at all on your transcript?
After the other student admitted to the incident, have u tried to get the violation removed from your record? If so, then how hard have u tried? Did your parents get involved? Have u considered hiring a lawyer?
Sorry for the confusion. They’re just referred to as honor codes at my school. And my counselor knows all about this and that I didn’t do it. So that’s a good idea, thank you. And I am meeting with the administration on Monday to discuss why I still have the violation. Do you all have any suggestions on how I should approach them to get it removed? Also, no I have consulted a lawyer. I do not think that is necessary. And my parents are involved. Thank you again so much.
Just ask them to remove it. Tell the administrators to contact your counselor to get verification that u did nothing wrong.
Make them confirm that the incident is completely removed from your record.
@2020graduate I don’t understand why people freak out over minor offenses like this. You didn’t do drugs, you didn’t drink, and you did not sexually assault anyone. It won’t affect your chances at all, and you can explain it in the additional information section of the app. In my opinion, if you ask administrators to remove any honor code offense, you probably didn’t learn any lesson from this.
I understand that you had no idea this happened, and that you were not the one doing the cheating, but realize that you were part of the (unknowing) information provider role. I think in this case, we COULD make an exception, especially since the student confessed. But don’t keep whining and complaining to administrators, it makes you look bad as a person. Again, if all else fails, just put it in your additional info section, say that you had no idea what happened, and the student confessed. Nothing else.
@michelle426
I strongly disagree that academic dishonesty is a minor offense. The 2 most toxic red flags for college admissions are academic dishonesty & drugs (sexual assault isn’t common). Colleges look the other way for alcohol, but not for drugs. And unpunished academic dishonesty strikes at the heart of a school’s academic credibility, so it is very serious. Cheating will get you tossed out of a college before drinking ever will.
I agree, however, that the OP is over-reactiong. OP already had a meeting scheduled w the HS administration to resolve the matter. The reasonable time to freak out would be AFTER the meeeting if the school still refused to remove the black mark.
@GMTplus7 When it comes to academic dishonesty, it goes two ways: you cheated, or someone cheated off of you. In my opinion, cheating (as in a person goes in and copies off someone’s work) is the “bad” type of academic dishonesty. That type of cheating is NOT a minor offense. In the case of the latter, the person being cheated off of may not know that someone is copying their work, and in most schools, if the person cheating is caught cheating off of another person’s paper, both are given 0s because instructors don’t want to leave any room for “plotting”. I think in this case, OP did not know he was being cheated off of, and he did not know that someone was using his work to cheat. Really, the person that should be shouldering all the blame should be the cheater, but like most honor codes, OP had to be included in the mix too. Again, I think all OP can do is wait until he gets the final verdict from his administrators to see what he can do to “fix” it.
@michelle426 the College is not going to delve into the event to see what kind of cheating may have happened or who was responsible. They rely on information from the HS and an Honor Code violation is just that. @GMTplus7 is correct that the best way ahead is to work with the guidance office on getting the whole event removed from the record.