Hi, I am a high school student in my junior year. I have a 3.87 unweighted cumulative GPA, on varsity swim for 3 years soon to be captain of team, part of chemistry club, executive board of interact club, president of friendship circle, treasurer of chinese club, DECA (business club) states x1 regionals x2 and nationals x1, also part of HOSA (health club like DECA) 1x regionals and 1x states, varsity debate 2 years with 3x semifinalist 1x state finalist and captain of the team, national honors society, and part of my Jewish youth group. On top of that I have had medical internship in Ghana, hosted two fundraisers, played football and lacrosse freshmen year. I have all APs and honors this year and my grades are good, i just messed up bad freshmen year. Recently, on my midterm in honors english i had a 96 in the class and wanted to study for AP chemistry so a friend of mine who had a picture of the test sent me a picture and I was planning to study the picture so I could focus on chemistry. I ended up focusing on chemistry only and at 3:30am I decided to make a notecard with all the answers to the test on it so I could cheat during the test. I cheated on 5 questions during the test… before I was caught (happened friday of midterms). Monday came around and I was terrified; I was called down to the office right away and met with all of the adminstrators. That exact day I was suspended 3 days for cheating on my test. I emailed my teacher an apology and all of that but the matter of the fact is I am suspended. I was planning on attending University of Michigan and I have multiple alumni and our school is one of the largest feeder schools there. Sadly, I was caught cheating and I have a 3 day suspension on my record. My ACT score is a 30 and I plan to get it to 32-33. But with all of that, will cheating still ruin my chances of getting into University of Michigan? I am a kid who learns from his mistakes very well and I am also good at expressing how I learned from my mistakes when I am writing. I understand with my stupid actions there will be consequences but will these consequences most likely ruin my chance of getting into Michigan? *sorry for all punctuation errors, i am very upset and nervous right now.
It sounds like the sad part to you is that you got caught, not that you cheated. You may want to reflect with your family on your choice to cheat. After that, you can set up a meeting with the college counselor to talk about your question. The answer is that this suspension will definitely have an impact on your college admission outcomes. The counselor can help you plan a strategy that includes adding more safety schools and more colleges that auto-admit based on statistics without a holistic review.
Of course I am upset from getting caught, but I am also upset because of a mistake I made that will determine my future. Do I plan to cheat again, no way.
“Recently, on my midterm in honors english i had a 96 in the class and wanted to study for AP chemistry so a friend of mine who had a picture of the test sent me a picture and I was planning to study the picture so I could focus on chemistry.”
You need to apply to a lot of schools at this point, and hope to find one that is sympathetic. Admissions people are going to be nervous that you will resort to cheating in college. You will need to convince them that you won’t, and that means first having to own the responsibility for what you did. It was not a “mistake”, it was a poor decision on your part. You didn’t “study” - you tried to memorize stolen test answers. You may have a better chance by owning responsibility by what you did.
Bro you are so unlucky…due to the fact that this account is linked to my facebook and I’m still a senior I can’t tell you how I go through high school, but damn man you gotta do it right, do it good and get lucky.
@KKmama sorry I kind of worded the post badly. I 100% understand that what I did was wrong and that I cheated. I completely understand what I did wrong and how poor of a decision I made. Sorry I never carried that into the post. Thanks for the reply.
Are you sure it goes on your record? Talk to your GC. Similar situation at my school I was caught cheating and placed on academic probation but once the probation was over (no other cheating incidents/grades 75+/no detentions), my school took it off my record.
Agree you should verify what your target schools will see. At our HS, only grades are reported. Please take this as a life lesson. You will get through this but you need to make better choices and hold yourself to a higher standard.
My friend at Stanford has a classmate who was arrested for a crime (it was on her record too) and she got into Stanford. Mistakes do not always ruin your chances at college.
However, your best chance is to find some auto-admit schools, as others have said, so you will have a place to go for college, and for schools that are more selective explain the incident, owning your mistake. If admissions officers see maturity and learning from the incident, they might be willing to admit you.
@yonceonhismouth – was your Stanford friend an athlete? My gut tells me (based on recent infamous cases) that Stanford may possibly look the other way for athletes.
About Stanford, we’d need to know what the crime was. There are lots of reasons kids get in trouble and adcoms know that. Just getting arrested doesn’t tell much. The issue with cheating is it’s an ethical issue and may directly concern the college about OP’s maturity and future behavior.
Not related to your question, but I highly advise you talking to your teacher in person. An emailed apology doesn’t cut it. This should be the standard for most important interactions. It is harder than the informality of email or texting, but it will also make you a better person.
Once the disciplinary process starts or a penalty has been assessed, for an issue like this, I recommend contacting a lawyer/advocate familiar with education law and to a lesser extent civil rights law. You may not like their answer, but at least you will get a real expert opinion as well as understand your options. Teachers and administrators, like students, can make mistakes and have regrets.
@lookingforward of course- I personally don’t know what the crime was - but I was pointing out that a lapse in judgement doesn’t have to completely destroy an applicant’s chances. It can depend, in my opinion, on how the applicant handles the situation moving forward and how that demonstrates their personal ethics and values.