CHANCES (with a suspension)

<p>Hey everybody, I know this sounds a little weird, but i figure that since I have total anononimity on this site that I might as well put it out there. Okay when I was in ninth grade I was suspended for possesion of marijuana. It was a long-term suspension. I got counseling, and was diagnosed with depression, stemming from the fact that I was molested between the ages of 6 and 12 by a male family member. I am also a male. During cunseling, I also reveled how I had an addicting to snorting morphine. Nobody had evened noticed until the time of my suspension because in my freshman year i had a GPA that hovered around 3.9 uw, and was in very difficult classes. Nobody knew what I had gone through. </p>

<p>Well, the next year, after I told my parents everything, they transfered me to a private school, where I got all A's and was in 11 AP classes, passing each test. </p>

<p>Now that I am applying to colleges in the fall, I want to know how the suspension will hurt me. The school only found out about the marijuana, nothing else, and it was at my old school anyway. I have not gotten in trouble since, and I enrolled myself in many extracurriculars, etc.</p>

<p>I just want to know how badly it will hurt me. If my GC makes me check the "Yes" box for suspension on the common application I plan to write an essay saying how the suspension taught me a lesson about ethics, saying that it taught me to no longer say that I wont get caught, it taught me to think about what the consequences will be if I get caught. The schools that I am applying to are U.VA, NYU, Colgate, Georgetown, Dartmouth, Cornell, Brown, Columbia, Carnegie Mellon, and Hamilton.</p>

<p>Does your current GC even know? If he/she doesn’t, then don’t tell.</p>

<p>If you are forced to tell, I believe that you can write a pretty interesting/motivational essay about your troubled childhood/freshman year.</p>

<p>My current guidance counsellor does not know, but I was wondering if I am under some sort of obligation to tell the colleges.</p>

<p>And the essay thing is a good idea, I can probably relate it to ethics.</p>