I really find it hard to believe that the older sister having referenced a joint project done with her sister would trigger disciplinary action. Look at the students who participated in the Varsity Blues scams, and were not disciplined! The older sister having referenced that work in an application would have been an honest mistake, and it DID reference her work! I suspect that the younger sister used wording and ideas that were so close to her sister’s application essay that it triggered the review, and I have a feeling that if anyone were to read both, they would understand the reason for the school’s actions. But I really doubt that the younger sister’s claim that it was the same work (and even if they had co-founded a charity, or co-written a paper/presentation, it wouldn’t justify using language in the essay that was virtually identical to older sister’s essay) would trigger disciplinary action at this point for the older sister. I mean, it’s not as if the older sister posed on a rowing machine or participated in a standardized test scam, all while claiming that they had absolutely NO idea what was going on!
I know this doesn’t seem fair to you, because you were using your words in a joint essay, but the problem is that you didn’t “cite” that these ideas came from another event, and were not “originally” intended to be the response for the UC application.
The UCs have to be fair to all of their applicants. If you thought about using and reusing this paper, for all of your applications, without citing, this issue would eventually come up.
If you had prefaced your essay with something like: “Recently, I coauthored a paper with my sister, and my thoughts continue to reflect the same philosophies that I have written here . . . . “
Because you did not cite that you were using previously written work, for the UC prompt, they based your acceptance on what they considered a spontaneously-created response. It was probably a really good paper. Then, when they had to run it through their plagiarism software, that’s where they had to react.
At this point, I think all you can do is plead “ignorance” in the citation of a previously presented work. This, however, would not reflect well of a student who shows unfamiliarity with referencing to other domains.
Yes, you can argue that these are your own words, but to be fair, this paper was done for another event, not for an application to a UC. It would’ve been fine to submit, if your sister hadn’t submitted very similar words, and, I expect that neither of you cited that the paper was done for another event.
Edited to add: Why wouldn’t you admit that this had been done?
This is the first thing you should’ve done. Why would you hide that?
They weren’t criminally charged but most of the students involved in the Varsity Blues college admissions scandal were disciplined (“Yale, Stanford, Georgetown, Northwestern and the University of Southern California each expelled students or revoked students’ admissions. Many of the students who were in their final year of high school had their applications denied or were forced to withdraw them.” What happened to the students caught in the college admissions scandal?).
And the UCs are likely going to be stricter than private universities due to the broader accountability they have. It would be nice if they were understanding but there is a risk to her sister if they aren’t.
Certainly, acceptances would have been rescinded, but I didn’t hear about students who had already started being forced out. I thought that most were able to hide behind the claim that they had no idea what was going on.
Nope, many were expelled and colleges took this very seriously.
I think what you are remembering is that the students weren’t charged criminally for the actions of their parents. But they certainly experienced consequences.
As well they should have. I don’t think that a parent could have accomplished this without the child’s collaboration. Can you imagine the interview? “Why yes, I just LOVE rowing (on a lake in a rowboat once in my life).”
I was about to reply and also feel remorse for us getting off topic but maybe we aren’t that off topic. I thought about the students’ role a lot when that scandal broke - and it did vary by student. The ones pretending to be rowers and taking those photos on the rower, clearly knew what they were doing. The ones who had the SAT papers exchanged at the center, the students may not have known.
For this OP, it seems she didn’t know when she submitted her app. But she does know now that she got that notice and also we are explaining to her why what she did was a violation. Ethically, isn’t the right thing to do to just fully come forth and explain what happened - isn’t that what an innocent person would do?
Here is one example. Georgetown appeared to take a zero tolerance approach…
Let’s get back to comments regarding the OPs situation please.
No, you’re off-topic. Let’s get back on track please.
3 posts were merged into an existing topic: Does UC select randomly for PIQ plagiarism or everything?