Disciplinary History

Applying to College Common and Coalition Application
1

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I am wondering whether I would need to include a certain event in the disciplinary history part of the Common App. In my junior year of high school, I missed over 10 days of school due to family problems, so I got my license suspended. The school mailed me a letter stating my license has been suspended and I need to submit my license to the post office. I did not need to go to court or anything for this event.</p>

<p>There is a section on Common App that states:</p>

<p>Have you ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at any educational institution you have attended from the 9th grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in a disciplinary action? These actions could include, but are not limited to: probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, or expulsion from the institution.</p>

<p>Have you ever been adjudicated guilty or convicted of a misdemeanor, felony, or other crime? Note that you are not required to answer "yes" to this question, or provide an explanation, if the criminal adjudication or conviction has been expunged, sealed, annulled, pardoned, destroyed, erased, impounded, or otherwise ordered by a court to be kept confidential.</p>

<p>Do I answer yes to any of these questions?</p>

2

<p>Nope. </p>

3

<p>What do you mean by license? A license to what?
Since you yourself were not suspended, removed, dismissed, or expelled form the school, nor were you on probation, you can answer no to the first question. </p>

<p>You were “guilty” for missing school, but I’m not quite sure what you mean by a “suspended license”
I would imagine you can say no to the second question as well, but am not sure.</p>

4

<p>I can’t believe I forgot to mention what type of license. By license, I meant my driver’s license got suspended because I missed too many days of school.</p>

5
  1. Ask your counselor. Your counselor can tell you what he/she will answer for that question.
  2. If counselor says yes or you choose to answer yes for the first question (I don't think you need to for the second one) then you can provide an explanation of your circumstances. Make sure not to have a tone that is placing blame on anything, just explain what happened and say "I learned from it" if there was something to be learned.
  3. If you're in Georgia, I think this goes on your permanent record, so in that case I would just answer yes to the first one and give a nice explanation. It looks bad if it shows up on your counselor report but you neglect to mention it in your application. Given that it wasn't your fault, it shouldn't hurt you in the admission process. Especially if you can show in some way that you triumphed over your (maybe difficult?) family situation by maintaining good grades, good behavior, etc.