<p>Yeah I was thinking about writing about it in my essay topic, but I’ve seen people advise against it for the purpose of not bringing too much attention to the problem. So I’m not sure at this point if I’ll write about it. My mom is advising me to maybe write at least a paragraph about it in my essay, but I’m not 100% sure what I’ll do at this point. I think first I’ll check out my transcript once school start and then go from there. And @rspence, my USAMO score is nothing to brag about, I didn’t study at all for USAMO, I was just happy to qualify for it.</p>
<p>You’re going to have to write about why you changed secondary schools as a separate question on the Common App distinct from the disciplinary issue. With your stats, to go from a math/science academy to a regular school will take some explaining. And it sounds as if you are torn up about how it will affect your college admissions but not contrite about the academic dishonesty itself. I think it will be an issue for the very elite universities like Stanford, and especially Caltech with its honor code, but top colleges the next level down should still be willing to take a kid with your scores.</p>
<p>How about doing something good for someone else? How about tutoring some poor kids in your brainiac subjects. You haven’t done much for others? That would show a lesson learned</p>
<p>The way the statement is worded sounds like it’s a complement xD</p>
<p>Student is helpful and caring towards the academic well being of others, so we punished them.</p>
<p>I’ll have to write about why I switched schools on the Common App? But on the Common App, it just provides 3 spaces to list any other secondary schools I’ve attended and doesn’t ask for an explanation. Unless the question about “If your education was or will be interrupted, please explain” is what you’re taking about. But I think that’s referring to dropping out of high school for a year or situations like that. </p>
<p>I am very contrite about the dishonesty, I just didn’t feel the need to explain my regret and such here, this post is more focused on the impact on college.</p>
<p>And yeah, I actually have been tutoring kids at the college my Mom works at for free for volunteer hours… It’s quite fun, and I agree with you, it can be used to show a lesson learned.</p>
<p>Technically, you’re right, OP but I’ve always advised students to explain a school change. I think an experienced admissions officer will be able to read between the lines of your situation quite easily and could even pick up the phone to call a contact at your old school. They see disciplinary issues crop up all the time and all else being equal why would they admit someone with a problematic history when they can have the pick of so many top students with pristine records? If I were you, I would not get hung up on the top 5 schools and apply broadly to schools ranked #6 - #20. You will still get opps for an amazing education and even merit scholarships but yes, there are long-term consequences to mistakes, however youthful.</p>
<p>@studentinhs ah okay. I scored a 13/42 on the USAMO, which was above what I had expected (my goal was 7) but I didn’t put my USAMO score on my college app. If I scored in the 30’s, on the other hand, I would’ve listed it.</p>
<p>@sunbite - There is no difference in admissions at the “top four” schools and the rest of the top 20s. Applicants are read and judged in the same way, and it’s not as though AdComs at, say, Cornell are going, “well, HYPS are obviously not going to accept this student because of this blemish on his record, but we should because we don’t think of ourselves in as high a regard as we do our ‘super’ counterparts.” To be quite honest, all top schools can very easily choose to throw out the OPs app because they have hundreds of other mathematically-inclined applicants, but I don’t think officers are that indiscriminate and I don’t think they expect students to be flawless in all aspects of life.</p>
<p>Statistically, yes, there is a difference in admissions chances at the top 5 or so and the rest. Whether Cornell admits with explicit regard to Harvard, etc, no.</p>
<p>I speak from experience of counseling similarly top students with disciplinary blemishes on otherwise stellar academic records. It’s usually an app killer at the top 5. Adcoms don’t expect perfection but academic dishonesty necessitating transfer of high school mid-stream? The OP needs to be realistic.</p>