I was recently dismissed from national honor society, and am pretty upset about it. Basically, I had a piece of paper I was studying off of, and decided to use the cheat sheet if need be during the test. Come the start of the test, I did come to my senses and shoved the paper in my pocket with no intention of using it (I never once looked at it or cheated off of it during the test). Trust me, I know this was so incredibly stupid and can’t believe I did this, and Have 100% learned my lesson. Long story short, during the test my teacher spotted the paper (even though I wasn’t even using it) and I was convicted of cheating. I explained that to my teachers, but to no avail. I was given 2 detentions, which I already served, and this won’t show up on my college transcripts. However, I was dismissed from national honor society and am very upset about it. I worked very hard to get into it, and had lots of volunteer hours, and this sounds shallow, but loved being a part of this and was really looking forward to wearing my special ropes at graduation. I understand this is my fault and I know I did this to myself! I had the lapse in judgement because I’m so hard on myself and wanted to succeed so bad, and I have definitely learned my lesson. I’m still very disappointed in myself and am trying to get over it, but honestly not being in this is really killing me. I’m only a junior so I still have a few years to get over it, but still. I explained to the council I did not cheat but I was still dismissed. I was wondering if not being a part of national honor society would hurt my chances of getting into a good college? I am very serious about school, have not taken ACT yet but have a 4.6 gpa and was looking at Wisconsin or U of I.
It’s just my opinion, but I don’t think ‘not being in NHS’ will hurt your admission chances…especially since you said it won’t show up on your transcript. Learn from this and move on.
Btw, I also suggest you start practicing for the ACT exam now. I recommend taking it sooner than later. My children took the Oct exam their junior year. That way they got their results before the one in the spring that all juniors had to take. Getting their results with enough time to address any possible “problem” sections was our goal. Fortunately they didn’t need to worry. An added bonus was that it made the spring exam stress-free.
Good luck!
Preparing a “Cheat Sheet” and bringing it into the testing room with you is considered cheating. Many would surmise that you actually, in fact, did cheat. In that case, a notation on your transcript and an ‘F’ in the course would be a possible punishment (as well as stripping you from being in any Honor Society). Obviously, institutions will have a spectrum of harshness in their responses. I think repercussions could be much worse in college or grad school.
I would find the silver lining and move on. Your high school could have dealt with this even more severely than they did.
Perhaps you have time to re-apply and be reinstated in NHS.
NHS is literally useless in terms of college admissions. Chill out, and do better ECs.
If you tried that in college and got caught you’d be facing an F in the course and possibly even an expulsion. Consider this a very light punishment and move on.