expulsion or withdrawal on common app??

Applying to College
1

<p>Well, how to start off??</p>

<p>As you probably would have noticed from the title, I want to ask you</p>

<p>a few things about expulsion and how to put it on my common app</p>

<p>I was expelled in the first semester of my junior year. But here's the thing: </p>

<p>in the same conference in which I was told I was no longer able to come to </p>

<p>school, the principal told me that this incident would appear as a voluntary withdrawal </p>

<p>and not as an expulsion. In this case, should I check the box where it asks if I had ever</p>

<p>been suspended or expelled?? You see, I don't want to make problems out of something</p>

<p>undocumented, but again, I'm not too familiar with policies regarding this type of problems.</p>

<p>And one more thing: since I "withdrew" from the school in the middle of the school year,</p>

<p>I couldn't change schools right away (I had the option of changing to a school that's full of </p>

<p>expelled students, but I decided to repeat the year in a better school). So I took a "gap </p>

<p>year" (or a gap semester) during </p>

<p>which I got official diplomas in portuguese and french languages (since I didn't want to </p>

<p>waste my time doing nothing I took those classes). Well, my question is: do you think </p>

<p>they would believe me if I said I took a gap year to study foreign languages? Would they</p>

<p>investigate more thoruoghly the reason behind my gap year?</p>

<p>My next question is will the chances of admission at top-tier colleges reduce if I admitted </p>

<p>and told them the whole story? Like I wasn't expelled for doing something really bad (I went </p>

<p>to an overseas trip, and one day I just didnt go back to my host's house). Besides I've </p>

<p>never before and after been involved in any problem. And to add to that, I fitted in very well </p>

<p>to my new school (I'm in the top 10% of my class).</p>

<p>Thanks for your help and please leave lots of feedbacks cause I have to make up my mind soon</p>

2

<p>You need to be honest about your expulsion. Your signature on the application states you are filling in the info honestly. If the college later finds you lied in your entrance materials they would rescind your acceptance or, if you are a student at that time, expel you.</p>

3

<p>You should explain that objectively on your essay(s). Anyhow, it seems strange that they would expell you just for arriving late? Were police, search team or consular officers involved? If not, it seems that expulsion was a hars punishment for a mild nuisance (arriving late at a host’s home), and ACs shall be sympathetic.</p>

4

<p>granted, if you officially weren’t expelled, then you shouldn’t say you were expelled. if you were doing terribly in a class and you were offered a drop rather than a fail, you’d be an idiot to write “By the way, this isn’t on my transcript anywhere, but I failed AP Chem!” somewhere on your application.</p>

5

<p>Talk with someone at your old school and confirm that they aren’t reporting an expulsion to colleges but a voluntary withdrawal. If this is indeed the case, don’t say you were expelled.</p>

<p>I disagree with Erin’s Dad. To use another example (although ChoklitRain’s is already pretty good), in the corporate world most people tend to be forced to resign rather than be fired, and the sole reason that there is this distinction is because if you’re fired it looks bad and you have to explain that when looking for a new job.
And when you ask your new employer why you left your old company, you give a reason - and NOT the reason that “they fired me.” It’s just shooting yourself in the foot.</p>