Bottom line: it may not affect admissions if the school supports her.
@lookingforward Thank you for some positive words. After going to a pressure cooker high school, part of me is so over DDâs drive for super selective colleges and feel relieved on DDâs behalf to (maybe) take a different path.
Good attitude. My concern is if sheâs cracking from this mistake, now. And if, for the usual reasons top kids may not get the admits they want, she blames herself for years into the future. That wouldnât be good.
The worse case is these kids who come on CC and downplay what sure seems to be true cheating, pretending they didnât know and are oh, so sorry, after caught. It will make a difference if the school throws their suport behind her.
A lot of hs have strict rules. Adcoms know that. Your D will need to briefly explain in the Common App- she can think about the best way to do this.
My kiddo got accused of plagiarism for a citation the teacher didnât like. (She had quoted her source, in the paragraph above. That second para was a logical continuation.) She was lucky that the head of school agreed and it was dropped.
Best to you both.
So f she rewrites the paper over the summer the charges on her record disappear?
I have to agree with the other posters that the punishment does jot fit the error. I would be very concerned about another infraction over another innocent mistake.
Iâm more concerned about âshe was operating on 3 hours of sleep a night for two weeks.â Is this really necessary? What a rat race. The punishment does not fit the crime, and with admissions as they are now, she would have difficulty at âivy+â schools no matter the high school sheâs coming from. This could be a blessing in disguise, but I do worry about her wallowing in what could have been. Keep an eye on that.
This is WILD. If what you are saying is true, I would fight this like crazy. I obv do not understand your situation or the implication that fighting would cause, but calling a simple mistake academic misconduct is disgusting on the schools part. What a crazy (and unfair) situation.
Adding safeties and less selective schools to the list is always a good idea, but I see no reason for her to drop her reaches. If this infraction is really going to be explained as unintentional, then it may not affect her apps at all.
Did she receive credit for the assignment? How does the charge impact the grade in the class?
I agree with this. I would at a minimum speak with the President of the School, not the academic head, the President. Next the Board of Trustees if necessary. Something like this could negatively impact this schoolâs fundraising, should it get out.
The schools where this transcript notation might matter in admissions are religious schools and/or those with strong honor codes (for example, US service academies, Haverford, UVA, W&L, Davidson, William and Mary)
I would honestly get a lawyer if this is the case. Her reputation is being impugned.
I canât help but think that some nuance is being lost in translation here.
OP states that this is a top school. As such, this surely isnât the schoolâs first rodeo with instances of alleged plagiarism and academic misconduct. My experience is that educators and schools of quality like to see their students succeed and, therefore, err on the side of caution when making such charges. Itâs not the decision of one individual.
IMO, review and revisit the situation and facts carefully and think long and hard before contacting the board of trustees and engaging a lawyer. If not handled correctly, you could kiss a cooperative environment and those offered letters of explanation by the counselor and principal goodbye.
I was just going to say the same as @scholarme . If this is a public school, the punishment doesnât fit the crime. Iâd be getting and educational attorney to write a letter ASAP. Doing something unintentionally is not a crime, at least not combined with a 30 page paper. Out of control.
Personally, Iâd be taking my kid out of that school. Three hours of sleep a night for two weeks is inhumane.
âprivate day schoolâ
âone of the most demanding schools in the country where more than 60% of the class goes Ivy+â
Itâs not a public school.
âI think lack of maturity played a role in planning and she was operating on 3 hours of sleep a night for two weeksâ
My guess is the students had a long time to work on the paper and the daughter procrastinated. Iâm going to surmise a little hyperbole on 14 days of 3 hour nights, too. 
It really will be ok. There are lots of colleges in the country, and she can succeed at any of them. I know it seems awful now, but this too shall pass. Iâm glad she can rewrite the paper over the summer. She will have some good options for college and will end up at the right place for her. I agree with the other posters who said to work with the school on getting good letters of recommendation and explaining this as an isolated incident.
Marking her transcript with some sort of academic misconduct looks like a sign that the school does not support her.
The school can support her while adhering to its standards. It is likely the school has seen this situation before and considered its response from many angles.
If they are offering to take it off if she rewrites the paper that would be a good deal - she learns about consequenc es of procrastination etc etc
I think they are offering the rewrite so the paper is graded, not to remove the honor charge
Iâd say, get an educ. lawyer snd give him the barebones facts and see if there is a remedy. I am guessing that the OP is not giving the full scoop, which is fine since it is a public forum, but the best way to know your options would be to get counsel and be upfront with them
Goodness! Just wanted to say that my heart goes out to you both. I think that your attitude of âmaybe this will work out for the bestâ, as in keeping her out of the Ivy rat race and letting her breathe a little, is wonderful to hear and your DD may feel some relief hearing you say that too. A silver lining may just be that she opens up to lower-tier schools and maybe even finds one that she loves. And yes, you donât want her thinking that her life is ruined for this small mistake, I think you are smart to realize that this is something to help her with. Good luck to both of you!
I suspect that there is more to this story. Regardless, this experience may help the student if she ever runs for political office.
While in high school, I took a class titled Black Literature. I was the only white or non-AA student in the class. The white, ultra-liberal teacher hated that I was in his class. Tried to force me to drop the class by imposing ridiculous grading standards on my written work. For example, I received a full letter grade reduction because I did not include a citation for writing that George Washington was the first President of the United States. (My position, which was permitted in this class, was that this fact was common knowledge.) The others were not graded by the same standard as I was.
I was the only student to receive a final grade below an âAâ for that class.
As an interesting side note, this teacherâs son became a teacher at my sonâs elite New England boarding schoolâbut as a chemistry, not literature, teacher.