<p>If, what he posted is true, he’s easily identifiable to prep school admissions offices. Information on applications, place of birth etc, is not necessarily “googleable” (is that a word?) Or, it could just be a great story to keep us all entertained!</p>
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<p>I was never disciplined for anything in high school, college, or in professional life so it’s really not a concern. </p>
<p>We’re not talking about detention for chewing gum in class. Yes, I believe a University has the right to know if a student was EXPELLED from a school for making a terrorist threat, just as they have the right to request grades and SAT scores. The colleges aren’t requesting these records unsolicited, the students are asking them to accept them into their institutions. If the institution wants a complete picture of the student which goes beyond gpa and the student is uncomfortable with that, they are certainly not under any obligation to apply to that university. Going to college is not a right. Colleges are under no obligation to accept anyone that they feel will be a danger or problem on their campus. For a student to expect their high school to only share information which makes them look good to the colleges while willfully withholding information regarding a very serious infraction is pretty presumptuous, imo. Since grades are considered “private” information, can a student forbid their high school from sharing their poor grades and only report the good ones?</p>
<p>Again, I see liability here if a school willfully withholds information about a student making a terrorist threat and something actually happens down the line.</p>
<p>"I was never disciplined for anything in high school, college, or in professional life so it’s really not a concern. "</p>
<p>Same was true for my husband, sons, and for me. </p>
<p>Most students are not suspended or expelled from their high schools. Most applicants and their parents would have concern about a college’s accepting students who have been expelled or suspended for actions that could cause harm to others.</p>
<p>YOu can be denied a job that entitles one to a car for travel purposes and you have a few traffic infractions, they do background checks. You are a liability if you have a record. Your past does and unfortunately can dictate your future.
Heck they can deny you employment for spotty credit if your job requires a spending account. I would say terrorist threats whether as a joke or not does not show stability of mind and it does not fall into the category of a HS fight or “typical” teenage indiscretions.</p>
<p>Bottom line - Ivys look for reasons to throw out applicants and OP has given them a big one. Unless he’s able to hide this information, which I don’t think is possible, he’ll have trouble getting in to many schools and no chance at highly selective ones. Post Columbine, VT and 9-11 - getting expelled for something like this is not going to be taken as a typical or simple lack of judgement by a high school sophomore.</p>
<p>OK, guys, you win. Your kids who are perfect should have their perfect discipline records sent to colleges and universities so that will support them in their college applications. And the kids who misbehaved, well, they can scratch doing anything useful with their life and should plan on being losers forever. No purpose in learning anything since they will probably work construction or clean hotel rooms for the rest of their life.</p>
<p>(For the record, I also never did anything bad and had no discipline record. That doesn’t mean that I don’t appreciate an individual’s right to privacy. There are plenty of kids who misbehaved or were expelled that make fine contributions to society today.)</p>
<p>(And as I’ve said before, I am not supporting the OP in this case. What he did is offensive to the schools, to the United States, and he should go back to Saudi Arabia.)</p>
<p>csfmap- That is incorrect. If the OP can get past his own attitude, and the facts really do show that it was a joke, his shot at many highly-selective schools will not be harmed. We are only hearing one side of it, though.<br>
Right after Columbine (within 6 months), a 7th grader at my son’s “famous” private school wrote a poem which included some violent language. It really had to do more with some rap songs than any real actions, but he was expelled. It was truly a bad call, and the parents and student were very up in arms about the school’s actions. This was an extreme reaction, but one you still see occasionally in high schools and middle schools. </p>
<p>It’s all in how this kid handles the thing and how his college counselors present him. If it is presented as an unfortunate lapse in judgment and a lot of emotional growth is shown, he’s fine. If it is used to show his true character and the school rec is “ehh”, he’s toast.</p>
<p>(I am one of the few posters on here who actually dealt with transcript/record problems and had a LOT of feedback from a number of highly-selective schools.)</p>
<p>Bigtrees- I think that if you follow this forum, you will find out that plenty of students with significant disciplinary issues redeem themselves and get accepted to good colleges (ever follow MomofWildChild’s saga?) However, colleges have a right to know what they are getting. Especially residential ones! As Olymom pointed out, showing remorse and then doing some good in the world would go along way towards redemption.</p>
<p>Oh my, cross posted with MOWC!</p>
<p>Student disclosure and reflection is really the critical issue. You can’t make this go away. You CAN be mature and thoughtful in discussing your actions and consequences.</p>
<p>Maybe I missed something, but OP was expelled for the “joke”. What about the 10 day suspension mentioned in the opening post? If he has two major discipline issues to explain, it’s going to be tough.</p>
<p>It takes 10 days to expel a student. But they can suspend somebody immediately. So they suspend them first and then expel them.</p>
<p>I think that disclosing this incident wouldn’t necessarily bar him from school. When I was applying to college, I had a parking ticket that I got on the day after senior prom. Now it doesn’t seem like a big deal, but back then I was freaking out about it. I thought of getting a lawyer, trying to get it hushed up in court, or even bribing a friend to write a letter to the Commonwealth’s Attorney saying that it was him behind the wheel and not me. But then I thought – hey, a college is going to reject me for a parking ticket, then maybe I don’t deserve to be there anyway. So I disclosed the ticket, and I still got into UVa Regular Decision.</p>
<p>It’s pretty much the same situation here. If you are required to by the college, you should disclose. My parking ticket actually led to a criminal fine, so it’s a bit worse than your situation. If they accepted me into college, you shouldn’t have major hurdles.</p>
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Generally, bigtrees, by asking the guidance counselor to write the secondary school report and to send the transcript, the student is deemed to have waived any privacy rights to the information requested in the form. The student cannot have it both ways, saying, “Yes, tell them about me, but not about X and so about me.” If the college requires the information, the student’s other choice is not to apply there.</p>
<p>Someone had said upthread that state schools don’t ask for GC recs. What schools would those be? My kids had to submit GC reports EVERYWHERE they applied, public or private.</p>
<p>I posted a link to a school that doesn’t require it.</p>
<p>Western schools (California excluded) are far less likely to require disciplinary reports from high school GCs.</p>
<p>One example is the University of Washington.</p>
<p>" But then I thought – hey, a college is going to reject me for a parking ticket, then maybe I don’t deserve to be there anyway. So I disclosed the ticket, and I still got into UVa Regular Decision."</p>
<p>A parking ticket really is no big deal. No college will reject you for a parking ticket.</p>
<p>Pretending to be a terrorist is a very different situation demonstrating at worst a lack of judgement that could be dangerous to oneself and others.</p>
<p>Perhaps the scale is a little off, but this kid was only suspended for 10 days and recommended for expulsion according to the other thread; I actually had to take a driver’s improvement class to get rid of the conviction; if I hadn’t, I risked being thought of as some kind of criminal. I understand how serious what this guy did was, but at least he didn’t have a criminal record. I still think that he should be honest if he is required to and to enroll at Cornell (if he is admitted).</p>
<p>" I actually had to take a driver’s improvement class to get rid of the conviction; if I hadn’t, I risked being thought of as some kind of criminal."</p>
<p>A parking ticket really isn’t a big deal.</p>
<p>Pretending to be a terrorist is a big deal. The OP is lucky he didn’t land in prison. People who do similar jokes while in airports, for instance, do go to prison.</p>
<p>I take your point. Let’s forget about the ticket for a moment though; what can TheLo do to fix this problem? Lying won’t work; trust me, applying with someone else’s name, SAT scores, and transcript is as difficult as it is unethical (that is to say, very much so), and he’ll need to fake a lot of remorse and personal growth to explain this – a lot more than your usual applicant.</p>