So recently, I got suspended for forwarding a screenshot of a vulgar text to someone. The school suspended me for 2 days for “bullying” and “sexual harassment”. How will this affect my college application process? wanted to go into Mechanical Engineering.
A little bit about myself: 1550 SAT. about 4.0 UC GPA, cross country team captain, and a some other little extra curriculars.
What year are you in hs?
@hanna might be able to help. I have no idea. But bullying and sexual harassment are very much at the center of the national debate. I would consider professional or legal guidance. Perhaps it could be modified to inappropriate texting or failure to follow established conduct or something. Not to scare you, because I am guessing, but this should be addressed formally.
I’m a junior in highschool.thanks so much, ill try to contact the school authorities
if your high school transcript includes suspensions and the exact words bullying and sexual harassment, you’ll have to explain it and hope that colleges will see you learned from it, otherwise as p/b said you may want to consider outside help, maybe in appealing the suspension if you haven’t served it already.
Yes, ask and find out what the wording will be on transcript. I’m happy to see high school kids getting in trouble for social media-related stuff, BTW, as it suggests that your school cares about these things. If bullying and sexual harassment are not mentioned, I would describe it as inappropriate use of social media to forward personal information. Clearly now you know that there are consequences and you won’t do it again.
The issue of disclosure of discipline was raised at a senior parent meeting in the fall at my kids high school related to financial aid. Our guidance counselor indicated that school discipline is not included on the transcripts and guidance counselors cannot disclose it to a college- she said they are forbidden by the State of Ohio from disclosing it. Check with your guidance department.
do you know if california has this type of law?
how can i connect with @Hanna ?
She’ll get a notification to look at your thread next time she logs on.
I am concerned that you put bullying and sexual harassment in quotes, though. You don’t need to explain it here, but you will need to be honest on college applications if they ask about disciplinary history, and you will need to show remorse at the very least, in order for colleges to overlook this.
I’m in a different state and at one of Back to School nights our GC said that they DO report any kind of disciplinary action, and that that our HS guidance office works with kids on supplemental letters to explain the situation and what they’ve learned from it.
Also check with your state. Most suspensions are not indicated on the transcript but are kept in a separate discipline file. However, it does come up on the SSR and must be answered truthfully. Like Melvin, in my state they are reported and they are part of the application
By the way, our GC said that if our kid does incur a disciplinary proceeding, not to panic. Our GC said that many colleges recognize that students are still kids and are still learning. The question becomes what was the problem, whether there was genuine remorse and recompense, and genuine character growth. That’s where the explanatory letter with your college application comes in. So, you can work your way out of this. But you have to own your mistake and go from there.
“if your high school transcript includes suspensions and the exact words bullying and sexual harassment, you’ll have to explain it.”
The wording on the transcript, or whether the discipline is on your transcript at all, is irrelevant. The Common App and almost all highly competitive universities will ask if you have ever been suspended. You will need to say yes when asked, even if your high school has a policy of not disclosing these events. That said, @melvin123 is right that the severity of the offense and the way you explain it play a big role in determining the impact of the suspension on your applications.
@hanna so if i can explain my position and remorse for the events, this event won’t hurt me?
and also, the school blew it out of proportion a little and exaggerated on the suspension form. If the story I tell to colleges differs from the one the school form will tell, will I be in trouble?
I’m concerned that you think the school blew it out of proportion. If you downplay it, and your HS plays it up, that won’t bode well for you. It looks like you didn’t take what happened seriously.
We can’t see whether your version is correct or the schools. Colleges won’t be able to see that either. I think it’s important that you and your HS are on the same page. It might be necessary to engage a third party like Hanna to review this with you to either help you understand the severity of what you did, or to engage with the appropriate people at your school to come to an understanding about what really happened.
“so if i can explain my position and remorse for the events, this event won’t hurt me?”
No, that’s not correct. You can mitigate its impact. I never said anything like “this event won’t hurt you.” If you’re aiming super high, like for Princeton, this could hurt you even if you handle it perfectly from here on out.
I’d talk to the GC about how the school handles this and how you should. I’d not tell all necessarily. Maybe your suspension can be reduced to a slap on your wrist. Talk to the GC before fessing up to anyone.
@gritvik My son is in a very similar situation. He received a 2-day in school suspension for taking a photo of a classmate in an embarrassing situation. He did not send the photo to anyone and the incident he photographed was in a public space. He was in his first month as a freshman and hasn’t made any more mistakes. He’s also a varsity athlete and scout.
I was wondering how your college search turned out. Did you get into the colleges for which you met the metrics of a typical accepted applicant? Do you have any advice on how to handle it? He’s just a sophomore now but I’m worried that his shot at a good state university is over.
Thanks in advance.
User has not been active for 2 years, so I doubt a reply is forthcoming. Closing thread. If they happen to return and want to reply, they can PM me to reopen.