How Good Are my Chances after a Suspension?

<p>Hey everyone,
I'm new to this site, and was just wondering how good my chances were to getting into my top colleges. I have a 3.75 GPA and a 27 ACT, created my own club, and an a member of 4 other clubs at my school. I play a varsity sport, and have had 7 jobs in my lifetime (3 of which I created myself). Recently, I was involved in a fight at school and was suspended for 5 days. I was wondering how good my chances are to get into the college of my dreams. I am looking into three different schools, all of which have an average of a 3.6-3.7 GPA and 24-29 ACT score.</p>

<p>Thanks,
John</p>

<p>You’ll be fine</p>

<p>Just explain why you got suspended and it really won’t be a big deal</p>

<p>Suspension reflects poorly upon you and will hurt your chances. What schools are you looking at?</p>

<p>So far I have been looking at Kalamazoo College(which has an average of 3.6 GPA and 26 ACT), and others that fit this caliber of a school.</p>

<p>I don’t think the school will report the suspension to any schools. All they do is send your transcript. The colleges should not know anything about it.</p>

<p>Umm, evilqueen, there is a box on the secondary school report that says "has this student been suspended … "</p>

<p>To what extent will it affect my acceptance to one of these colleges that is up to/slightly below my recorded GPA and ACT?</p>

<p>I am not sure what you mean by slightly below (are you below their average or they below your numbers). If it is the former it will be extremely unlikely. For schools like Kalamazoo you are not so much stronger of an applicant that they will just automatically overlook that suspension. Know that your school must report the suspension and small schools which focus (such as Kalamazoo) which focus more on the whole application and not just numbers may see an issue. You should directly contact an admissions officer at the various schools you are interested in regarding the suspension.</p>

<p>I am sorry for any confusion I may have started. To clear things up, I am SLIGHTLY ABOVE the standards of these colleges. I have a 3.75 GPA and 27 ACT score, where the average GPA and ACT at these private colleges is approximately 3.6 and a 24-26</p>

<p>I don’t think that your application/scores are that impressive, as another poster had said, for schools to overlook a suspension. Even without a suspension, having a 3.75 doesn’t guarantee that you’re “in” at every school that puts out a 3.6 as their average…</p>

<p>Most HS transcripts don’t have a section denoting an infraction of this type. College admissions applications may or may not ask about suspensions or other penalties that you may have had during HS or at another college (in the event of a transfer). I can tell you from experience with my son that he was denied entrance due to answering that question truthfully on the application (he had been suspended for an IT network policy violation). In retrospect it would have been better to just answer no in that he already had gotten his punishment years before and the college had no way of knowing or should even know. BTW having a GPA and/or SAT well above the average doesn’t necessarily get acceptance. Colleges can be rather strange about this.</p>

<p>I just got into Cornell despite a suspension. Note that I am a transfer student (from a community college), but I still had to report my suspension on my application. </p>

<p>Be honest, it can’t hurt you if your academics/credentials are otherwise strong.</p>