How much does an academic dishonesty charge affect my chances of transferring into another college?

I got caught with having my phone in my lap although I wasn’t using it and didn’t cheat (however I have learned from this mistake and I will never do something dumb like this again. I’ll always keep it in my backpack from now on). My professor gave me an F for the exam and would not let me dispute the charge. This is now on my record and I need to know how badly this will effect my chances into transferring to another college.

some context: i am technically now a rising senior in high school participating in a college program. my first semester of college (as a highschool junior/freshman college student), i got a lot of C’s and B’s. spring semester I got all B’s and an A. now I’m taking 2 summer courses, one of which i just got the academic violation in.

what do i do? is this on my official transcript? will all college i apply to see this on my record?

Transferring to another college? I’m confused. You are a HS student. Right? Are you taking dual enrollment courses while in high school? If so…you wouldn’t be transferring.

Re: how this appears on your academic record, you need to speak to the advisor at the school who will be reporting this. And ask them.

It’s a little different than dual enrollment but I am fully a college student and will graduate with an associates. So I need to apply to colleges this fall since I graduate next year.

I contacted the Vice-President of Academic Affairs and Student Services. I hope to hear from them soon.

I feel that the consequence of this incident is a little unfair while I do understand the foolishness of my actions. I would have never attempted to cheat, I have always just kept my phone in my pockets and it had not been a problem before. My professor said to put away my phone after seeing it in my jacket pocket and I complied by putting in my backpack. So I am not sure why I was further reported for this when there was no cheating involved. Regardless, I will always keep my phone in my backpack and I understand the seriousness of the situation.

Your phone was in your lap or in your pocket? You appear to be contradicting yourself. Professors are really upset about academic dishonesty these days. I guess online instruction and test-taking pushed the limits of ethics in academia. My take has always been, that if you cheat you deprive yourself of an education. I’m not saying you cheated, I’m just saying that many professors are very weary at the sight of a cell phone on one’s knees (or pockets) these days.

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I think that you’d find that your public state colleges and state U will be less concerned about this than highly selective private schools or highly selective OOS flagship U’s. But since your grades don’t really put you in that category, I think that you should be able to get into the state college that has a transfer agreement with the school where you are getting your associate’s degree. And yes, good idea to speak with the VP of academic affairs. If you don’t hear from them, go by the office.

Whether you are officially dual enrollment or not, you need to send your college transcript to the college you eventually attend.
Given your other grades mentioned, you are presumably not targeting selective colleges so this won’t be that big of a deal. I would request your transcript from the current college to see what it looks like and whether it has any mention of academic integrity issues. It might be that the instructor just gave you the F and didn’t go through the academic integrity process.
There are many less selective colleges who will be interested in you.

Is there an academic violation on your record or did the professor just give you an F in the class?

Your current college should have procedures to appeal a grade and/or an academic violation finding, with or without your professor’s participation. You should find out the procedures involved.

It seems you would have nothing to lose by appealing now since this just happened in your summer course AND you maintain that you were not cheating.

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Or was it just an F on the one exam? What was your final grade in the course.

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An F on the exam

So what was your final course grade. That matters.

Then just find out if this one exam issue was noted on your transcript.

I won’t find out until Monday or Tuesday but I will do that. The letter said that the letter sent is in my student records but nothing about my transcript.
With my awful grades and this violation, I think I’ve blown my shot at getting into any college. My state college isn’t easy to get into as well.

No, you haven’t. You will be totally fine! You just might be starting out at your local community or four yr state college, instead of the flagship.

The college-aged population is declining and you will find many colleges that are happy to accept a student who has only failed one exam and has decent enough grades. That’s you! Maybe not your state flagship but there are many others.

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How awful are your grades?

One year of community college: 1 W, 1 failed course, 2 C’s, 3 B’s, 2 A’s.

I’m sure this class i got a violation in will end in a C (this is the highest grade I can achieve) and hopefully a B in the other course.

So are these dual enrollment colleges at your community college? How will they affect your HS GPA. And yes, they must be sent to colleges when you apply.

Things to consider…

  1. Stay at the community college and get a two year degree there after you finish high school. Talk to the transfer advisor at the CC to see where transfers would be best if you do that.

  2. We don’t know your state, but many states have public universities that are not nearly as competitive as the flagship university. Some allow you to take a certain number of courses as a non-matriculated student before you apply. In some places, these are called directional colleges (they sometimes have eastern or northern or the like in their name). Look there.

  3. Since these college courses are giving you grade issues, have you considered NOT doing this your senior year? Your first semester senior grades are used by some colleges when evaluating regular decision applications. Get great grades taking courses at your high school.

  4. Consider attending college part time and getting top notch grades for a year or two. Put some distance between you and the grades you got in high school.

  5. Talk to your school guidance counselor. They should have a sense of realistic college applications for you…places where you have a good chance of acceptance.

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OP said above they will be graduating with an associate’s degree, and I assume they mean graduating from HS:

Some students do graduate HS with an associate’s via dual enrollment, and they are not considered transfers when they apply to college…I’m still not entirely sure of OP’s situation/timing because their situation doesn’t sound ‘different’ to me. Regardless, OP needs to find out if this academic dishonesty charge will be on their transcript.

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My phone was in my jacket pocket but my professor reported me by saying it was in my lap. I agree that academic integrity is important and that it wasn’t the best decision to place my phone in my jacket pocket. However, it wasn’t in my lap and I was accused of something false. I don’t know if this is worth getting appealed because I am not sure if I valid argument. It feels as if I guilty instead of being proven that I was guilty. I don’t have any proof that I didn’t have it in my lap and I feel that is much too late to speak up about it now. It feels like my word against my professor’s.

You started this thread saying your phone was in your lap. If the phone was in a jacket, how did the prof see it?

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These cannot both be correct.

When facing a charge of dishonesty, telling mutually contradictory stories of your version of events will not help.

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