In junior year, I was outed as transgender and subsequently attacked by a group of people. I acted in self defense subdued the largest one, but as a result was later given a short in school suspension. This has all been explained in my application. How will this affect my chances at various colleges?
It won’t. In fact, an in-school suspension might not be mentioned by your school at all. Check with your guidance counselor. If they don’t bring it up, you don’t need to bring it up. If it is on your record, and your GC is sympathetic, ask him or her to address it.
Normally, I counsel people suspended for fighting (whether attacked or not) to apologize for ‘taking the bait’ when being baited - but in this case, I have a problem with telling someone transgender who was attacked by a group that they should not defend themselves. The consequences of not doing so, could be so much worse. I’d probably just say that this was an exceptional circumstance, that generally you are able to deflect inappropriate behavior from others or avoid those situations altogether, but being physically attacked caught you off guard and you had to defend yourself. if your gc adds a supportive note, the to effect that this was entirely out of character for you, you are otherwise a model of propriety, etc…I doubt it will hurt you in admissions. And, you explain, that is why you are looking for a campus that is transgender positive.
You should talk to your counselor. I have heard of schools taking a suspension off a student’s record if it was their only offense and they have never been in trouble before.
Check with your guidance counselor to see if it will show up on your record. If it doesn’t you may choose to re-word some of your essay.
bump
bump
Why bump? You got good advice. Take it.
Paranoia, but thank you. Also, by the time I had originally posted this, I had already sent in everything, so I was mostly trying to predict damage.
There is no way we can know how any of your schools will evaluate the info.