<p>I cannot believe how bad this is. I am a Junior, 4.0. 98% percentile psat yada yada yada. Well one week ago I was kicked off the newspaper at school for plagarizing a story for the entertainment page. I was the editor and I cut and pasted some stupid article about video games because of time constraints. No excuse, it was really a total lapse in judgement but I have never cheated , used spark notes or anything on an academic assignment.
I have spent a hellish week at school. Everyone is talking about me, I had to meet with the principal and newspaper advisor, my parents and I haven't slept since. I am totally kicking myself for this.
I was planning on apply to Cornell early decision next year. I have little left in extracurriculars and don't know what I would say on my application about newspaper. I also think that NHS is out of my grips although the Principal told me to write a letter and they may/may not let me in. I don't care about being in but would it not leave a gap on my transcript?
I need advice. I don't trust anyone at my school to give me good advice. They are all too busy looking down on me.
How could all my hard work be erased by this stupid mistake? Perhaps I should go to community college.</p>
<p>Don't let this mistake destroy the rest of your record, and also, you should try to forgive yourself. It's hard, but it's the first step to putting it behind you.</p>
<p>Also, you might write an apology and put it in the newspaper?</p>
<p>OK, so you made a mistake. I agree- write an apology letter to the editor. And please, give yourself a break. Your GPA will look just fine whether you are NHS or not, and I bet you will have good SATs /ACTs. You will go to college. Maybe Cornell, or maybe someplace else, but that would have been true no matter what. I guess you will have to find out how your guidance counselors will handle telling schools- I hope they let it go. Maybe you can just leave the whole newspaper thing off your resume, and that will be that.</p>
<p>Lol, nobody cares whether or not you were in National Honor Society. Most ppl at my school are too lazy to join anyways. Don't worry, but definitely write an apology.</p>
<p>I agree with Narcissa. The honer society thing is not important, and it's not something most people bother with around here either. I agree about writing a letter of apology. Also, if you handle it right and find a way to make something good come out of this, it might make a really good essay for college apps. Lessons learned the hard way, when something feels like minor thing and it turns out not to be a minor thing at all, growing up. If it goes without mention from your counselors, then it's your call whether to bring it up -- but if it is going to be mentioned, then you should own it, use it, and address it forthrightly... not groveling, but coming through it a wiser person. Take a class in journalistic ethics at a college somewhere this summer, or something to that effect.</p>
<p>^haha it sounds like one of those "When did you feel like it was the end of the world?" essays.</p>
<p>NHS means nothing, tho kids don't seem to know that. it has NO standardization, meaning across the country, you can have anywhere from a 3.0 to 3........needed to get in. in our hs, it was merely a power trip for the "NHS NAZI"( that's what she was called). she kept out TONS of kids who were stellar on one stupid thing or another! she enjoyed making kids appeal her almighty decision! AND IT DOESN'T MATTER! it has no standardized way of demonstrating a student's academic superiority.</p>
<p>^ Most kids in my school treat NHS as though its the golden standard for admission into the nation's top colleges. That can't be farther from the truth, so yea, OP don't worry about NHS but definitely apologize.</p>
<p>Thank you for your encouragement. I already sent an email to the paper but it was a personal apology and not a letter to be published. I don't know if I have the guts to put write it to the paper for publication and I have been told by a friend's mom who is a lawyer to not admit it in wriring because colleges would have that very easily. I am just in shock. I am afraid I have ruined everything and my grades will no longer matter. Cornell is my first and only choice because I want to be a vet. I haven't spoken to my guidance counselor about this yet. She is somewhat strange but I guess the real reason I am avoiding her is deep shame that I feel. I do have an out of school extracurricular activity of working at an enviromental center (volunteer) but that and spanish club treasurer is all I have. Thanks to all of you. I feel some relief just talking about it. My friends don't know what to say except that can't believe it was me who did this but neither can I.</p>
<p>^ sucks, and i can understand the feelings of anxiety and nervousness that you're going through. my advice would be to get into a few other EC's out of school, try to get a spectacular SAT score, and do a noteworthy EC over the summer. Granted your school doesn't report you, I think you'd be in good standing come senior year.</p>
<p>Wow- it's good that you got legal advice. Maybe the published apology would come back to bite you.</p>
<p>Something really struck me as a good idea for you in 'rentof2's post.</p>
<p>He/she mentioned taking a class in journalistic ethics somewhere over the summer. I think this is one of the most effective steps you can take in your situation.</p>
<p>I don't know if such a course exists, but you have to do something official that shows your regret. It has to be something outside yourself, something that can speak for you, something like a microphone that can magnify what you want to say. The fact that you aren't someone who plagiarizes doesn't change what you should do. All other plagiarizers are in your exact same position right now, whether they meant it or not.</p>
<p>A final piece of advice: Don't write about it in your college essays, no matter what you can say about being sorry about it.</p>
<p>I agree ^^, don't make it an essay topic, colleges take plagarism very seriously. I like your course of action by sending a letter of apology and maybe include a small blurb stating your apology in the next edition. Don't publish a full-blown letter and magnify it more than it has to be. You made a mistake, but don't kill yourself over it. Learn from it and move on, you can still get into elite colleges.</p>
<p>How would Cornell even find out about this? I was in and out of a number of clubs during HS due to either them disbanding or just not caring any more (tended to concentrate more on the ones I enjoyed). Just go get a job. Then you'll earn money as well as have one of the better looking ECs out there.</p>
<p>Also, NHS is a joke. I was top 5% in a class of 750 students and wasn't offered a spot. Nor was my friend that was third in the class. The only people I knew that were offered were Christians, which seemed a little odd considering I lived in a moderately diverse area. One of my friends actually got kicked out for missing too many meetings. Apparently they didn't like him being a volunteer EMT for 20+ hours a week while pulling a 3.9 GPA.</p>
<p>Not every vet went to Cornell. You can pre-vet at any school, same as going pre-med. I'd do some work in a vet office or SPCA or something to build up ECs.</p>
<p>I would be very concerned for you. I would suggest getting other ECs but realize that teachers/guidance counselors MAY suggest this incident in their letters of recommendation. Just try to make amends and make your intentions clear. Hopefully, these adults will change your mind and realize you're not a bad person. I'm hope that they will give you a second chance.</p>
<p>this is reassessment time....if you show you feel bad and truely realize the error of your ways, and not make excuses, it probably won't be reported. If you are afraid to approach the GC< send a note- saying just that</p>
<p>Not saying you are afraid of her, but that you so embarrassed by your own actions, that you don't know where to start. And NOW is the time to find those ECs--- look around at school, see what clubs are social, but may not appear to be resume builders and jump right it...showing that you are willing to get back to it, and support the school, most kids will forget all about the reason you are there- many of them have messed up...and your story will be old news after the weekend....</p>
<p>You have lots of time to "redeem" yourself</p>
<p>We had kids who were expelled for having sex on retreat...and they were let back in and doing amazingly well...time can heal things and it is how you act NOW that will matter when it comes to recommendations, etc...if you show you are sorry, and you understand the mistake you made, and you work hard, you will be given a second chance...</p>
<p>don't let this get you down- go back to school on Monday with a plan- see the GC, find some more ECs, find someay to work toward your interests...was it animals, if so go to the SPCA, etc...</p>
<p>seems you understand your mistake, and to the adult types, that is huge</p>
<p>about your 'plagiarism'...why can't you just say you forgot to cite it? I don't see what's wrong with using another person's article, as long as you thought it was good and you gave credit to that person.</p>
<p>^^ That's what I was thinking. If you really tried to pass the work off as your own, that's plagarism, but if you just cut and pasted w/o trying to take credit then that's a much lesser offense.</p>
<p>It's not like you punched a guy in the face and broke his nose.</p>
<p>^ isn't it a bit too late? I think apology would do.</p>