major problem! please help!

Parents Forum
1

<p>hey, i put this in the college admissions thread, but i think i might get better advice here...</p>

<p>i have a major problem right now. ok see, my friend is applying for this pretty selective program at drexel, and since im a star writer, he asked me to proofread his essay, and being awesome friend, i agreed. but as is my way, i scrapped all his work and completely redid the whole essay for him. when i showed it to him, he said he hated my essay and said that it made him sound gay, and that he was sticking with his old essay (which sucked pretty badly). so i said fine whatever dont, and i got kind of ****ed becuase i knew my essay was better than his.</p>

<p>i had already applied to drexel and i for some reason, im not even sure why, some evil force must have possessed me, i decided to apply to the same program that he is with my essay (with no intention of actually going there). dont ask me WHY i did this because i truly dont know, but i got my acceptance letter a couple of weeks ago. i told him i got in, and he was like...okay, great...thanks for lowering my chances, i didnt even know you wanted to be in this program, and i said i didnt haha you suck, my essay ruled...and then he breaks the news that HE ACTUALLY USED MY ENTIRE ESSAY INSTEAD OF HIS OWN!!!! what the heck?!?!?!?!</p>

<p>ok so here's the problem..i dont want to go to this program and im going to call tomorrow and tell them i want to be taken out, BUT the essay was really good and pretty distinctive, one that they'll probably remember, and i guess they havent gotten to my friends application yet, but when they do, they'll probably remember the essay...what're they going to do? not let my friend in at all because they think he stole my essay?</p>

<p>when i call, should i say that i stole HIS essay? even though i didnt, he really wants to get into this program...but will that get around to other colleges that i do want to go to? and i plan to apply to drexel med school in a couple years, so would they remember this and keep me out??! should i just do nothing and hope they dont notice that the essays are the same?!?! (even though i cant see that happening)??</p>

<p>thanks for any advice or guidance. we really dont know what to do right now.</p>

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<p>Well, you guys are in trouble all right. It is entirely possible that they will not remember your essay. But since you guys are applied to the very same program and are coming from the same region, it is also entirely possible that they will catch you as well. And if they notice, not only will both of you be booted out of the process, they will likely notify your GC at school and you will both face plaguerism charges. </p>

<p>If you want my opinion, since I do not believe in quivering like a rabbit in the bushes hoping not to get caught, I would withdraw the application, and your friend should do the same. I would then come clean with the GC and your parents on what you did. If you have someone at the school that can help you with this process, a teacher who is close to the two of you, it might make things less hairy.</p>

3

<p>I have to agree with jamimom. You both need to withdraw from the program/school, tell your parents and GC and show some integrity. Perhaps the GC will not call the other schools to which you have applied if you come clean and show that you have learned a big lesson.</p>

4

<p>"i have a major problem right now. ok see, my friend is applying for this pretty selective program at drexel, and since im a star writer, he asked me to proofread his essay, and being awesome friend, i agreed. but as is my way, i scrapped all his work and completely redid the whole essay for him. "</p>

<p>Other people have done a great job of underlining that what each of you did by stealing each other's essays was plagiarism.</p>

<p>I am pointing out that the above also was unethical.</p>

<p>My advice would be to become an honest person. Whether you manage to get into college for next fall (and what you did may keep you out of college next fall), developing a sense of integrity will prevent your again being in the kind of situation you're in now.</p>

5

<p>Let's see. You screwed your friend by submitting an application to compete with his/hers, and apparently also misrepresented yourself by submitting an essay that was supposed to represent your friend's point of view on some topic. If I were your friend I would have nothing to do with you from now on, and if I were your friend's parent that's exaclty what I would advise him/her to do.</p>

<p>Right now, both of you have to withdraw your applications from Drexrel and talk with the GC about what to do.</p>

6

<p>Any gc worth their salt should report this as an incident of plagerism. It will go on your permanent record. It should go on your record because you have failed to develop a set of morals that is college appropriate.</p>

<p>Re-writing the essay was unethical. Applying to the same program "with no intention of going there" was unethical. Failing to alert your friend that you submitted the essay was unethical. You're a hard case.</p>

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<p>Cheers, I have seen this sort of thing happen many times, and often as schools really do not want this sort of thing happening to their seniors, they tend to come up with less permanent solutions. Though they are honor bound to report if asked directly, most schools do not answer the questions on the counselors' report. So there is a chance thesee wise guys may get off a bit lighter. They do need to withdraw those apps, however, and inform the GC and take their licks. It is also the best damage control measure. I would tell my own kids to do the same. I have posted on this case on the other forum as well, and I am bit appalled at the OP's feeling that he was the "nice" guy and the view that after all HE did not plaguerize as he did write the essay, but his friend did. Both of them are equally guilty in this case, but with an adult advocate at the school who may know some of their more redeeming characteristics that we do not see, they may get off with a punishment lighter than being blacklisted at colleges this year. If they get caught by Drexel in this and the college informs the school, however, the school will most likely have to throw the book at the kids. It's time for them to go hat in hand and make "mea culpa".</p>