Recently was caught for an academic integrity violation on a unit exam for one of my core STEM classes, not sure of the punishment as of yet but will this hurt my odds of getting in if I report it to NCSU?
For reference, this occurred due to insane stress I faced due to family-related issues, issues with college applications, along with much more that I’m still trying to figure out. I’ve got decent GPA/SAT stats (3.7UW/4.3W, 1470 SSC), and am taking high-difficulty classes. Will explaining the situation as an update to my EA application reduce any of the scrutiny I’ll be facing from admissions people for having any punishments related to this on my transcript?
I responded to this before - did you set up a second thread? You must have because the previous said you applied to schools that have a 45-85% acceptance.
#1 - this did not happen due to stress or too much going on. This happened because you made the decision to cheat. You need to own up to that decision. You can be forgiven for cheating if you accept blame, learn your lesson and never do again. It cannot be forgiven if you attempt to justify it - not just for college admissions but in life. We all make errors - own your errors.
Your family stress or the app process didn’t cause you to cheat. You made the decision to do so. You could have easily not cheated and perhaps gotten a bad grade, etc.
So as I stated before - you can anonymously call them and ask - I’ve submitted but this recently happened. How would I inform you?
If you do so, I would say what happened (you got caught cheating) and what you learned from this. I would own it, not justify it.
You are young. You screwed up. Guess what - we all do - even those of us not young - but the lesson here is not simply that you made an error in judgement - but that you own that error so you can ensure it never happens again. In this case, it would have been better if you just flat out did bad…right. You can’t go back - but you can learn. This too shall pass - but learn from the mistake.
The other thing I said was - you might wait until you find out the outcome. In the last note you mentioned it going on your transcript but you said you didn’t know the outcome. Perhaps you’ll just fail a test, get a C in the class, and you can move on…i.e. it won’t be noted.
If it will be noted, own up to it (they’ll probably have you email the admission counselor). Make it short - to the point. it’s what you did that matters - not why you did it (which is just you justifying it).
If you have any concerns, apply to a few less selective schools (NC State, depending on the major, isn’t a gimme for you anyway) - like an ECSU or Western Carolina as a back up.
Good luck.
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All students endure stress at some point in their acadamic careers. How they choose to deal with it matters. Cheating to try to gain an unfair advantage over other applicants wasn’t a good choice, and trying to find excuses for it makes it worse. You need to take ownership of the choices you’ve made. Colleges are very concerned about cheating so, yes, it might hurt your chances. Report it where you have to and explain what you learned from it. You should also add a couple academic safeties to your list.
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