<p>Among the changes to the 2011-12 Common Application is one that jumped off the page at me. The language asking school counselors about disciplinary action has been in amended in a couple significant ways.</p>
<p>For starters, the previous version of the Common App asked guidance counselors: </p>
<p>Has the applicant ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at your school from 9th grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in the applicants probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, or expulsion from your institution?</p>
<p>The NEW Common App will instead, say:</p>
<p>Has the applicant ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at your school from the 9th grade (or the international equivalent) forward, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in a disciplinary action? These actions could include, but are not limited to: probation, suspension,removal, dismissal, or expulsion from your institution.</p>
<p>Note that the newer wording includes ANY sort of disciplinary action, even if it didn't involve a suspension or expulsion. I can just see it now. My "Ask the Dean" mailbox will be overflowing with plaintive queries from every freshman who ever spent an afternoon scraping desk bottoms after being caught chewing gum in P.E. ("How will this affect my chances at Stanford?")</p>
<p>Muddying the waters even more, on the 2011-12 Common App, school counselors have an additional response option. In addition to "Yes" and "No," counselors are now offered a third choice: School policy prevents me from responding.</p>
<p>It makes me wonder if many schools that currently DO report suspensions and expulsions may be prompted by this new option to review their policies. School officials may wonder, "Why should we be ratting out our offenders if other high schools are staying mum?"</p>
<p>In a perfect world, I would like to see high schools voluntarily telling colleges about offenses that demonstrate truly poor character (as opposed to temporarily poor judgment ... which can be common among even the most outstanding teenagers). I would also like to see high schools warning colleges about applicants who might pose a danger to their community. But, for now, I fear that the new language on the Common App is going to cause a lot of confusion as high school administrators puzzle over which offenses to report and even over whether they should be reporting any at all.</p>