<p>Hello,
Im currently a high school senior applying to </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cornell University
Stanford
Columbia University's Fu Foundation School of Engineering & Applied Science
Rice University
Brown University
University of California Berkeley
University of California LA
University of Texas Austin
University of Wisconsin-Madison
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
University of Washington Seattle
University of Michigan
University of Massachusetts Amherst
University of New York Stony Brook (SUNYSB)</p>
<p>During Junior year, I had a small incident that caused an on-site suspension
And the saddest part is that I live in a city that is about an hour from my school (I'm in a carpool) so I had to wake up at 5:00am for commuting..
I was in a zero-period (6:00am-7:00am) class Computer Class (District grad requirement to take Computer Competency... it was not Computer Science just MicroSoft Office)
I finished all of the assignments so I was a bit bored
So basically I opened up notepad and typed in "ha"
Then I held ctrl-h
I typed in replace "ha" with "ha ha"
then I hit the replace all button 6 times
well mathematically it should stop at 2^6 = 64 "ha"s
But sadly our school's computer was an older version of notepad that had a glitch
It kept on saying "ha ha" without stopping.. almost a recursive function that had no end
Then the bell rang and I had to get to my 1st period class
I looked around for the teacher to tell her that the computer went haywire
Apparently she left class to the restroom
I tried hitting ctrl-shift-del to end the notepad.exe process
apparently my user account didn't have access to task manager
so my only option was to leave to my next class
so after that I get to my IB Physics class and I had a lab
someone comes into class and asks me to come to the office
normally it was something trivial like an attendence issue
but this time it was to the VP's office
I got on-site suspension on the charges of "hacking into the school network"
Hacking?
I kept on arguing back and forth but it looked like they would come up with any excuse to get me into suspension
I even got an employee from Intel Corporation to state that it was not hacking
After the Intel Employee supported me... the teacher said that notepad was going to take up all of the harddisk space on the district harddrive...</p>
<hr>
<p>First of all.. all processes are run off of RAM and Virtual memory (if any) from the harddisk
Virtual memory is limited to like 1 gb on school computers
The school computers have an 100 gb HD on each computer
I don't think that even if notepad took up all of the virtual memory... it wouldn't do any harm
After I argued and won that case
They said I was "working on non-related things"
Well apparently everyday, the student on the left of me would play Solitaire
He didn't get on-site
What about the millions of people that doodle on paper in class?
Do they need on-site suspension?
Im not trying to justify my curiousity
Just isn't on-site a bit too much?
Apparently it shows up on my record and almost every application I see has the words "Have you ever been found responsible for a disciplinary violation at an educational institution you have attended from 9th grade...."
I just want to know whether I should be honest or not
Because I want to be honest but I don't want to kill my chances
I hate making excuses though.. I just want to be as open as possible
Please help me out
Thank you so much</p>
<p>P.S. I failed the lab because couldn't get my data (it was an IB Internal Assessment)
Hence I got a 5 on the IB exam because my test score was perfect but my IA wasn't</p>
<p>This will not ruin your chances at all. Write a very brief description of what happened (not in the detail above). Just say something like “I was in computer lab and I was fooling with the computer and it got stuck and repeated a number of characters. It went haywire for some reason and I was disciplined for interfering with the school’s network. I tried to explain myself, but despite my best efforts, I was assigned an in-school suspension. I regret that this is on my record, and I have made every effort to not cause any disruption since that day.”</p>
<p>Makes sense
I will not go into detail
I’m also having an interview soon
Should I even mention this?
So are you saying I shouldn’t go into detail because of word count or something else?
Just want to know
Thanks for the advice
Any others?
Also another thing to note is that it is called P.A.S.S (Positive Alternative School Suspension) at my school
So is it still considered a school suspension?
I’m really confused</p>
<p>You should talk to your counselor and ask if it is going to be mentioned in your profile/recs. If it is NOT in your record, I would skip it. Otherwise, you have to answer the question about suspensions. They don’t want a big narrative- just a short explanation. (I am an expert on this topic) Don’t mention it in the interview. It is a minor incident and should be treated as such. I know kids who were expelled from top prep schools and are still at Ivy League colleges, so don’t worry about this little issue.</p>
<p>thanks for all the help
Well on what HSisOverrated said..
I think its okay to just mention
I mean isn’t “Do Not Include It!” a bit too extreme?
Because that would be lying
Plus I just checked with my school and it seems that it’s also called an “In-school Suspension”
I have no way to contact my counselor though.. (its Winter Break)
I’ll just say that I did
In some respects is actually helps to show it
Since that was me before.. always careless not paying attention to rules
Now I have matured
Heck I even organized an One Computer per Student project at my school
Before Christmas, my Computer Science club gave every student who didn’t have a computer a computer
Plus I also taught 30 students AP Comp Sci through an no-credit class
15 of them are taking the AP Comp Sci A exam this year
So I’m just going to be honest
Thanks for the help MomofWildChild
Any other suggestions?</p>
<p>that sounds like the dumbest reason to suspend someone…the only thing is that you should have stayed to fix the problem instead of going to your next class</p>
<p>it is a very stupid thing to do
there is a reason why my HS doesn’t have any AP or IB Comp Sci classes
All the dumb ppl teach Comp Applications there…
And the only IB HL Science course offered is IB Bio…
but to me Comp Sci and Physics are awesome
Basically the school administration wanted to suspend me
I really don’t know why…
Thanks for the support</p>
<p>So there are no other suggestions?
I mean I’d like to know whether anyone thinks that the colleges I’m applying to would give an automatic rejection because of the suspension…
I mean it was just carelessness and curiousity that made it happen
I guess it is an example of maturing over time</p>
<p>i was suspended freshman year cus my pocketknife fell out of my backpack. i was charged for “possession of a dangerous object”. seeing as the blade on that little keychain knife was smaller than scissor blades at my school, i obviously dont see how i posed a threat.
but anyways i was suspended 3 days OFF campus. couldnt even go to school
plus it shows up on my record
but my counselor says as long as i explain the situation i shouldnt get “auto-rejected”
everyone makes mistakes right? some of us just get caught</p>
<p>If you are applying to Brown University they let you upload a document explaining why you got the suspensions/criminal offenses…
Wow a pocket knife..
interesting
My friend carries his Sikh Dagger everyday…
just no-one notices it
cuz its a religious thing
nevertheless a “dangerous object”?
I mean even a blade of grass <notice the=“” diction=“” of=“” “blade”=“” grass=“”> can be a “dangerous object”
school rules just simply sux
anyways im sure that won’t be a problem
but why were you carrying a pocket knife to school?
my suspension is just stupid… i mean they thought I made some virus when it was just notepad
but idk
im not worried bout it anymore
I have like 20 copies of my transcript so do you think I should open one up?
i mean is the record the transcript
like if it doesn’t show up in my transcript do I have to talk about it at all???
thanks</notice></p>
<p>I know what I’m talking about, so take my advice. My son had to explain MUCH worse and was accepted to several highly selective schools and several others said his infractions would not be a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>I would suggest talking to your counselor in conjunction with the head disciplinarian. I know at our school they will remove stupid suspensions such as one like this from your record.</p>
<p>MOWC is correct and I concur
My son had an in-school suspension (2 days) for a much more serious offense
He owned up to it on his applications, disclosed it to the college coaches that were recruiting him and wrote a beautiful essay about what he learned from the experience
He is now attending a top LAC, his first choice—in a weird sort of way, I think it actually strengthened his application</p>
<p>MomofaKnight- It’s funny you said that. I believe that, too. It makes the kids stand out and not in a negative way. They did something, they learned from it and they moved on. I really think it turned out to be a positive.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for all the help!
I’m fine now
It’s just a small incident anyways
I’ll definetely explain it clearly and briefly in my additional info section
I’ll just say how I was careless to school rules earlier and then became careful and payed my dues
Thanks</p>
Don’t mention it in the interview. It is a minor incident and should be treated as such. I know kids who were expelled from top prep schools and are still at Ivy League colleges, so don’t worry about this little issue.</p>
I feel your pain, OP.</p>