PLEASE READ MY CASE AND HELP ME! I am a junior in high school right now. Recently, I got a 3 day Out of School Suspension for stealing. I explained that I wasn’t intentional to do that, but it didn’t seem to work. Basically I went to a HEB store with my host family, when I finished paying a bag of stuff, I went into the store again. After I picked a $5 item in addition and put it in my shopping bag, then I forgot about it and talked out without paying it. The safeguard caught me and released me to my host family. My host family told the school and they decided to give me a 3-day Out of School Suspension for stealing. I regretted so much and I want to know how much the OSS will affect my college application? If I confess all my fault, will the colleges consider me? By the way, my grades are not bad, I have a GPA of 4.1 and taking 3 AP classes right now. My goal is sub-IVY schools like UC Berkeley. Will the UC application system ask me about suspensions? Please give me some advise!
You should contact your guidance counselor. Is this a private school? I would be surprised if a public school suspended you for something that had nothing to do with the school.
Yes, this is a private school. What should I do?
Ask your host parents to speak to the Principal and explain that you made a mistake, and to request that your suspension be canceled.
Your suspension can cause problem for you as it will be most likely reflected in your transcript.
Are you an international student at an American boarding school? If so, may I presume that you were staying with the host family for Thanksgiving? In that case, they must have been sufficiently concerned about your behavior to feel obliged to contact the school. Did the store choose to prosecute and report to local police? That can create additional problems for international students.
The simple answer is that this will probably appear on your transcript. Some colleges are too big to pay much attention to disciplinary matters, but others might ask questions and expect a full explanation. Ask your guidance counselor how this will appear on your transcript.
A suspension will not automatically ruin your chances for admission to a good college. Large, public universities typically focus more on grades and test scores, but - if they ask about suspensions on the application - do not lie. The bad news is that this might have a serious impact on admission to the most selective colleges: they have too many qualified applicants, and any imperfection can disqualify you.
I am an international student in Texas now, and @woogzmama is totally right. I explained to the principal and my host family, but they didn’t make a change. However, they tell me that it will not be on the transcript. When I ask them if this can be expunged, they say no; but they also say that colleges will not know about this. So I am really confused now, I think they are talking about the public schools, because on common application, they specifically ask about suspensions. By the way, the store did not call a cop or anything.
HELP PLEASE~