I got accepted to Stanford RD, but I did something recently that might ruin my chances of going there this fall. I am a TA for the AP Biology class at my school so the teacher gave me access to her gradebook. Just a few days after I had graduated, I went into the gradebook, changed a few grades of random students, and then changed the grades back. I resubmitted the grades after I had finished playing with them, but some grades had been put in manually by the teacher so students were affected without me knowing. I was called into school the next day and confessed what I did immediately after substantial evidence was prevented against me. After meeting with the assistant principal of my school, he came to the conclusion that I would not have to face criminal charges or any school punishment, but he said he would have to check the box on my final transcript that says something like “this kid has little to no integrity.” Fortunately, the vice principal knows me pretty well and sees me as good kid, so he said he would tell Stanford to call him so that he could elaborate my transgression to them. While I consider it to be a grey area, as far as my high school is concerned I had no malicious intent and was just displaying extremely stupid curiosity. From what I understand, the vice principal is willing to soften the nature of my actions while maintaining his own personal integrity. In the end, my actions did not amount to much damage since only 3 or 4 grades were accidentally changed and were immediately fixed by the teacher, so my main offense is that I illicitly accessed school information. I am not exactly sure what Stanford’s tolerance is of damaged integrity or whether they will consider the intent behind actions. I would love some insight as to how Stanford will react. Will Stanford rescind me, forgive me, or possibly accept me with probation? Please discuss.
Stupid curiosity killed the cat. It seems you understand the gravity of violating the trust of your teacher. I hope so. I would own up to your ridiculous behavior and if confronted by Stanford , talk about why you would never do anything like this again and explain what lesson you have learned about your behavior. We are human and as long as we learn and do not repeat mistakes then mistakes are redeemable. I wish you well.
@Screennamekiddo thank you for the helpful advice. I sure hope Stanford views my situation the way you do.
Your actions show a lack of maturity for someone smart enough to be admitted to Stanford. Whatever you do don’t lie to Stanford or act like it was just a prank.
@TomSrOfBoston, I have yet to meet a 17 or 18 yr old that hasn’t made a stupid mistake. By The Way, 17 and eighteen year olds are not mature, that is why our country has the drinking limit of 21. But, somehow 18 year olds are mature enough to die for our Country. That’s another maturity subject for a different website. I have a Son that is gifted intelligently but do to his physiological brain age at just 18, not mature enough to not make stupid mistakes. Then again he is a male, so the maturity might be suppressed by the thrill of testosterone.
@Screennamekiddo it’s the testosterone. It’s rush you feel when you find yourself in the all-powerful position of controlling the gradebooks. Or maybe I’ve just watched Mr. Robot too much…
@indigosweater, nope, I was being facetious. Testosterone isn’t a legal defense. Just as estrogen isn’t a defense for my urge to purchase too many shoes. Stick with owning up to your mistake without excuses.
@Screennamekiddo of course, I was also being facetious.
Drinking age is set due to the highway federal commision only giving states funding if they make it 21+. Just a fun fact i wanted to let everyone know, i found it interesting myself
Was this access to the teacher’s grade book, a computer access or an actual notebook? Why did you select certain students to change their grades and then back to the original grades? Those kids did not offer you money to do this? The kindest perspective is that you were immature, and the worst view that can be taken by Stanford is that there was some sort of monetary or malicious intent to change certain students’ grades. You should do everything you can (and with honesty) to make Stanford believe the former is what happened.
@websensation, it was computer access. I had never if at all talked to the people I chose. My choices were mostly random other than I picked the first name alphabetically and other names that were unique. My high school sees me as only immature. Hopefully, Stanford gets the same picture and does not rescind me for immaturity. Thanks for the line of questioning.
I’m so disappointed in your behavior.
I have no advice; just super, super sad, and glad they caught it before it screwed up those other kids’ grades permanently.
My question was about the form you (and probably your parents) signed for you to be a TA. Go and read it.
What “integrity box” us on a final transcript? I suspect he may just be scaring you…
@Sybylla That’s a good idea, but I’m pretty sure I turned in that form to my counselor and she kept it. I’ll see if I can find a copy of it.
@HRSMom that’s an interesting thought although he talked about the “integrity box” after I had already confessed so I am not sure what he would be scaring me into doing.
Scaring you after the fact. To teach you a lesson…
@indigosweater I guess you really changed certain grades and then back to their original grades just out of curiosity. How many hours or days lapsed after you changed the grades and then changed them back to the original grades? I sort of can understand your curiosity although there really was nothing to be curious about in that situation. I mean, I would have just looked at other kids’ grades. Anyway, my advice is to really persuade the school staff to get behind your story because 3rd parties (including Stanford) can think all kinds of malicious intent (like I imagined), and probably would not understand why you would find it curious enough to change other students’ grades and back again. That would be my advice in trying to help you.
This is a problem. If I had a kid at Stanford I wouldn’t want them to have a TA who got a kick out of controlling other kids’ lives. This is an extremely serious infraction in my opinion. The integrity of the high school, and of Stanford, is tied to the accuracy of the GPAs. It doesn’t sound like a prank or curiosity to me, and if your district reports it to Stanford they may not interpret it that way either. It would materially damage their reputation if employers had to question their graduates’ GPAs. I imagine it’s a topic they take pretty seriously.
@austinmshauri I meant that line as a joke in response to that one person’s comment about testosterone. I don’t actually get a kick out of controlling other kids’ lives. That entire comment was just a joke.