reapplying to grad school with (potential) academic dishonesty on record

Graduate School
1

<p>Last year, I was in my first semester of grad school, and it was rough stuff. Prior to choosing schools, I was really debating on two different degree plans, and I ultimately chose one over the other because I was told it was a "safer choice." Still, I was jazzed about grad school, as I'd always wanted to be a professor.</p>

<p>During the course of my first semester, however, my boyfriend broke up with me, my mother turned psycho-martyr-mom and disowned me, and, two days before finals, my dad died. (It was a tough semester, to be sure.) I was in the middle of writing my last paper when I heard the news about my dad, and when I tried to contact the professor of the paper I was writing, he was out of town skiing and didn't answer calls. I was totally in a space of complete devastation, and I didn't pay as close attention as I normally would to the paper that I was writing, and ended up plagiarizing it. I didn't even know I'd done it (chalk it up to the notion of "just put my head down and get it done" instead of paying attention to what I was copying and paraphrasing and what I was directly citing) until I got the paper back after finals and he'd said I'd plagiarized the paper.</p>

<p>The graduate committee talked him down from reporting me to the school, to simply failing me for the course...but they required me to take a year off of school, and come back the following fall to retake the course. If I retook the course, the F would be gone, and as long as I made As in the other courses I took that semester, I'd be golden, and be able to continue on as normal.</p>

<p>The problem is, it's been a year of stress (dealing with my dad's estate and rectifying the relationship with my mom), and the more I'm away from the school, the more I realize it's not the degree plan I want to go back to. When I think about what I want to spend the rest of my life doing, it's the second degree plan (the one I didn't choose). I don't want to pay the thousands of dollars it's going to cost to go back up to the midwest (I'm living 5 states away now) and complete a degree I'd only be "mostly happy" with. It's not the kind of school or the kind of degree plan I wanted. (It was a real wake-up call, as it's a research1 school, and I'd come from a very liberal-arts based college in my undergrad, which I thrive on.)</p>

<p>So...am I screwed? Do I have a choice? If I don't go back to this school, will I ever be able to get into another grad school again? Do I have to suck it up, move back up there for (at least) a semester, retake the class, and then see what my options are from there? Is there any way to ask my current school what my options are without them completely dropping me?</p>

<p>(And yes, I realize the severity of what happened, and it was a one-time occurrence that would never be repeated. I also recognize this school has granted me a boon by not expelling me, but their decision should tell you that the circumstances around this time were extremely dire. It's no excuse for what happened, but they were definitely extenuating circumstances.)</p>

2

<p>Are you pursuing a masters or a PhD? How different are the two degree programs you’re talking about? Are you currently enrolled in biology but want biochemistry instead, or is it something like you enrolled in computer science but have a nagging passion for classical studies? It may be that you could spend the rest of your life doing what you really want with the degree you’re currently pursuing, and don’t have to do something as drastic as pulling out and reapplying elsewhere.</p>

<p>It may also be that you’re wavering not because you really want to change disciplines, but because you have so many bad memories associated with that one semester at that school and unconsciously attribute your misery in those months to the place instead of the circumstances. Kind of like getting the stomach flu one night after eating ham, and then for the next year you feel sick every time you smell ham even though the meat had nothing to do with the sickness. Suddenly you wish you had eaten turkey instead, though you know rationally that the outcome would have been the same regardless.</p>

<p>That said, it seems you’re pretty afraid of making moves right now, and you don’t have to be. You can get into another graduate program if you leave. You will not be “dropped” for asking your current school about your options. Take your time and consider things carefully, and remember that whatever you choose, there will always be a way to be happy.</p>

3

<p>I think the best thing you can do is emphasize how YOU have changed since this incident. If you try to explain it away, I think the committees would wonder if another personal crisis could lead to another violation. If you emphasize your personal maturation, on the other hand, you can increase their comfort with the idea that the error would not be repeated.</p>

4

<p>artisteatwork, I think you clearly had extenuating circumstances. My husband passed away recently causing my high school and college kids to be in a blurr and barely be able to finish the semester. I completely understand that you could look at your work and not even know what you were doing. I wonder if they could have given you a W instead of an F? I doesn’t seem worth it to go back to that college just to fix the F grade. Could you possibly talk to an advisor from the graduate program you are interested in and discuss your situation? Maybe they would be willing to overlook that semester and consider your earlier record?</p>

<p>Could you elaborate on the change you want to make?</p>

5

<p>they’d have to be *******s to not try to look past this.</p>

6

<p>my current degree plan was in the sociology of religion (which, it turns out, is mostly just sociology, with a smattering of “church attendance rates” thrown in for good measure). What i want to do is religious studies (studying the history of religion and how it affects present day). </p>

<p>I would have gotten a religious studies degree at the undergrad university I went to, but they didn’t offer it, so I got a sociology degree with a religious studies minor. My mom, and a few professors, convinced me sociology was a better track because it had a wider range of mobility in the academic world - i could find a sociology tenure-track position faster than a religious studies position. Except I don’t want to teach sociology. I want to teach religious studies. I don’t MIND sociology, and I like many aspects of it, but as it pertains to religion, it’s not the field I want to be in.</p>

<p>So you generally think I might be able to be accepted under extenuating circumstances if I explain what happened and how I’ve grown from the experience?</p>