<p>My friend got into UNC-Chapel Hill, but he also screwed himself over real bad at the end of 1st semester. He cheated on a midterm and got caught. The school suspended him for 2 days a week ago and are now telling him to write a letter to UNC to explain what happened. Do you guys think this might get his acceptance revoked?</p>
<p>It is possible.</p>
<p>Yes, it's very possible.</p>
<p>Not only possible but likely. Academic dishonesty is not tolerated.</p>
<p>Doesn't seem very fair to me if his acceptance is rescinded.</p>
<p>At my school in particular, students at any level (entry level courses and AP) cheat. Some more than others. Even when the student is blatantly caught, most teachers just have a talk and make them retake the test. Yes you heard me, retake the test, not even an automatic F. </p>
<p>A 2-day suspension sounds pretty severe from my point of view. It does not seem fair that different schools have different policies, and I highly doubt my school would make a student report that he cheated on a test to the colleges he was accepted to. I agree it was a lapse of better judgement for this student, but missing out on college because of it sounds too much to me. </p>
<p>Why am I so passionate on this subject? Well in my first months of sixth grade, I myself was caught cheating. Honestly, I did not know what cheating was back then. My previous elementary school did not even really do grades... it was more of a 'excellent satisfactory unsatisfactory' grading system. So I counted a question right when it was wrong when grading my test, was told I did something wrong, then I faced the punishment: 0% on the test, a 4 hour saturday school, and a 'academic dishonest mark on my permanent record' whatever the hell that means.</p>
<p>I thought this was a pretty crazy punishment... but hey, I never cheated again. Throughout my years I witnessed students trading papers during tests, 'correcting' their tests in pencil instead of red pen or best yet, stealing the test the day before the test without the professor knowing. All of which were imo a lot worse then anything I did and these students performed these acts during high school as matured adults, not as a 11 year kid just learning the ropes of real school. </p>
<p>I figured this was the case for everyone who cheated until my spanish class in high school. On a memorization test (100 spanish to english word translations) I watched a student write in all the answers as she was 'correcting' her paper. After class I talked to the teacher about this. He basically said that he noticed she does this all the time and gave me a philosophical argument: She will know how wrong it is one day and then realize how much cheating has hurt her.</p>
<p>All and all, cheating is bad. Where does it get you? Well nowhere really. You cannot really cheat in real life so you should learn how to do things the right way when you are young and developing. Away from that, cheating on a single test should not ruin your life, and I would say getting rejected from your college after you said no to all the other ones is a little harsh. Going to community college because you cheated on one test?</p>
<p>We are all taught that academic honesty is important and I agree it is, but individual schools and teachers cannot agree on a proper system to stop the cheating. The current system is that you can cheat as long as "you do not get caught" and even if you do get caught, many students luck out by having philosophical teachers like my spanish teacher.</p>
<p>^After you said "you heard me" you put something different from what you originally said lol.. I like what your teacher said though</p>
<p>I can't believe that's how your school chose to punish your friend. That's pretty horrible.</p>
<p>It depends on how bad the cheating was.</p>
<p>Working on another section when you're not supposed to?
Sneaking a bunch of formulas onto your calculator?
Conspiring to share answers?
Stealing the teacher's answer sheet? </p>
<p>IMO (this is just my opinion), the first is the least dishonest (though it still is somewhat), and the last is the most dishonest.</p>
<p>We had a pretty large cheating incident at our school and basically everyone that participated was kicked out of NHS and failed the test. I don't think colleges were notified at all.</p>
<p>It could definitely definitely be a rescind unless the letter happens to be really good or something- that might give them a slight chance. I don't know, looks pretty bad to me.</p>
<p>What does the letter say?
What were the details?
Any mitigating circumstances?</p>
<p>These are all important.</p>
<p>"I figured this was the case for everyone who cheated until my spanish class in high school. On a memorization test (100 spanish to english word translations) I watched a student write in all the answers as she was 'correcting' her paper. After class I talked to the teacher about this. He basically said that he noticed she does this all the time and gave me a philosophical argument: She will know how wrong it is one day and then realize how much cheating has hurt her."</p>
<p>The teacher was an idiot. What he was doing was teaching that student and the entire class that cheating was OK. The teacher wasn't doing his job. What a coward he was.</p>
<p>Cali Trumpet, I agree completely that it's unfair that different schools have different policies. It's also unfair that different schools offer different APs, different ECs, and different levels of rigor. A lot of schools just flat-out suck, and that's something that we're all going to have to deal with.</p>
<p>While I agree that having your dream college rescind you would be a horrific punishment for a momentary lapse in judgment, Krazer's friend nonetheless brought it entirely on himself. There is a great scene in Liar Liar where Jim Carey's character, forced to always tell the truth, provides his "legal advice" to a client by shouting "STOP BREAKING THE LAW, A__HOLE!" into the phone.</p>
<p>The point is that while the punishment may not fit the crime, your friend won't be rescinded for cheating once, he will be rescinded for being a cheater. By cheating, he demonstrates that he is willing to sacrifice his moral principles to get ahead, and that he does not have strong self-control. Colleges that want to avoid plagiarism do NOT want students like this, and it's hard to blame them.</p>
<p>well the cheating occurred during an anatomy midterm. The teacher puts questions from tests on the midterm. She gives 3 days for everyone before the test to look at tests which are not allowed to leave the room. One day there was a substitute and my friend took the tests to the bathroom and took a picture with his phone. That was basically it.</p>
<p>I think he gets to write a letter explaining what happened, but so does one of the higher administrators(not sure which one). He also gets 2 teacher recs.</p>
<p>The school requesting that this student write a letter to the college accepting responsibility for his actions - seems reasonable. The high school has an obligation to hold this student accountable.</p>
<p>Some Schools Take Cheating Very Seriously</p>
<p>A high school in NH notified the police about a cheating incident (exams were removed from a locked filing cabinet) and ten high school students were criminally charged. Several of these kids have been convicted of accessory to theft for acting as lookouts. </p>
<p>Three</a> students face new charges in N.H. cheating scandal - The Boston Globe</p>
<p>At my daughters' high school, your friend would have been expelled, not suspended. Your friend got away easy, at least he'll have a high school diploma.</p>
<p>
[quote]
One day there was a substitute and my friend took the tests to the bathroom and took a picture with his phone. That was basically it.
[/quote]
"that was basically it"????? That makes it worse - very premeditated and can't even use the excuse of 'spur of the moment'. (not that spur of the moment makes it ok - but better than stealing tests and photographing them - good lord).</p>
<p>Having a mid term be questions from tests **and **allowing the students three days to look at those tests did not make the test easy enough? Then he has to steal the tests and take pictures of them. Wow. </p>
<p>Colleges are very strong on academic integrity. At my daughter's college cheating gets an automatic F on a course with a notation that the F is for cheating. That is for a first offence.</p>
<p>I am a former college prof. At my college, we also gave automatic "Fs" for cheating or plagiarism.</p>
<p>I can't imagine anything that the OP's friend could write that would prevent UNC from revoking his admission. All colleges value academic integrity highly.</p>
<p>
[quote]
"that was basically it"????? That makes it worse - very premeditated and can't even use the excuse of 'spur of the moment'. (not that spur of the moment makes it ok - but better than stealing tests and photographing them - good lord).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>This is probably the worst time to be technical, but I have to say nearly all acts of cheating are premeditated -- i.e. the only times when you have people "cheating by accident" (or committing some cheating equivalent of manslaughter) are situations like when they forget they weren't supposed to have a calculator for that section.</p>
<p>When can "clouded judgment" be an actual mitigating circumstance? If you are actually taking the test and you find that you are on time pressure or something?</p>
<p>Also, it seems the OP is trying to downplay what went on here, by hesitating to give details that would reveal the full extent of his friend's wrongdoing. This is CC, not the admissions committee, so covering up the truth here will only hurt him. Has the student totally no remorse?</p>
<p>^^^^^^^Yes you are right. I thought that after I made the comment - though I did say that spur of the moment does not make it ok. I was trying to express my amazement at the "that was basically it" comment that implied that stealing the tests and photographing them was not a big deal. I did not express myself well - I guess I was at a loss for words ;)</p>
<p>I would like to ask the OP whether or not this was a possible conspiracy?</p>
<p>Taking a test into the bathroom seems rather impossible without the other students noticing ...</p>