<p>The farthest I've gone was copying some answers from the back of a book for regular math homework in middle school. Arguably in the gray area since (some of) the answers are provided in the student edition of the book as well as the teacher one, but I wasn't exactly just "checking my work." Do I regret it? No, because the material was intuitive and redundant, and I'd rather be doing more productive things. While I'd agree cheating is generally bad, it isn't inherently. The discussion is similar to the debate on the effects of market corruption (e.g. bribery, or just illegally bypassing unnecessary bureaucracy). Cheating is generally bad just like corruption (most scholars agree) is generally bad, but it has the potential to be justified when there are bad teachers/classes/assignments (as corruption may be justified as a means of escaping bad policies).</p>
<p>Also, there is no common "blacklisted" database other than criminal status etc. Make an effort to underexaggerate what happened slightly and it should be fine. I wouldn't use cheating for a common essay incase it is ill received (which I would not expect it to be), but I would go ahead with a school or two. Nor would college representatives on this site bother taking not of a student whose behavior was very reasonable (as in the case of the poster), nor is there sufficient information in the public profile for a non-admin to identify any user, assuming that they don't post further personal information.</p>