Near the end of my sophomore year, three of my friends and I were caught with marijuana possession/use and I was one of two to get kicked out. The school is one of the most elite boarding schools in the US, and I ended the second trimester with high B’s and A’s.
I finished off the year at a local semi-private school where I finished the year with a 4.3. For the remainder of the year I met with a therapist to discuss my actions that got me expelled and I was routinely drug tested and consistently came back clean. I’ve made sure not to make new mistakes or issues that would make my situation worse.
Currently I am a junior going to school in Paris and taking all IB and AP classes and am apart of 4 extracurricular clubs. The school that expelled me has offered to let me come back senior year.
I’m planning on applying to Georgetown, Bard, as well as a few other schools, but my top choice is Dartmouth and I am going to apply ED to there.
Even though I’ve kept up my grades and made an effort to join outside activities, I’m worried that colleges will see my expulsion and immediately disregard my application. Am I being paranoid or should I be lowering my college expectations/standards?
Kudos to you for taking a really bad situation and persevering. Your college app situation will be unique. I’m sure you already know that every school will require you to disclose what occurred, but it sounds like you’re ready for that.
I don’t think you’re being paranoid - any expulsion is a pretty serious issue, and colleges will see it. But I also don’t think you should lower your expectations after working so hard to earn back trust and respect.
Work on that essay/explanation for months. As long as it takes to make it perfect.
I hope it works out for you. What you did was stupid no doubt, but it wasn’t dangerous or reckless from the sounds of it. It sounds like you’ve earned your second chance, and I’m confident one of your top schools will give it to you. Best of luck!
I know a kid with a very similar experience (soph expulsion, top boarding school, excelled later) and he wound up at Dartmouth. I’m quite sure his expulsion was discussed among the adcoms, but in his situation, at least, they seemed comfortable in knowing that sophomores are dumb and a kid who can bounce back from that kind of setback isn’t a terrible bet.
Good luck.