<p>First of all I probably should say that i know it will hurt my chances so I guess what i want to know is how to go about handling it. I was suspended at the end of my junior year for the last week of school (finals) because I stole about $200 from another student. The school is a private school and so in order to hush things up they unofficially suspended me (meaning they just didnt allow me to come back but never actually said I was suspended) and I was allowed to withdraw admission from the school. I will be attending a public school for my senior, that has no knowledge of what I have done in the fall. I know what I did was wrong I guess I was just acting out but it was a really stupid mistake. </p>
<p>My GPA is currently a 3.5 but that is because I have taken the some of most rigourous courses my school offers.
I would have been president of about 5 clubs that i have been involved with since my freshman year.
I have 500+ hours of community service.
I am African American and i hope to one day start a barding school for underprivilged children. (it has been my dream for several years now)</p>
<p>I don't know if this information helps any I just wanted to give some background. I can write a steller essay explaining my actions and my school supports me 100%. they have erased everything from my records their only requirement was that I graduate form high school and go to college. No one but the adminstrators, the involved student,and my parents, my teachers, and myself know about it. Any help would be welcome I am an excellent studnet and all my teachers and the headmaster said they would be willing to write excellent recommendation letters.</p>
<p>Also the college I really want to go to is SMU because I want to start the school in dallas and SMU will give me the connections needed to do that. However I am also looking at UT Austin (but I’m not top 10%), Northwestern, Emory, and Rice</p>
<p>I don’t want to lie to the admissions committee because that is just wrong but I would love to advoid telling them yet that proabably wont be possible because the private school I went to was in fort worth and has connections with SMU, so SMU could easily call up the school and ask for the truth if they suspect anything.</p>
<p>You are just going to have to meet it head on. Since you are worried that the university will find out about it anyway, you obviously can’t lie, and they probably will ask (on the common app there is a section where you have to check whether you have been disciplined for anything). Use your essays to explain why you did it, why you are sorry that you did it, and what you learned from the experience. What will you be able to teach the “underpriviledged children” that you hope to help in your school? How could your experience help them and others? What did you do to make the student you stole from “whole”? Did you apologize? Did you do other things to make up for it? Etc.</p>
<p>I think that you also need to add a couple of state schools that are more or less “auto admit” - maybe Tech or SFA- just in case the private schools don’t want to take a chance on you.</p>
<p>You will need to answer every question honestly. If the university application asks “have you ever been disciplined or suspended from school”, you’ll have to answer yes and say why.</p>
<p>However, if the college only requests your guidance counseler to state whether you have been disciplined, and you haven’t at your new school, then they won’t know. No need to tell them unless it is asked on the form.</p>
<p>Many universities and colleges don’t ask if you have been disciplined. No need to volunteer this information. You have a lot of schools that you can choose from.</p>
<p>What you will become in life is more dependent on who you are as a person rather than the school you go to. You have plenty of opportunities in life besides this mistake that was made.
</p>
<p>In general, schools are very tight lipped about information that they provide to external people about their former students. It is unlikely that the high school would say anything. If you have doubts, send the school a letter and request that they tell you what information about you will be released to third parties upon request.</p>
<p>I agree with bigtrees. Even further, I dont think you should say anything to anyone about it. Your private school didnt official suspend you. I am not suggesting you lie, but I wouldnt volunteer any information. </p>
<p>I also guess I would say you have been pretty seriously punished. You have been removed from the community you were excelling in, and this must be hard to take. What I try to say to young people who make mistakes is that it is not the mistakes that define you, but the way that you pick yourself up from them. </p>
<p>I find it confusing that your headmaster and teachers would be willing to stake their reputation on you by writing recommendation letters, but they arent willing to let you continue in your school.</p>
<p>“No one but the adminstrators, the involved student,and my parents, my teachers, and myself know about it.” Yet. Don’t count on it remaining a secret.</p>
<p>You were expelled. No doubt about it. If the disciplinary question is asked, you will have to answer truthfully. Dishonesty is a huge Rex flag for many schools, and stealing is dishonesty. I would write a concise essay about the incident with no excuses in response to the Explanation of Suspension or Expulsion question with no excuses. Say what you have learned from the incident. I have a lot of knowledge about this subject. Apply to some schools that won’t ask, as Missypie suggested.</p>
<p>College applications will generally have a question to the effect were you in good standing at all schools you attended when you left to transfer to another school? You can not honestly answer yes to that question since you were in effect expelled from the private school you were attending and therefore you were not in good standing. Stealing $200 is a big deal and something you could have gone to jail for. Although the incident was supposedly hushed up, I would not be surprised if a lot more people than you think, both faculty and students, know about it. Your classmates are going to wonder why you suddenly disappeared at the end of Junior year and they will eventually find out and the circle of people who know what happened will just get wider and wider.</p>
<p>There are no doubt colleges that will reject you for what you did no matter what explanation you give. However, there are probably also colleges that would be willing to give you a second chance if you can demonstrate that you know what you did was terribly wrong and would not happen again. However, no college is going to give you a third chance if they find out about the theft and then that you did not tell the truth as to why you had to suddenly leave your high school after three successful years there.</p>
<p>“I am an excellent studnet and all my teachers and the headmaster said they would be willing to write excellent recommendation letters.”</p>
<p>I suggest you ask your teachers and headmaster what you should do. After all, they’re the ones who will be convincing colleges that you’re worthy of admission.</p>
<p>The OP has stated that she withdrew from the school in question. She also said that the school did not make a notation regarding the incident on her records and will not as long as she graduates from high school and attends college. Officially, she was not expelled but personally withdrew from the school.</p>
<p>My suggestion is to contact the school where the incident happened. Request a meeting between the administrators, your parents, and you. Directly ask them your questions. If they are not going to put this on your transcript or mention it in any way in regards to college admission’s info requests, then the incident is as if it had never happened. It appears as though your private school is trying to give you a second chance to redeem yourself.</p>
<p>Speak directly with the administrators at the private school. Talk with them about your concerns regarding college applications.</p>
<p>The other thing you must think about Texasgirl, is how much information you are giving out about yourself on this board. There are people who read this board who can probably figure out who you are from what you have revealed. Is that what you want?</p>
<p>I know that at least for boarding school applications the question specifically covers “withdrawals in lieu of expulsion.” They aren’t dumb. Word DOES get around…</p>
<p>I think you, so you know how to deal with situation, need to find out how your transcript will b handled - and who is going to handle your guidance counselor recommendation. I think you need to absolutely know how the leaving from the private school will be handled…in line with what MOWC says. Will the school, if asked, say you withdrew or will they say you withdrew under their advisement. I think before you submit one application you need to understand clearly how much information and what the nature of that information is that will be released to the colleges. I absolutely believe that kids should tell the truth but I also firmly believe that you give only the information that is requested and that there is no need to elaborate or give more than necessary unless that is essential to support you. I agree that you need to be very circumspect about your situation. Keep information to yourself especially as you enter the college application process. There are many vindictive people that love nothing more than to pull the rug out from others and belief they are morally justified in doing so. You need to come to terms with what you did and hopefully you understand how terribly wrong that was and you need to be scrupulously honest going foward but that also doesn’t mean you have to tell the story to everyone that comes along. Only those that need to know.</p>
<p>My second son had attachments to his applications that were thicker than the apps themselves. And they were not singing praised about him. He was accepted to all of his colleges (though not to many of the audition based programs) at schools like NYU, CMU, Michigan, Syracuse, to name a few. Before graduation he had another addendum that had to be sent to the schools. Sometimes I think that it was the most interesting reading these adcoms had.</p>
<p>As I have shared before, my son had attachments as well, and did very well in the admission process. It really matters, though, what the offenses were and, to some extent, when in high school they happened. What worries me about the OP is that the offense was a theft and that’s not something admissions folks like to see. Also, it happened at the end of junior year, which doesn’t give her as much time to show growth. If something happens late in high school it’s better if it is drinking or a prank. AdComms definitely like to see an interesting kid who has already been through some of the growing pains.</p>
<p>I agree, MOWC. But my personal opinion is that if you hide this stuff, it becomes toxic. The elite college world is much smaller than most people imagine and a lot of folks know each other and talk. If this comes to light, even while in college, at some schools you could be expelled for lying on the app. I don’t like anyone, but especially young people, to have some nasty secret in the closet that has the power to hurt the person. </p>
<p>My son was straightforward about his “crimes”. No excuses, no reasons, just blamed his stupidity for the events. Admitted that he was a real knucklehead in many ways. </p>
<p>I do know someone in a similar situation who had a serious problem that was technically not addressed in the questions so he just did not mention it. After acceptance to a top college, he got nervous, and fessed up. He did have to delay entry for a semester (he ended up taking the year off) but Princeton did not rescind the admissions.</p>