Last week, I was very unfortunately suspended for one day (with a couple of others) because I was involved in a joke/reference that others found offensive and even deemed “sexual”. My principal said it would go in my record. If I already submitted my entire application, would the schools by any chance ask my school whether I was under disciplinary sanction for the rest of the year? I am extremely worried as all the schools I applied to are selective and would not tolerate such issue.
Unfortunately most schools require you to report suspensions/expulsions with your admission. I would check your admissions conditions and your application checklists to see if the schools require you to report it.
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I have already submitted my entire application, and the incident happened after my principle wrote the rec let. Would they ask for this info after submission?
They are going to ask for your record at the end of the school year. Yes.
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I don’t sense any regret or remorse for what you did. You might want to start there.
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The OP is asking a process question. He/she has not included the details of the incident and is not asking for opinions on the incident. Perhaps you should “start there” by not judging the OP or the incident (at a time when the threshold for such incidents is quite low).
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Alternatively, perhaps everyone should avail themselves of the Forum Rules
Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/guidelines
Regardless, posts should focus on the OP. Posts not following the rules can be brought to the attention of a moderator via flag.
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Having said that, yes, your current school will likely report the suspension. What the schools you’re applying to will do with that information may vary. If the school contacts you for an explanation, your response should to recount the events factually and include what you’ve learned as a result. Which should include an element of remorse.
Regardless, file under "it is what it is.’
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Disciplinary actions are usually part of the transcript. Your application is presumably complete, including a transcript PRIOR to the incident. The schools will make decisions based on that. However, AFTER they make their decisions, the schools say that they will request/receive a transcript with your final grades. Whether or not they do seems variable, anecdotally. That final transcript will likely include the disciplinary action. Then, it becomes a question of whether they rescind the offer (presumably after contacting you and the school about it).
The only caveat in that timing is whether Gateway, SAO or the specific school(s) require you to report such an incident immediately after. You need to look into that.
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Schools do not always report such incidents, even if they claim they do. Just see what happens.
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The request for transcripts at the end of the year may vary depending on which form/grade you are entering. My son entered at 3rd form/9th grade/freshman and they did not require an end of year transcript as it would not be part of his “high school” record. They did require it for those entering at higher grades.
I phrased it politely, but it should not have been construed as compliance is optional. I deleted several posts relating to the litigious nature in America. Further transgressions will be handled without public comment or notice.
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Attendance is often recorded on the school record and days absent (whether excused/unexcused), tardies, and days suspended (in school/ out of school) will show in that attendance section. It may not list why you were suspended, likely will not) but the likelihood it appears on your school record since you will be missing days of school is significant. It is hard to believe that any school you enter in the US would not ask or obtain from your current school proof that you completed satisfactorily your current grade level whether they use it for their record of HS graduation requirements or not. Not obtaining a record at the end of the year means that any student could, at the point of receiving an acceptance, stop going to school after M10? That’s pretty absurd. But there are some families who would in fact pull their child and travel or focus on their sport or instrument more if it didn’t “matter” because a school isn’t going to require any records after the application deadline. Remember these schools have your school’s contact info, and you’ve already given your school’s permission to release your information.
Is it worth asking your principal, that you are truly remorseful for what happened, and if you were willing to write a letter of apology or do some counseling or community service or whatever seems appropriate, he/she would be willing to expunge this from your record
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The kid missed one day of school for suspension. Hardly enough to raise eyebrows.
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And that is your opinion to my post. I posted factual information about how it could appear on the record from the school. Through attendance. So while the record may not show the student was suspended for XYZ or a note in the student’s file kept since Kindergarten, reporting of attendance could deliver the fact that someone is suspended on their record. This is what the OP is worried about. Stick to the topic thank you.
Might I remind members of the forum rules: “Our forum is expected to be a friendly and welcoming place, and one in which members can post without their motives, intelligence, or other personal characteristics being questioned by others."
and
“College Confidential forums exist to discuss college admission and other topics of interest. It is not a place for contentious debate. If you find yourself repeating talking points, it might be time to step away and do something else… If a thread starts to get heated, it might be closed or heavily moderated.”
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/guidelines
Again, posts need to focus on the OP. This is not the place for debate.
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Unless explicitly stated that a suspension occurred, nothing in this student’s attendance record would suggest that. Students miss a day of school often for all sorts of reasons which are not recorded. Apparently the school did not take the matter too seriously as it resulted in only a 1 day suspension, so I suggest OP not worry about it too much. In the unlikely event it comes up, it can be explained. It won’t reverse an admision decision.
Kids have enough to stress over these days. He needs to learn from the experience and move on-this is not a show-stopper.
Just for the record, yes, I did know a girl whose parents pulled her from school shortly after acceptance at an elite prep so she could attend to her dying mother. It was fine.
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What the original poster should do, I don’t know. But if the question is whether or not the high school will find out about the suspension if the infraction occurred after their application was submitted, I think it is quite possible the prep school will not. Or some will and some won’t. Some middle schools (or recommenders) might even reach out to the prep school proactively if they consider the offense to be particularly troubling --something like bullying or illegal activity. But middle school educators know that 13yos make mistakes and unless it is a pattern of behavior, I would hope that the OP’s teachers and guidance counselor would not label a child irredeemable or unworthy of high school admission based on one poor choice.
As far as I can recollect, my kids’ prep schools did not ask for any final record, transcript or even confirmation that they had graduated. It is possible that I’ve forgotten, but presumably I would have had to sign or submit some form to get the record released and I really don’t think that I did. Of course D24 graduated from eighth grade during the covid lockdown so everything was a blur that spring. Maybe I just don’t remember.
(As an aside, of course attendance matters, but as far as pulling a kid of middle school out to travel for weeks or even months goes, both D22 and D24 had classmates who did that at some point during grades 6-8 and it did not harm their admissions. Prep schools will tolerate a lot from their wealthy clientele to be honest. Or a less cynical take is that some schools value travel as a learning experience and presumably the families made arrangements with the middle school to make sure the course content was covered remotely so the child might have been missing class but still mastered the subject matter)
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I have shown deep remorse and acknowledgement of the trouble I have caused as well as accepted the suspension to move on. My principal said that he wouldn’t inform the schools unless they specifically asked whether I would be involved in any disciplinary issues later on. Do BS require records at the end of the year or only transcripts? I believe it is unlikely that this incident would be mentioned in the transcript (for my school at least).
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