<p>I was suspended in the first semester of my sophomore year for academic dishonesty. I have good scores from a severely underrepresented state, and my ECs are good.</p>
<p>Will Wharton auto-reject me because of my suspension?</p>
<p>nope. I heard a guy got in with a suspension. Talk about how you grew from your mistake and became a better person.</p>
<p>Academic dishonesty is actually one of the worst things. Suspensions for drinking, fighting or pranks are more easily handled. You better have a really good story and a great essay about how you moved past it.</p>
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<p>Was this guy suspended for academic dishonesty or for something like drinking?</p>
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<p>I have a story–and a track record–that proves I learned my lesson. You’re right that I will have to work hard on making sure it says exactly what I want it to say. There’s no room for misinterpretation here!</p>
<p>I don’t really know the specifics. I just overheard it at the open house for accepted students. He was laughing that he didn’t even hope for Wharton with something like that on his transcript but he made it anyway.</p>
<p>i agree completely w/ momofwild… academic dishonesty is not okay. find out if your guidance counselor can erase that from yr record (sometimes they can do that), but otherwise no chance to any ivy</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure there was someone on CC somewhat recently who got into Penn (maybe Wharton?) even though they had gotten caught cheating on a test or something. I forget who it was though.</p>
<p>This past year, a senior from my school was suspended for a week for stealing several hundred $$ worth of stuff from this guy in my grade…i’m pretty sure it ended up on her record (and penn was notified) but she got in anyway. I guess from a college standpoint that might still be better than academic dishonesty though.</p>
<p>All of these “my friend got in anyway” stories are useless. As momofwildchild said, academic dishonesty is as bad as it gets. This is something that will have to be handled extremely well in the admissions process for any school, much less schools that take so few on their applicants. </p>
<p>Talk to your counselor, get outside professional help or for the best of College Confidential, post on the parent’s board.</p>
<p>I’m that kid that got in after cheating on a test. I was accepted to the Jerome Fisher Program and I have a 2040 SAT and am not legacy or superloaded and didn’t donate a wing or anything haha. I told them that I stole the copy of the test, and that I was suspended out of school for three days. Nowhere on my rschool record did it say this, except for on my common application. Not telling them would have proved that I learned nothing. Don’t listen to these stupid moms. Kids make mistakes. They know that, it is probably nice for them to hear that you are human and able to learn from your mistakes. Lieing or hiding from it would be the biggest pu55y thing you could do. It is your application – if you lie on it and don’t include something then you don’t deserve to go to that school if you get in. If that doesn’t bother you then maybe you do have a problem haha. Btw the class i cheated in was Intro to Business haha ironic for wharton… got a C that quarter because of the zero on that test haha</p>
<p>r u a urm?</p>
<p>haha i am so waspy that I might as well have wings and a stinger. honestly I have no idea how I got in. my suspension must have been a plus cause my skin is white as day.</p>
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<p>This is almost precisely what I did, except from a classmate. Would you mind PM’ing me your letter? I’m curious to see what successful letters look like. If you’re uncomfortable sending it to me, could you tell me how many words your letter is?</p>
<p>yeah no problem let me try and find it</p>
<p>umm haha i can’t find it on this computer i will message it to ya later tomoroow or something. But if I remember it was two pages double space (and yes I got the test from a friend too but I still count it haha). when writing your letter focus on the emotions going through your head at the incident and what you learned later beyond the dangers of academic dishonesty. Less a reflection of what happened, but how it took you to where you are now. I showed how mine was a turning point in my life, but by no means a roadblock, just more motivation.</p>
<p>pahka0709- You obviously lucked out because from your post, it doesn’t appear that you belong at Penn. The “stupid moms” know a whole lot more about things than you do, especially me, since I have worked with several students who had black marks on their records and have talked to a number of college counselors and college admission reps. It is possible to get in, but academic dishonesty will keep you out of a number of schools. What was the name of that building your family donated to Penn?</p>
<p>yeah, don’t worry about the suspension- you can definitely get into the ivy league with an isolated incident of academic dishonesty (everyone makes mistakes)- be candid and forthcoming, and indicate your regret- recurring violations would be more problematic.</p>
<p>Cheating is ubiquitous at every college and surprisingly common in graduate school… it’s interesting that many international students talk to each other in class during finals, and these are PhD classes! perhaps it’s a cultural or social thing… in the US one tries to at least be subtle, but I’ve been a TA and graded identical take home exams and lab writeups… I usually deduct some points and don’t refer it on to the prof (no sense in destroying a kid’s academic career)… but I also email the students anyway to let them know it’s not OK…</p>
<p>I would say, try your best not to cheat in college- you probably won’t be caught but if you are, it’s tougher to explain away, especially because you are considered an adult at that point…</p>
<p>You don’t have to be so rude to him. Pahka seems perfectly respectable, if a little upset that you were so rude to him–you have children, you should know teenagers are easily provoked–no one has any right telling someone they don’t belong at the college they’re going to attend. (yes he said “stupid mom,” but that’s no worse than anything you’ve said. And I’m sure it was somewhat facetious).</p>
<p>Plus I use “haha” online all the time since it’s really hard to get a light tone of voice across (=why I hate email).</p>
<p>scribbler91:
Whether or not Pahka is enrolled at Penn, I can’t see why you would defend him. Given his cavalier attitude toward academic dishonesty, I would think that as a Penn student you would want to get as far away from him (and his views) as possible. </p>
<p>Academic dishonesty is a very serious matter. Contrary to what some people on this board assert, it is not merely a “mistake”. It is, at the very least, a serious error in judgment that says something about either the character or the maturity (usually both) of the perpetrator. Some people on this board seem to view it as something akin to a traffic ticket. It is much worse than that.</p>
<p>I don’t think he is being cavalier at all. He made the mistake as a freshman. He knows he screwed up and he learned from it (he didn’t have to put it on his application, but he did–I think that’s impressive). Maybe academic dishonesty at this point is no mistake, but I do think it could be called a mistake since he was a freshman–~14 year old kids don’t have the best judgment. I made several mistakes as a freshman that I hugely regret (none academic dishonesty, but still things that completely changed things and that I wish I could go back and fix).</p>
<p>Also, while some schools stress the importance of academic honesty, I know some don’t. This is just hypothetical, but he may not have known how big a deal it really was, and stealing the test taught him that–in which case I think it was a good thing and probably helped him grow as a person. He was FOURTEEN. Really. We have a lot to learn when we we’re 14, and while I know I thought I knew everything when I was 14, looking back, I had so, so much to learn in many areas of life.</p>