<p>Momofwildchild,
How do you know that colleges don't care about minor drinking infractions? Are you also sure that the rules haven't changed due to the many, recent well publicized drinking-related incidents that have caused problems on campuses?</p>
<p>My hope is that they will look at it as a one time deal. It is obviously not a reoccuring problem for me and i have never been suspended or had problems like this before. It's not that I'm a drinking problem. It's that it was a one time mistake. Dont you think in all their liberal mind-sets just confroting the problem and explianing what i've learned ect. will help them just to look over it? Turn a negative into a positive</p>
<p>None of us knows how your drinking infraction will hurt you. My best advice is to make sure that you apply to some schools that you definitely know that you'll get accepted to and can afford. Given the questions about colleges' responses to your infraction, you need to add to your list some colleges where you'll definitely stand out in the application pool so much that you're assured of acceptance. This means considering some colleges safeties that in the past would have been matches for you. If it ends up that you get into better colleges, hooray. If not, you'll still have options. Better to be cautious than so optimistic that you don't get any acceptances.</p>
<p>Have it exponged from your record and make sure it is sealed.</p>
<p>I remember reading the book "The Gatekeepers" about a year in the Wesleyan admissions office. One of the kids the book follows got in trouble at school for taking a few bites from a brownie baked with marijuana. She didn't bake the brownies or pass them out, she wasn't a dealer; she just felt it wasn't fair that the girl that did was the only person who got into trouble so she admitted taking part in the party (although she refused to turn in others; it was just a matter of personal responsibility to her). </p>
<p>How many kids in HS today have tried pot at one point? Probably about the same as those that have had a drink. And yet merely consuming some pot was a big deal to the adcoms at the selective schools the kid was applying to, and probably kept her out of Wesleyan.</p>
<p>So even thought I'm not an adcom and can't claim any special personal knowledge of how these things are treated, stories like the one above that I've read make me think that Northstarmom is right and that it may be a factor in admissions.</p>
<p>Pot is a big deal- alcohol is not. If the alcohol violations are repeated and/or indicate an addiction, it's a different story.
Northstarmom- I did a LOT of research over the last two years on what types of disciplinary issues or character indicators affect admissions. I have talked to many admissions folks as well as prep school college counselors, as has S's college counselor. I have a very good feel for what matters and what doesn't. A single alcohol violation is simply not indicative of ANYTHING. In fact, I was actually told that some schools like to see a "lesson learned" rather than an "I have never broken a single rule, but just wait until I get to college!" The thousands and thousands of high school students who experiment with alcohol are not all going to die from alcohol poisoning at college. Nor are they going to binge drink or flunk out of school. An unfortunate few will, but experimenting with alcohol in high school is not a predictor.<br>
I know a young man who is a junior at Swarthmore. He was kicked out of a day prep school after his junior year due to repeated alcohol infractions. He didn't have any trouble whatsoever getting into select colleges. My son was suspended and expelled from a prep boarding school. He had all sorts of things to report. There wasn't one selective college that even gave pause. He did it, he regretted it, he learned from it and he matured.
Do you really think these colleges are looking for a whole population of kids who have never pushed the envelope?</p>
<p>Don't know what state the OP lives in but do know that some states will let underage drinkers who successfully complete an alcohol education class have their charge dismissed. If dismissed, an expunction can be applied for and the whole record will be wiped clean as if the charge never existed. You are only entitled to one expunction in your lifetime.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I agree with WildChild's Mom. The college probably do actively seek to enroll drinkers.</p>
<p>That's why I have no sympathy for the colleges when they start with the hand-wringing and empty rhetoric about their campus alcohol problems.</p>
<p>I have long argued that, if the colleges really wanted to address the alcohol abuse issues, it would be very easy to send a message to potential applicants and their high schools that they are no longer interested in enrolling high school drinkers.</p>
<p>The data on high school binge drinkers becoming heavy binge drinkers in college is so clear that the colleges could not ignore it if they were at all concerned about campus cultures. They want the drinkers, IMO.</p>
<p>"Do you really think these colleges are looking for a whole population of kids who have never pushed the envelope?"</p>
<p>When it comes to illegal behavior, heck yes. I think that colleges want students who take productive risks such as taking on a tougher academic or EC load that is feasible or getting a paper or two in late because they took so much time trying to write something that was professional journal quality. I don't think, however, that colleges are looking to admit students who are taking stupid risks like drinking underage. My thoughts are that such colleges would rather take in students who've never had to learn from experience lessons about the resulting difficulties of such behaviors. </p>
<p>Perhaps I'm naive, but I spent 5 years working in the alcohol and drug rehabilitation field. I know darned well that not every teen drinks and/or drugs, and the longer people wait to start drinking, the lower will be their chances of having alcohol problems. I also know that most people have committed many drinking or drug infractions before getting caught, so any legal problems or suspensions due to booze, etc. are big red flags.</p>
<p>I also think that the increased publicity about students' doing stupid things while drunk, and about students who die while intoxicated is leading colleges to take a tougher stand than in the past when it comes to addressing alcohol-related problems in students and applicants.</p>
<p>For God's sake, MIP's are handed out around here like candy at Halloween. If a kid is at a party where one beer is seen, the constables give every person there an MIP. My son got an MIP for being a passenger in a car when the driver had a 12 pack in the trunk. I am under no illusion that he is a perfect kid... BUT, I know that he is a good kid who made a bad judgement call to get in a car that had beer in it when he wasn't 21. I don't believe though that the MIP is going to mark him for LIFE! Getting an MIP is not the end of the world, it is a chance for a kid to face a consequence of using bad judgement. It shouldn't mean that doors will begin slamming in their faces!</p>
<p>Now, a DUI is another story, there you are putting not only your life, but everybody else on the road's life in danger.</p>
<p>
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I also think that the increased publicity about students' doing stupid things while drunk, and about students who die while intoxicated is leading colleges to take a tougher stand than in the past when it comes to addressing alcohol-related problems in students and applicants.
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<p>I would hope so. But, I have seen no evidence of any college doing so. Or, even making a connection between admissions practices and campus drinking problems.</p>
<p>Having read several voluminous committee reports about "the drinking problem" at several schools, I have yet to see even one sentence about a President tasking the admissions office to assist in an effort to change the campus culture in this way, despite the fact that it would be very easy for seasoned admissions professionals to start weeding out the teenage drunks from the acceptance rolls. The stories of students with known high school drinking problems being accepted to schools with 20% acceptance rates suggests strongly that the colleges simply don't care.</p>
<p>Pacmom,</p>
<p>It doesnt matter if I can dismiss it or dont have to report it. Every app asks if you were suspended and I was for three days. I think from hearing all of you it simply depends on the college's philosophy. I think it is worth to find some more saftie schools but not through out the selective ones i have chosen. I'll adress the issue at the interiew, be mature, explian what i've learned from all this and hope it reflects well</p>
<p>skiski, you sound like a smart kid who made a mistake. Learn from it and convey that attitude to the admission officers. You will be fine. The schools you listed are for the most part very competitive, it is in your best interest to have some safety schools added to your list. It would be that way even without the citation. Good Luck :)</p>