During my first semester of high school, I received an honor code for cheating during a quiz in my Spanish class. Before the quiz, I unknowingly placed a stack of papers on the floor beside my desk and started the assessment immediately once I got it. The teacher saw the papers and thought that I had been cheating during the assessment. My teacher reported this to the principle which led to a zero on the assessment, an honor code violation, and an ISS.
I learned a lot after this occurrence. Being a student with a perfect disciplinary record in middle school, I felt confident about the new rules and conduct violations of a high school. However, after I received the violation I realized the severity of the rules in high school and how every careless action can play an influence. In addition, the violation I obtained truly changed the way I act in daily situations today. The violation taught me to be more cautious of my actions in all circumstances. It also showed me to be more aware of my surroundings and consider all possible conditions before I do anything. These two characteristics, as I found out, were vital to success in any situation. Soon after learning this, I had instantly become more vigilant and understanding of the people and situations around me.
I did realize my mistakes, but I am wondering how I can improve myself so that I can get into good colleges. I am trying my hardest to not make this an obstacle in my path. Since then, I participated in many activities. They include FBLA, Model United Nations, Class Council, Marching band, concert ensemble band, track and field, and I planed for other leadership and volunTEEN programs over the summer. In addition, I received only one B last semester, putting my GPA to a 3.9 (as of now). I am still a freshmen, but I want to get a head start on improving my overall resume and proving to colleges that I have more potential than it seems with my honor code. I am really aiming and hoping to apply for UGA (legacy through my brother), Georgia Tech, Duke, UNC, California Tech, NYU, University of Pennsylvania, and Stanford (dream).
Please give me advice on how to get into these places and make sure that I can build up a better resume to apply.
It makes me sad that you have a specific list of colleges and are already worrying about applying for college in your freshman year… It’s good that you learned from your cheating issue, but please just enjoy the next year or so before you start seriously making college related decisions. It’s too early for that.
I agree that it is way too early to think about specific colleges (especially the hyper-competitive ones). You don’t even have one full year’s GPA and you have no standardized testing. You need to recognize that HS should be an experience in and of itself – a time of learning and growth and not just a 4 year college application prep experience.
It is good to take school seriously and know that college will be on your horizon, but it is too early to start planning for specific colleges. I would highly recommend that you get off of CC until your junior year.
For now you should focus on:
–Working hard, learning, and doing as well as you can in the most challenging curriculum you can manage.
–When the time comes study for standardizes tests.
–Continue your involvement in activities you care about and work towards making meaningful contributions to those activities.
–Enjoying spending time with your family and friends.
Given that you are a Freshman, the best things you can do to prepare yourself for college are:
But the honor code violation behind you. You’ve learned a lesson…now stop reliving it.
Don’t worry about college yet…focus on high school. Come back here when you are a Junior and the discussion will be much more relevant and applicable.
Push yourself by taking challenging classes and excelling in them. You GPA and the rigor of classes you’ve taken will be one of your most valuable assets when it comes time for college application.
Follow your passions in your extracurricular activities. It’s not a numbers game, trying to impress colleges with the quantity of activities…demonstrated commitment, growth, and eventual leadership in the areas that you love are most impressive.
Make time to have fun and enjoy your friends and family. A high school student that neglects this regrets it when high school is behind them.
Were the papers you put on the floor Spanish assignments or from another class? It seems odd to me that a teacher would turn you in for a first offense if the papers were unrelated to the quiz. Did the teacher check them or just turn you in?
If you keep your record clean during high school, I think colleges will look at it as a one time mistake. Just focus on doing the best you can and enjoy the next three years.
This reads like an apology letter to universities. We don't really need to know all this, though they might...I wouldn't recommend sending something that sounds similar to this though since you've posted it online.
I don't think UGA factors in sibling legacy
What are you trying to study? This list of schools seems somewhat like a mixed bag.
You need test scores before you can get a decent chance reply, but feel free to apply to all these schools cause the current info isn't necessarily disqualifying (save the violation, which you can't undo).
I am certain you have asked this question before- but, the only person who would be able to tell you if you can have the honor code repealed is your high school GC.
As for @austinmshauri it was actually a PBA or a performance based assessment and I had to write an essay about a given topic in Spanish. The notes were vocabulary and grammar study guides that she gave us a couple weeks back. I kept them on top of my binder and slid them on the desk beside me. After my teacher saw them, she just straight up honor coded me and threw away all the evidence. In fact, I was never given an official form of disciplinary action or allowed to talk about the case (which is always allowed in my school). Was I given an unfair chance? Even if I was, I suppose it doesn’t matter now. Comment on what you think. Anyways, that is all the details of how I got the honor code.
In your initial post it says you put the papers on the floor beside your desk. In your last post it appears that you put papers directly related to the quiz on top of a binder on the desk next to yours. If you didn’t intend to refer to them, why weren’t they in your binder instead of on top of it?
Talk to your guidance counselor about what will appear on your record. And learn from this mistake. If you don’t want your teachers to think you’re cheating, put all class materials out of sight before they hand put quizzes or exams.
