In the 10th grade I borrowed half of a sheet of homework and I got caught, she told the dean who then put it on my transcript as Academic Dishonesty, my question is will this hurt my chances of getting into college? and can I get it off somehow?
P.S. I have high GPA, AP, and SAT Scores doing many extracurricular activities.
Yes.
Probably not. You can always ask, but most schools have a handbook which lists unacceptable behavior and its consequences. Academic dishonesty is pretty high on the list of things that people frown on. You’ll most likely need to address this in your application. If you show that you’ve learned from your mistakes, you’ll probably have success with college admissions, but perhaps not with your first choice.
Who would I have to talk to for the chance to take it off?
Borrowed? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?
That’s what they’ve always called it.
None of us knows the organizational structure at your school, but based on your original post:
I’d assume the dean.
I might be in the minority, but I think the punishment is a little severe for a homework assignment. A test, sure. I would have been booted out of high school a few times for sharing my homework or looking at someone else’s. There might be more to the story than we know, of course.
I think you should ask for a meeting with the dean and your guidance counselor to see if they do plan to put this on your transcript. Bring your parents to the meeting.
Why? In this competitive world of college admissions, I would love to see the students with integrity get an edge over those who cheat. Integrity is something you either have or you don’t. Let the colleges judge if the infraction is minor. I’d rather have it in there and have the student have to explain it away. Also having it in the record makes the penalties for a repeat attempt that much more severe.
Tell that to the 60 kids from Harvard who got pulled before the Honor Council for cheating (let’s call it what it is and not use euphemisms) on their homework.
While many college classes encourage collaboration of problem sets, it does not sound like this was the case here. The student and parents can make their case before the dean, but as I said earlier, if the infraction and consequences have been spelled out i the handbook, it’s unlikely that they will make a one-off reception or revamp their policy. But they can try.
Anyway, I’m with @ClassicRockerDad on this. The user can make his/her case on the college application and then the college can decide.
Here’s my issue with this post: does the dean put 'Academic Dishonesty" on the transcript of every single kid who gets caught “borrowing” homework? Because if she does, then there’s no one in the National Honor Society at that school. I know that it would be a full time job at my school and most schools, because most teachers catch multiple kids a week.
My guess is that there’s somehow more to this story than what’s been presented.
@ClassicRockerDad and @skieurope , yes, the student cheated. Yes, it’s wrong. Without knowing more details, it’s hard to know if the student deserved having his/her transcript marked with such a serious violation. Did the student copy half a page of busy work? On the other hand, if the student copied half a page of homework that involved reading assignments and answering questions, yes, that is more serious. Or maybe this student has done it before, so yes, the designation is warranted. Without more information, which is the crux of the problem, this seems a severe punishment. That does not mean I condone cheating. It means I think we shouldn’t judge the student without having more info. I would never say the same for a test, or plagiarism.
Hats off to the student who has never copied a single homework assignment from someone else, but if this student had academic dishonesty put in the file for maybe a single instance of copying some busy work, then no, I don’t think the punishment fits the crime. But we don’t know, of course.
I have done a couple of my kids’ homework assignments. They were ridiculous busy work (word searches.) On one occasion, it was my daughter’s birthday. On the other, my son was getting over a cold. They had tons of other homework. It was the same teacher who assigned these dumb word searches. The word search took me 30 minutes to complete, and it was not one that involved solving clues to find the word. Does that mean my kids lack integrity? Should they have had academic dishonesty stamped permanently on their transcript? It’s entirely possible that we do not know the whole story here, and we also don’t know if this student deserves the punishment. I am not advocating for cheating.
When you return to school in. the fall talk to your guidance counselor and ask to see your transcript that will be sent to colleges (which may or may no be different from your academic transcript that has the dishonesty on it). If it is not on the college transcript speak with your guidance counselor to be sure that it won’t be included in his/her recommendation. I agree that putting an academic dishonesty notice on a transcript that will be sent to college is a harsh punishment for a copied half page of one homework assignment.
If it is there, i doubt it can be taken off, but again, it is something you speak with your guidance counselor about as nobody here will know how your school works in this regard.
When D (now 21) was a HS freshman and 14 years old now she allowed a classmate to copy a homework worksheet. The young man literally made a xerox copy, put his name in it, and turned it in. The teacher gave both a zero and called the parents. Teacher gave a stern warning and opted not to escalate on a first offense. D was embarrassed and remorseful. I also think it caused her to protect and value her integrity in a new light. I don’t condone cheating and in her case I think the punishment fit the crime.
Agree OP needs to talk to school administrators. I have heard of past infractions being removed from transcripts after avoiding future trouble.
@Lindagaf That’s the basic gist. I don’t think the punishment fits the crime as reported. However, in my experience, I would wager my moderator’s crown that we are not hearing the full story.
My advice to the OP: Don’t go in saying “How can I get this off my transcript? I’m worried about my college chances.” Instead, ask what exactly would be conveyed to colleges on the transcript and on any form sent by the guidance counselor. Then ask if they could either (1) explain briefly and clearly what happened if they weren’t going to, or (2) if possible, don’t include what you did at all, though you perfectly understand if school policy means they have to.
I think it would be worse to have a form that just says “Has the student been disciplined for any academic dishonesty?” with the answer “Yes” than it would be to have one that said “Yes. Once copied another student’s homework paper in Biology 10. No other incidents.”
By the way, I wouldn’t stress the “half a sheet” part. If you asked somebody for the answer to #12 and they said “B,” that would be one thing. If you copied enough of someone’s writing that the teacher could see it was identical, it doesn’t matter what percentage of the page that took. I don’t think this is really that huge a thing myself, but the person trying to minimize it shouldn’t be you.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Please stay on topic. I deleted a few posts.