Some kids in 11th grade got caught cheating on the physics midterm. I had given some kid some files last year and the kids are blaming me. the school has no proof or evidence but is suspending me and changing my grade for physics last year from a 96 to a W/F. I am still working to appeal this beacuse the accusations are baseless besides hearsay from others but as of now, this will be reflected in my final transcript sent to penn.
My senior year grades are all good and have all 5s on APs but will this grade warrant them rescinding my application?
thank you so much
They might, as it looks bad. Do you have any supporters at school in the administration? If so, see if you can have them contact Penn along with contact from you explaining the situation.
@thelifeofpablo I would talk to your guidance counselor or a teacher you have a good relationship with who is not involved in this situation and ask for advice. All schools work differently, and they will know best how your school handles these situations. Is it against your school’s rules to give the student such files? If not, then I don’t see anything wrong with what you did and instead seem to think the physics teacher was being lazy and gave the same exam twice. Also, if it is against your school’s rules, I would recommend that you delete this post/thread, as you are basically admitting to it right now, which isn’t too smart if your school sees this and can trace it to you.
@thelifeofpablo . Oh my God. That’s horrible. Another example of the PC police gone bad. The kid cheated, not you. You are being punished for giving the kid notes? ridiculous. Fight for this!!! It could affect your admission to Penn.
The suspension wont be on my transcipt and we will get the grade turned back most likely because the case is completely baseless. The school is denying my right to due process they havent shown any evidence. Just wondering if Penn gets my transcript end of the year and all my grades are good but this grade form 11th has been changed to a W/F, will they revoke or more likely just contact me and I can explain the situation that I did nothing wrong. My guidance will probably be willling to write a letter too.
I only applied to Penn so if they revoke this in like July, I dont have any options for college
If the school is denying your due process you have a legal right to contact a judge and see what their opinion is. In my opinion, it would be unethical for them to do something so punitive without actual evidence. High school administrators are frequently given fairly wide and flexible powers but you still have rights.
Do you have two identical threads? I posted something and now it is gone. but while I am here…Contact a judge? lol. On what planet?
Here is what I wrote:
No!!! Do not call a judge or a lawyer! But nobody should be speculating about how fair or unfair the situation is because we don’t know. Kids do cheat. If a bunch of students say they got the material from Student A, then perhaps they did. But we don’t know. But this I do know:
The student needs to consider whether or not the accusation is true. Not whether or not they have enough evidence. That is irrelevant. This is not a court and this is not a murder trial. Students have responsibility for conducting themselves in a way that does not result in others cheating from them, them cheating or doing things that lead to the perception of cheating. But none of that really matters. The issue that the student needs to consider is whether or not the accusations are true.
If the accusations are true, then there are certain things that will make the situation better and certain things that will make the situation worse. Worse is to make others prove the accusations. Worse is to call a lawyer. You’ll never know what was conveyed to the college by the high school even if they don’t rescind the offer. I’d not play that game.
Rather, think long and hard about why people would think cheating was such a huge deal. What happens when researchers fabricate study findings, for example. Or when someone who has cheated is put into an influential job, for example. What happens when people take credit for the work done by others. Try to develop an understanding of the full scope of problems caused by cheating.
Then, go and talk to your guidence counselor about the accusations. Find out about the academic dishonesty process in the high school. See if you can talk with the person or people who are in charge of the academic dishonesty process,. Tell the truth. Try to convey why what happened happened. What pressures did you feel that lead you to do what you did? Try to be genuine and considerate. Understand that you put the teachers and the administrators in a really lousy position. They can’t allow cheating to go unchecked but nobody likes to have to accuse anyone or take any action that can be painful for a student. But they can’t simply allow it and they can’t ignore it. So as it is crappy for you it is also crappy for them. They are people just like your own parents. Imagine how they’d feel having to deal with cheating and deal with the potential punishment and related pains. Because they are human, they also don’t want you to have to pay too big a price for a stupid kid thing. But if you are not repent-full they will feel less badly about the situation and they are more likely to feel that a slap on the wrist isn’t enough.
If you are not guilty you need to evaluate how it is that people are accusing you. Then you should explain that to your guidence counselor. Convey and own your contributions to the perceptions. If you really don’t think you contributed in any way, tell that to the counselor and express your confusion about why others would be implicating you. But don’t do that if you know how and don’t do that if the accusations are true.
The best thing you can do is to be thoughtful. Being thoughtful will elicit support from those involved. But being defensive and dishonest will do the opposite. Good luck. All students do stupid things at some point. If the accusations are true then this is your stupid thing, Get it behind you and learn from it. If the accusations are not true then this is someone else’s stupid thing and you still have yours coming at some point. Good luck!
@lostaccount If this was your kid you probably would feel differently about the extremes he/she should go to to fight this accusation. This is someone who was accepted ED so there is no backup college if Penn revokes their acceptance because of the (imo unfair) “F”.
@lostaccount I disagree with you on this. The reality is that there are many situations where telling the truth can make matters worse, even when you are innocent. I would not say another word until I discuss the situation with an attorney. There is too much at stake.
I would seek the guidance of an attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced in these types of situations. An initial discussion with an attorney before doing anything else could avoid bigger problems later.
Administrators are smart enough not to try to handle these situations without guidance from an attorney, the student should be too.
@lostaccount When a punishment is punitive in nature, it is best for an individual to know what rights they have. What do you suggest they do? Bend over and let an unfair system have their way with them? I hope that is not what they choose to do. The original poster is in an Early Decision contract and when there’s potential for a contract to be broken or nullified by either party, guess who gets involved? Lawyers. From how the original poster detailed what the administration of his school is doing, it doesn’t seem like a fair shake and he or she should not be rolling over and have his or her future put in jeopardy by administrators whose missions seem to be to push matters like this under the rug, even if someone is harmed in the process
I personally have seen administrators at both the secondary and higher levels take advantage of their positions and the likely inaction of a student and not give them what is due to them.
Not sure I understand this whole situation correctly,
but I think first and foremost I would contact a lawyer!!
If a school is not giving you due process before changing your grade to an F, (which could very well have college admission ramifications) … The very first thing I would do is call a lawyer!! There is never anything “worse” about being advised of your legal rights…
If you were my kid I would contact a lawyer and try to stop the school from revoking the grade without due process. You do have rights. If all you did was offer the kid your notes to help him succeed in a class then it seems groundless that they can change your grade. If however, you gave the kid some of your homework/lab work or even exams so he could submit it for a grade that is considered cheating even though you did not do the cheating yourself. Still whatever the case I would seek outside counsel.
Penn my or may not revoke the acceptance. It’s hard to tell. Some schools have a zero tolerance for any type of cheating. Some years ago students were expelled from Harvard for collaborating on a take home exam that the teacher told them not to collaborate on. I know that’s not exactly the same but it goes to show how harsh some colleges can be when it comes to any kind of cheating.
