<p>not for me, fortunately, but several girls on the basketball team have just been kicked off the team and suspended from school for alcohol reasons. one was a senior, always the good girl, popular, etc., she fessed up with the truth and has accepted responsibility and has never been in trouble before. will this hurt her chances of admission, most likely to University of CA, or causes colleges to rescind admission?</p>
<p>In suburban Montgomery County MD outside of DC, some girl (who was supposed to be an honor student) stabbed and killed another girl at a football game. She was tried as a minor and probably won't get out until she is 21. I asked my son if people carried knives at his school and he said "Nearly everybody." "Even the girls?" "Especially the girls." I don't know about the suspension thing. It would probably depend on the college. I would think that public universities would be less likely, but I don't know for sure. It is really hard to predict. Somebody will get a C and an elite college will yank them. Then you wonder why somebody at a different college didn't have their admission withdrawn. It may depend on the yield. If more people replied that they are coming and they don't have enough dorm rooms, it is a fairer way to thin the herd than having a lottery.</p>
<p>It depends on the colleges involved.</p>
<p>I believe she applied to UCSB, UCSC, SF State, San Jose State, and maybe UC Davis. I know she didn't want to go out of state.</p>
<p>First of all, will the senior's colleges even be notified of the suspension at this point? If not, it is a non-issue. For the juniors, see some of my past posts. It will require a good, concise essay explaining the suspension and what lesson was learned from it. Alcohol violations are pretty much a non-issue for college admissions, despite what others on this board will tell you.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Will the senior's colleges even be notified of the suspension at this point?
[/quote]
I would think that the suspension would be on the final senior transcript somewhere.</p>
<p>definately... if the guidance counselor reports it!... same thing happened to a senior in my school last year. he got accepted to 3 schools or so and the betchy guidance counselor mailed them about the incident and 2/3 (if I remember right) rescinded his admission</p>
<p>Johanm,
It's not the GC's fault that the student's acceptances got rescinded. Colleges ask GCs to send final grades and the colleges also ask whether students graduated and if they have had any suspensions or expulsions since applying. </p>
<p>GCs have to be ethical, and can't lie for the students. If students get suspended or have Ds and Fs on their report cards, it's the students' fault if the colleges rescind admisisons.</p>
<p>"Alcohol violations are pretty much a non-issue for college admissions, despite what others on this board will tell you"</p>
<p>This is going to depend on the college. Perhaps some colleges ignore such violations even though the students broke the law. Colleges that are more conservative probably do not.</p>
<p>Well, I investigated this subject very extensively. Perhaps an alcohol violation would be a problem for Oral Roberts, Bob Jones or Brigham Young, but it is not something that is likely to raise many eyebrows at even the most selective colleges. My son's official disciplinary issues did not involve alcohol, but I did learn that MOST violations of a high school alcohol policy are non-events. It is different if you are selling to freshmen or something like that. The big infractions are violence, academic dishonesty and drugs. The key is to explain what happened and what led to the lapse in judgment.</p>
<p>A friend of mine graduated last year and is currently attending FSU.</p>
<p>After accepted, he was busted drunk and with alcohol at prom, and then arrested for pot at school when the dogs came and hit on his car, turning up I think an 8th. Suspended for both incidents.</p>
<p>His admission wasn't recinded, but then again it's FSU...</p>
<p>I believe our school reports any incidents they deem serious with third-quarter transcripts. However, the UC system has a few known drinking schools - maybe it will be a non-issue. Either way, this student confessed and apologized publicly on her own accord and seems to have sincere remorse. If she had to write an explanation, I think it would be genuine.</p>
<p>dufus3709,</p>
<p>I happen to be in Montgomery County. Which schools are you talking about that had the stabbing by the honor student and all the students who carry knifes? It ended up my son went to a boarding school and my daughter was homeschooled, so I never heard of anything like that. What I heard was people telling me all the time what a world-class system it is and how could I deprive my kids of it ...</p>
<p>A girl from Sherwood HS was at a football game at Blake HS. It was an ongoing dispute where the girl who did the stabbing had spit on somebody (from Rockville HS) previously, and then a group of people confronted her at the Blake game. The girl who was stabbed was just "helping" some friends and didn't even know the girl who killed her.
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122200793.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/22/AR2005122200793.html</a>
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121901638.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/19/AR2005121901638.html</a></p>
<p>About a week after this somebody who had been to a high school football game (not a student) was beat to death with a miniature baseball bat after leaving the game. There was quite a bit of talk about security at games after that.</p>
<p>Also earlier in the year, there was an incident in Wheaton where a hs gang had about five stabbings in a nearby store.</p>
<p>The county is split into what the hs superintendent has called the northern green zone and the southern red zone that is closer to DC. The Mont Co Public Schools and Fairfax Public Schools are certainly the best in the area. The average SAT scores in PG county rival those of DC in being bad. Here is a website with average SAT scores for MCPS. It is broken down by race which isn't the point here, but it will give you an idea of the wide range of high schools in the county. The Washingtonian Magazine publishes the avg SAT scores for the entire area each year by high school.
<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6032-2004Sep8.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A6032-2004Sep8.html</a></p>
<p>I am honestly not a happy camper in Mont Co. The codeword is "diversity". My sister said that PG Co. has racial problems and Mont Co. has diversity. I don't know who assigned the schools the rank of "world class", but you sure do hear about it alot. As in everything else nearly everywhere, people are pretty happy. 80% of the people living in Hawaii are happy. 80% of the people living in Detroit are happy. The % happy is independent of the actual conditions. Mont Co. is pretty good compared to other places, but I worry about what it will be like in a few years.</p>
<p>I am positive that the vast majority of parents do not know about knives in the schools. My son basically told me everything. There was a downside to this. Ignorance can be good. On the other hand, when he first told me, I didn't even care because I was so distracted by the poor teaching at his high school.</p>
<p>Dufus,
Wow! I lived in Rockville near White Flint when my older son was an infant, and I have often mourned moving away from that community, which I remember as warm and diverse.</p>
<p>Your description of what's going on in the schools, however, certainly has shattered my illusions. Where I live now isn't as exciting and interesting a place as Greater Washington, but we don't have the kind of problems that you are describing.</p>
<p>Wow thats terrible at my school in New York we dont have any security, but still no major fights or arming of our students, I suppose thats its just luck of the draw since I live in a pretty blue collar (for westchester co NY) community</p>
<p>Actually it is not that bad. The govt does odd things sometimes. They tried to pass a law a couple of years ago that you couldn't smoke in your own apartment if it bothered the people next door. Then the Kensington council passed a law saying that Santa Claus was a religious symbol and couldn't be used in Xmas displays. (Xmas 2004, CNN got hold of it and Kensington reversed it.) They just passed a law that there is no smoking allowed in bars. I'm not happy myself here, but it is probably like any suburban area next to a major city. The city problems are moving outward. Still, people are happy and it looks nice when you are walking around.</p>
<p>In terms of the schools, the SAT scores are generally high in the county. However, all you ever hear about is the achievement gap between ethnic groups. Most people are happy here. I asked my son about knives: "Do people carry knives in your school?" "Nearly everybody, some people have some really bad ones." "Even the girls?" "Especially the girls." "Any guns?" "No." Honestly, I wasn't surprised and I didn't care. I think most schools are like that in the suburbs. There didn't seem to be a drug problem, but that was more because there didn't seem to be much of a market for them. I never felt that the schools were unsafe (unlike the way I feel about PG County next door). Remember that this is anecdotal. However, there has been a pattern of violence at games. They are adding more security, perhaps in the form of volunteer parents, and rescheduling so that games are not at night.</p>
<p>Simple answer is No. I believe if there was more to it. You got caught with a pack of smokes, not a big deal. Even a bag of weed. You bring a gun to school and plan to pull your own version of Columbine then they may have a problem.</p>
<p>I think MCPS assigned themselves the acolade of "world class." The usual attitude is that we are affluent, so the schools must be good. Certainly, if your standard of reference is PG, DC, or Baltimore, they do look good. Still when so many kids can't pass the new algebra test which is now going to be required for graduation -- and that test is really at the same level as the 5th or 6th grade of Singapore math AND study guides are thinly disguised versions of the actual test -- you do wonder about the general level of complacency.</p>
<p>But when activist parents run for the school board, most people don't read the news coverage and simply vote the way the "apple ballot" sent out by the teachers' association tells them they should. The only educational area that seems to get people up in arms is sex ed. </p>
<p>This is not to say that there aren't those who are getting a good education in the schools. I hasten to add this, because I don't want to get into a fight with those in that category. My kids didn't so I pulled them out of Churchill and Cabin John -- those of you familiar with the county know that these aren't in the tough areas or anything.</p>