Academic Dishonesty Record. (Special) Please LOOK

[alexxyc]

So in my case, a friend of mine copied my homework without my knowing. Then the instructor found out, my friend admitted (which really freaked me out). I was then unfortunately held responsible too. Would this record/history hurt my application?

I'm a senior undergrad, applying for ChemE Graduate programs.

Any information is appreciated. I'm really concerned.

[alexxyc]

This happened in my sophomore year.

[MonstersU-Terp]

Some applications have a "special section" (don't remember the exact name) that allows you write in a special note... It specifically is meant for cases such as these, you can use this section to briefly state your side of the story. But the thing is that not all applications have this and indeed having this on your academic record can be a huge issue. It could even potentially cause automatic disqualification because many schools have zero tolerance for cheating and they simply won't know your side. Is there ANY way you can contact your university and ask about having this removed? Look up your university's student Ombudsperson and make an appt with him/her ASAP to discuss your options.

[alexxyc]

Some applications have a "special section" (don't remember the exact name) that allows you write in a special note... It specifically is meant for cases such as these, you can use this section to briefly state your side of the story. But the thing is that not all applications have this and indeed having this on your academic record can be a huge issue. It could even potentially cause automatic disqualification because many schools have zero tolerance for cheating and they simply won't know your side. Is there ANY way you can contact your university and ask about having this removed? Look up your university's student Ombudsperson and make an appt with him/her ASAP to discuss your options.

is it true that they won't even look at your explanation before disqualifying you? I made an appointment with the person in charge at my college to talk about this. Wish me luck. This is truly a frustrating situation

[TakeruK]

First of all, based on the limited details provided here, I just want to say that it is not "unfortunately [you] were held responsible too". Maybe I am wrong because you are omitting a lot of other details, and if so I apologize. But unless your friend did something like steal your homework from you or from the homework dropbox, then I would say you are (at least partly) responsible for the cheating.

I am not pointing this out to make you feel bad or to bring up the accusations again. I am saying this because I hope to help you. I want you to know that framing this whole thing as "not your responsibility" will not help you when you apply to graduate schools. When you explain this, you should be honest in what happened, accept responsibility, and show that you have learned from this event. 

I don't think that schools will automatically disqualify you for instances like this. In my opinion, extremely harsh zero tolerance policies do not result in 100% honest behaviour. If the "punishment does not fit the crime" (so to speak), then professors, TAs, etc. will be more reluctant to properly report cases and investigate them. No one wants to expel or fail a student because they made one mistake or forgot a citation, for example. 

Finally, it will be worth your time to carefully research if the schools you are applying to will even know about this event happening. I can only think of three ways for the school to find out: 1) this is recorded on your transcript, 2) someone who writes your LOR knows about this and writes about it, or 3) you are asked about this in the application form. For (1), you can order a transcript to yourself and see if it's there. For (2), you pick who writes the LOR. For (3), you must be absolutely honest, and this is where my second paragraph above comes in: Explain what happened, take responsibility, show that you learned and it won't happened again. People make mistakes. It's okay. But before you do this, find out what the school will know---remember that your current school isn't going to send your entire student record to the schools you apply to.

 

[alexxyc]

First of all, based on the limited details provided here, I just want to say that it is not "unfortunately [you] were held responsible too". Maybe I am wrong because you are omitting a lot of other details, and if so I apologize. But unless your friend did something like steal your homework from you or from the homework dropbox, then I would say you are (at least partly) responsible for the cheating.

I am not pointing this out to make you feel bad or to bring up the accusations again. I am saying this because I hope to help you. I want you to know that framing this whole thing as "not your responsibility" will not help you when you apply to graduate schools. When you explain this, you should be honest in what happened, accept responsibility, and show that you have learned from this event. 

I don't think that schools will automatically disqualify you for instances like this. In my opinion, extremely harsh zero tolerance policies do not result in 100% honest behaviour. If the "punishment does not fit the crime" (so to speak), then professors, TAs, etc. will be more reluctant to properly report cases and investigate them. No one wants to expel or fail a student because they made one mistake or forgot a citation, for example. 

Finally, it will be worth your time to carefully research if the schools you are applying to will even know about this event happening. I can only think of three ways for the school to find out: 1) this is recorded on your transcript, 2) someone who writes your LOR knows about this and writes about it, or 3) you are asked about this in the application form. For (1), you can order a transcript to yourself and see if it's there. For (2), you pick who writes the LOR. For (3), you must be absolutely honest, and this is where my second paragraph above comes in: Explain what happened, take responsibility, show that you learned and it won't happened again. People make mistakes. It's okay. But before you do this, find out what the school will know---remember that your current school isn't going to send your entire student record to the schools you apply to.

 

thank you for your suggestion. Some of the schools do ask about this in application and some don't. So for those don't, would you suggest me not bring that up myself? I do realize I am partly responsible and I have written a reflection paper regarding this incident at that time, which I decided to upload to those applications that ask this information.

[TakeruK]

thank you for your suggestion. Some of the schools do ask about this in application and some don't. So for those don't, would you suggest me not bring that up myself? I do realize I am partly responsible and I have written a reflection paper regarding this incident at that time, which I decided to upload to those applications that ask this information.

For the schools that do not ask, I can't say for certain what the best path for you would be. I can only say what I would personally be comfortable with doing. At a minimum, you must be certain that you answer all of the applications truthfully and completely, as you generally have to sign to affirm this when you submit your application. Personally, I think you should also answer the "spirit" of the questions, not just answering them to the letter. If the schools do not ask for anything of this nature, I personally would be comfortable with not including it. Again, this is how I think I would behave, if I was in your position; it's not necessarily neither the "right" thing to do, nor the only right thing to do.

I think including the reflection paper would be a good idea for schools where you tell them about what happened.

[finalta]

On 10/12/2015 at 5:44 PM, alexxyc said:

thank you for your suggestion. Some of the schools do ask about this in application and some don't. So for those don't, would you suggest me not bring that up myself? I do realize I am partly responsible and I have written a reflection paper regarding this incident at that time, which I decided to upload to those applications that ask this information.

Hi alex, I know this is very old post and you may not check this site much anymore, but I am in a similar situation and was wondering how many of the schools you applied to (or which specific schools, if you feel comfortable saying) did not ask you to disclose your history of academic misconduct on their application. I am currently trying to get my charges appealed, but it's not looking great... so I'm thinking that unfortunately my best bet would be to apply to more schools that don't ask about it.