Hi College Confidential, before you flame me… please hear me out
I am a very dedicated student with near perfect stats and (hopefully) essays. Think 4.1 (A+), 1570, President of a club, Founder of another, Published paper, Research experience, Aided water crisis in India using grant, Original research (maybe will go for ISEF), 7th international open sports competition etc etc.
At the same time, I grew up in a first generation immigrant family being LGBT. They were very supportive, but I digress
In my sophomore year, I cheated on an assessment in my AP Chemistry class sophomore year and was dropped down to Honors Chemistry and kicked out of this special Science program in my school (Allows you to take AP’s and honors electives in 9th grade). This severe lack of judgement really will only show up on my transcript where the special math course, AP chem, and the special elective have a WP next to them (withdraw pass). My counselor, my principal, and all my teachers have been extremely supportive of me and my path to becoming a better person. Recently, I wrote a therapeutic essay just to get my thoughts out (copied and pasted below).
I hope that from the above information, you have understood my deep regret and personal development from this cheating incident. Since, the only admissions effect will be the WP on my transcript, and if the admissions office decides to call my counselor and he gives his passionate support (possibly offering to send the essay below), will admissions be swayed by my dedication in other aspects of my application. In other words, will colleges understand that 10th grade me is not 12th grade me, and that I have grown and will never repeat that mistake?
My essay is below:
Elimination Equals Opportunity
For solving a system of equations, there exists an array of applicable techniques. You may substitute the variables, an altogether tedious process that increases in impracticality as the equations increase in complexity. You may graph the functions for a simpler path to success, yet many equations require an expensive calculator capable of processing multiple dimensions. Alas, there exists one method to rule them all: Elimination, the exercise of efficiency. “Solve the problem may you painlessly, in minutes, with only a paper and pen,” boasts the ancient protocol. Elimination in mathematics possesses beauty through concision. My Elimination, however, was un-mathematically grotesque.
A destruction of my Character.
A perversion of my Effort.
A humiliation of my Mentors.
Sometime before lunch, I was called to wait in the main office. One bell rang. My revered english teacher, Mrs. Corsun, walked in, and all I could do was avert my face, as if only my visage had committed the fraud, as if such a minute action could mitigate my inner corruption. Another bell rang. A gym teacher entered the office, demanded the 1988 yearbook, and leisurely decided she wanted to attend this year’s reunion. Once again, I intensely read the MySchoolBucks flyer behind my chair, hoping this act would hide my treacherous soul. The final bell rang, and Mr. Ross called me into his office. Tangible details after this moment elude me, yet I remember the sensations: each word felt like a drop kick to my face.
The tooth of hubris fell from my criminal mouth. You. The blood of deception leaked
from my criminal lips. Are. The bruises of vice spread across my criminal cheeks.
Eliminated.
In reality, this tempest was the first time I faced life changing repercussions for my reckless choices. The swirling mass of academic dishonesty and educational pressure had rendered my scholarly landscape destroyed and desolate. Yet, the light shining through the vestiges of Hurricane Elimination seemed peculiarly golden and glorious. This brilliance had an otherworldly lyrical quality, a musical vibration I had never thought to listen for. A world once darkened by elegiac Elimination, now glowed with omnipotent Opportunity. If my elimination was the result of cold mathematical calculation, then my Opportunity was the embodiment of liberated, literary, learning. Thus, my elimination and my Opportunity were simply two sides on the coin of fate.
This Opportunity was a shock to my grade-based life. Instead of focussing on the difference between 96.4 and 96.5, I decided to devote my energy to the art of learning. The meticulous GPA calculations were replaced by an innate thirst for knowledge, information, and philosophy. Looking back, I wince at my rejection of intellect. I cringe at ever living life by the number. Afterwards, I feel only thankfulness for my Opportunity and my elimination. As a cherished mentor once told me, “When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so regretfully upon the closed door that we fail to notice the one lying wide open.” So, I vow to always jump ecstatically through that open door, awaiting eagerly for the next Opportunity.