DID SOMETHING REALLY BAD

College Life
21

I guess I understand why kids cheat - enormous pressure to pull grades/get into a good program/stay afloat in a highly competitive school. What I do not, WILL not understand, is the shoulder shrugging and turning a blind eye to it by schools and many in society. What a disservice it does to so many:

  • the other students who DIDN'T cheat, whose grades will be affected because cheaters can screw up the curve
  • the instructor, who is not shown enough respect to have their rules followed
  • the school, which thinks it's cranking out high achievers ready to tackle the world's problems, and then has its reputation sullied by ongoing cheating
  • the future employer, who thinks he/she is getting a candidate with a certain level of achievement, which is a lie
  • the world, or field of study this person will go into, where the false assumption is that a degree means a certain level of knowledge and competence has been reached
  • the cheater, who will continue to take these risks as time goes on and get away with until it is one too many and puts his/her or someone's else's life at risk

OP feels bad. Good - that’s the first step.

22

@sadstudent20

You blew your second chance in an epic fail. The good news is that you’re in the United States where it’s possible to get third chances. You can still eventually get a college degree, but it’ll have to be a longer and more circuitous path.

To get admitted into a good 4-year college, you will have to credibly demonstrate you’ve gained integrity. This might mean taking several years off from school for work or military (military is not for everyone). My nephew flunked out of college after freshman year. He joined the Army, got his act together, then returned to college on the GI Bill with a sense of purpose.