Totally understood that the dishonesty would likely result in a rejection. But, out of curiosity, how do you handle students who do honestly report disciplinary infractions? Say, for example, a student is caught cheating or plagiarizing by a teacher (i.e. academic dishonesty). If the student writes about it honestly and takes responsibility, is that viewed favorably or at least neutrally (vs. a student who makes excuses or who doesn’t seem to think it’s a big deal)? Or is something like academic dishonesty also most likely to result in rejection (regardless of explanation) because how very seriously colleges take it?
But isn’t the reason for that precisely this situation: so that a minor infraction likely done out of immaturity doesn’t negatively affect their future (such as through college admissions)?
I agree with this. This is an issue to discuss with counselor. They have been through this many times before and know how the school has handled it in the past and what they recommend as the ethical response. They will not advise a student to be dishonest on an application, so I would take their advice as the right way to handle it.