<p>Recently I made an egregious error. I stole a test off of my teachers desk. The school had no choice but to expel me. I am not at a different school and doing well. I have a 4.0 weighted and a 3.4 unweighted. Do being in honors classes really help? Or should I go down to normal levels so I can get a 3.9/4.0 unweighted? My main concern is college. I am a smart kid. I am only a sophomore and got 1950 on my SAT test. But I am scared my expulsion will haunt me forever. Will colleges still accept me? Any suggestions?</p>
<p>dang your school is xcore
we would just get detention, but is if we got caught, which is very unlikely.</p>
<p>There are something like 3,000 colleges and universities in the USA. Believe me, when you are ready to go, there will surely be at least one of them that is more than willing to admit you.</p>
<p>But I think your question really is whether or not the college/university you would like to go to will admit you given your record. Only that college/university can answer that particular question in your case. I would suggest that you get your repentant little self down to your current HS guidance office, and have a chat with the counselors. They have seen it all before, and can help you figure out how to handle your situation.</p>
<p>As to whether or not you should take honors/AP classes or not, that is a different issue. When you get around to applying to college, the more selective ones will want to see that you have challenged yourself in high school. That is because the best predictors for success in college are your GPA and your course selection. Don’t push yourself into honors in a subject that you struggle with in a regular class, but do take advantage of honors/AP/IB, etc. courses in subjects where you have done well in the on-level courses, and take a chance on interesting courses that are only offered in honors/AP/IB, etc. versions.</p>
<p>Almost everyone pulls a dumb stunt like you have described at some time or other in his/her life. Learn from it, and move on.</p>
<p>Wishing you all the best.</p>
<p>Why did you steal the test?</p>
<p>Why would anyone steal a test? To know what’s going to be on it? 
what a revelation.</p>
<p>“I would suggest that you get your repentant little self down to your current HS guidance office, and have a chat with the counselors.”</p>
<p>LOL!!! That’s funny.</p>
<p>To Dill20022:</p>
<p>I would read some of the articles on CC about how to handle admissions after expulsion or suspension which were written by adcoms at great schools. You’ll get a good feel for your prognosis from those. The reason for the disciplinary action, how you handle yourself afterwards, and how you communicate your story are all important things for you to understand.</p>
<p>Since your UW GPA is 3.4, it doesn’t look like you are a candidate for the HYP world at this moment, which I mention not to make you feel worse but better. In the land of 3.4 GPA’s, the best schools where you are a likely admit are, quite simply, easier to get into. If you were a student with exceptional grades in a most rigorous curriculum, with outstanding EC’s, then I would say your situation would be even more painful. In the admissions market in which you would have been competing in that situation, an honors violation could quite possibly cut you off from every school where you would have belonged. </p>
<p>I don’t want to imply that fine schools which would be happy to admit a student with a 3.4 GPA would easily discount an incidence of cheating. Unfortunately, that is not the case. It’s just that the numbers in general are more forgiving.</p>
<p>BTW, adcoms would rather see classes that are more challenging (unless they are too challenging, causing you to get C’s and D’s).</p>
<p>From what I have read, there is a hierarchy of discrimination against people who have been suspended or expelled. I believe there is a person on CC nameD “momofwild child” or something like that who has written a bunch of posts on this topic - you might try to find them or her. She has been very helpful to others on CC. From what I have seen, violence and academic dishonesty (things which violate the rights of others) are more harshly viewed. Next comes drugs, and alcohol gets the least discrimination.</p>
<p>I definitely would not listen to advice which tells you that “everyone has done it”, because that simply isn’t true. You really want to grasp that big time, both to help yourself and to show others that you have taken responsibility for your action. That is the attitude necessary to convince enough folks in the admissions world that you are likely not to re-affend. </p>
<p>What is true is that everyone does make mistakes. As a young person, you have every reason to look forward to a bright future despite the theft of one test. I would send out more applications than the average student, because your situation is complex. All you need is one good school to give you a break. I am quite confident that if you follow a good path and communicate properly about what has happened, you’ll get it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You don’t have to be a prick about this. -_- I was asking because they seem to be a good student, so what made them do this? I assume they hadn’t done it before.</p>
<p>Sorry, I thought it was kinda obvious 
I’m not sure if he/she would know exactly why they did it. I often have no idea why I do really stupid things.</p>
<p>Dill, the expulsion may well keep you out of certain elite schools. There was an article widely discussed on the parents forum about a group of students who were all trying for the Ivies. A multi-generation legacy kid with stellar scores & grades did not get into Princeton and both his counselor and parents think his sophomore year expulsion from a fancy prep school may have tipped the odds against him. </p>
<p>That said, there are many excellent schools which will overlook your expulsion if you consistenly perform in the classroom and beyond. Good luck, though I think you’ll be fine – better than fine. Your bad experience isn’t the end of the world. One of the NICE things about the American education system is its flexibility.</p>