For Future Referance!!Should I??

D_yer_Maker
Sat, 09 Feb 2008 08:29:59 +0000

The school will be sending your records to the school as part of your application. You’re correct in assuming that, in all likelihood, those records will mention an in-school suspension. Whether there are details included, one can only guess without asking the school directly.

As you’ve noted, boarding school applications typically ask if you’ve been suspended, etc. and then request the details from you. If you say, “No, I haven’t been suspended,” the odds are high that your lie will be exposed. I expect that will have a direct effect on your admission outcomes.

If you say, “Yes,” you still owe an explanation. There’s only one thing to do and to explain the circumstances…preferably without bogging us down with a conspiracy in which you were deliberately framed and the school railroaded you on top of that because they had it out for you. You should speak with some adults about the best way to approach your disclosure so that it won’t make an admission committee think, “Wow…that’s just a weird situation and let’s move on and look at other applicants whose files don’t make us sort through confusing fact patterns and rule on ‘he said/she said’ allegations with only a small piece of an apparently complicated story.” There are just way too many other applicants out there who are unburdened by this for you to think that an admission committee is going to try to sort this all out. Don’t ask them to try to decide anything. Be as matter-of-fact and forthright as possible.

You (meaning one of your parents) can also consider speaking with the school to come up with an agreed-upon statement of the situation. Remember, even if the school chooses not to disclose this, if your application asks the question you must answer it honestly. Whether the school reports it, you were suspended. There’s just one answer to the question. How you explain the details is subject to wide latitude…but it, too, must have the truth as the centerline. I believe the more you state facts and the less you engage in opinions (such as the principal being out to ‘get’ new public school students), the better off you will be.

I’m pretty sure this will be a big hurdle. I feel sorry that that’s the case, especially if everything happened exactly as you describe for the reasons you describe. But you won’t help your cause by lying and I don’t think an explanation of the events should be viewed as a chance to “appeal” the principal’s decision to an admission committee.