This is my second to last week of graduate school and I got caught cheating with my notes under my test. It was a moment of weakness—not pre planned. I had a meeting with my professors who say I should get an F in the course, which means I’ll have to retake it in the fall. My internship will be delayed by 2 semesters. If I retake the course I will undergo public humiliation as I’m part of a small cohort and everyone will know I didn’t pass the class. Although what I did was make a terrible mistake, I don’t believe I deserve this after all the effort I’ve put into this program and my clean academic record.
Although there is no justification for cheating, I explained that I’m under a lot of personal stress as I’m going through a divorce. I spoke to the Dean who agrees with the professors’ decision. When I asked if there was anything I could do, he replied that I can forward the appeal to the Vice President of academic affairs, which is now in process until she gets back to me.
I know I made a mistake that I’ll never forget for the rest of my life. I need advice – what do I do from here? I’m hoping they’ll lessen the punishment to an f on the test, which will give me a c in the class. It will also only put me one semester behind my cohort. Is this a reasonable request? What should I prepare for my appeal? Any help is really appreciated.
Yeah, you do deserve it. Ted Kennedy was expelled from Harvard for cheating. He was re-admitted two years later. Be thankful you are not being expelled.
I’m not at Harvard. And although I am extremely angry at myself, I can only tell myself that I made a terrible mistake and I will learn to move on from it. I also believe that if I can fight for the least charge possible I should. Cheating is a bad offense but the consequences are never clearly explained and it happens a lot more than you think.
First time I’ve cheated and first time I got caught. I did badly on my previous test in this class and it made me feel anxious. I was in a room by myself and when I’m alone, I tend to get more anxious than usual. I finished the test, at first was sure of my answers but then began to wonder how badly I did on the last test. In a moment of weakness I reached for my bag under my table and placed my notes under my test. My professor saw me.
So then it was pre planned and a moment of weakness. Deal with the consequences. You’re what, 26 years old? You deserve no sympathy. You’re lucky you are even being granted the opportunity to retake the class.
It’s already over, so don’t think about it too much. Obviously next time don’t ever do that again because you could get expelled for cheating in college. Don’t get me wrong, I’m pretty sure you’re not the only one who would cheat in college, but don’t take that risk next time. It’s better to fail a test and accept the fact that you should’ve studied verses cheating on a test. What you should do now is forget this ever happened and continue with what is in front of you. I know this is going to be a hard step, but just continue with the class by studying and doing all the required work and hope for the best.
I think an appeal to the vice president of academic affairs is appropriate when you are arguing that you didn’t cheat. For example, someone broke into the prof’s office and stole a copy of the test, but it wasn’t you. Here, your argument is that you did cheat, but you don’t understand why it should be a big deal. Why should you have to be embarrassed or inconvenienced as a result of cheating? A good VP of academic affairs is not going to appreciate this argument.
. Perhaps you would have a case for the VP of academic affairs if your university has no policy about academic integrity. I’m guessing there is a policy, though.
Tough. You brought this on yourself. You are damn lucky you were not immediately dismissed from the program and expelled from the school. Others have suffered that penalty for the same offense.
Well, sorry. They may just think you had a tough time with the course, which as we know, is completely different from them knowing that you were exposed for being academically dishonest. Personally, I’d rather people think I failed than know I was a cheater. YMMV.
As stated above, students are often expelled and failed from their programs completely for doing exactly what you did. But for some reason, you believe you are being treated unfairly! You think you should suffer no stiffer consequences (a grade of C) as someone who struggled with the class but put in an HONEST effort. Why do you think there should be no distinction here in terms of outcomes between someone who failed the test for whatever reason but did nothing wrong and you, who attempted to pass the test while using notes, which you knew perfectly well was not allowed, was dishonest, and is considered cheating by everyone reading this thread?
Your sense of entitlement is more egregious to me than the cheating.
It’s about your actions, not someone else’s. Making it about them seems to indicate that getting caught is the crux of the issue. It isn’t. Your decision to cheat is the crux of the issue.
Your divorce issue, to which I feel sorry for you, is NOT your school’s business to care. You brought this to yourself. Sounds tough? It does, and no smooth words will fix or alleviate the situation. You are DAMN*100 lucky that you are NOT expelled.
It may help to contact a lawyer, with the thought that he or she will be able to counsel you as to how best to protect whatever rights you may have in this situation. Even if they tell you to fall on your sword, at least you will know you did your due diligence and had someone knowledgable and objective work through the situation with you.
I would not “fight it” because you open the door to reevaluating the punishment, and the punishment for cheating of often dismissal or suspension at the least. There have been many students, both undergrads and grads who come here trying to figure out what to do after a dismissal. Look in your student handbook and read what the possible repercussions are for violating academic integrity. You must realize that when someone is caught cheating your entire record is now suspect.
You didn’t pass the class. I tell my kids it’s better to fail than to cheat. You can overcome failure, you can only lose your reputation for integrity. You’ve lost yours.
As we say at work “We appreciate effort, we reward success”.
When you are caught cheating EVERYTHING YOU’VE EVER DONE BECOMES SUSPECT!
Your academic record is therefore no longer clean.
You are still trying to get away with this complete lapse of integrity. Stop.
Live with honor and integrity. It sounds like it would require a lifestyle change. Change!
Accept your punishment, retake the class, and be glad that you aren’t expelled, because like I said, if you are caught cheating, everything you’ve ever done becomes suspect
If it were up to me as either a professor or an officer of the school, I would expel you because based on the preponderance of the evidence, you were caught cheating now, and the likelihood is that you’ve cheated before and I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting your name on a degree from my school. It wouldn’t be because you are a bad person, it would be because you willfully violated the academic integrity of the institution whose reputation my livelihood depends on. It’s not personal strictly business.