<p>In the app, there is a 400 word limit on explaining a suspension. Can I write a narrative?</p>
<p>Sure? As long as you explain it.</p>
<p>I wonder what you have to say about it to make sure it doesn’t have a negative impact on your application, especially if you think you were in the right to do whatever you did anyway.</p>
<p>Sometimes there isn’t a lesson to learn. Things happen. We live in a very litigious society and school administrators will jump the gun to avoid publicity and lawsuits.</p>
<p>Obviously, most applicants have not been suspended from high school. I’d try to write an essay that makes this negative into a positive. Explain the circumstances, take responsibility, try to find some humor in the event, and show (don’t state) what you learned from the experience. People who learn and grow from their failures tend to be successes at MIT - and the adcoms know and look for this.</p>