Rescinded for Plagiarism?

Colleges & Universities University of California - Berkeley
1

<p>I have been accepted to my first choice, Cal, however I am worried I will be rescinded because of plagiarism. </p>

<p>In my IB English class, we made 2 revision guides on a few plays for homework. Unfortunately, I used sparknotes and shmoop to help me with my assignments. We submitted our assignments to turnitin.com, and I saw that the revision guides were 19% and 28% plagiarized for short phrases I took (not whole sentences) here and there. I have had no response from my english teacher yet because I had just submitted the homework, but I have no doubt that I will be in trouble. </p>

<p>This homework assignment was based on completion, and I created thorough revision guides that would be very beneficial in the revision process. I unfortunately did not cite my revision guides properly according to MLA, as I would do for other assignments, because I thought it was informal and only for me. However, I wrote that I received help from sparknotes and shmoop. The other 70-80% of the revision guide was all my original thinking. </p>

<p>I have never cheated in any essay or test ever and I have never received any sort of punishment from school (detention, suspension, etc). This would be the first. Certainly, if these were academic English papers, I would not even have used external help websites. </p>

<p>I don’t feel as if there was anything really wrong with what I did, but I’m petrified that my school and Cal would feel different. Would my acceptance be revoked due to what I see as a minor offense of plagiarism? =/ Thank you!</p>

2

<p>Aside from the fact that you want to go to THAT school, you have nothing to worry about. It’s highly unlikely that Cal will ever hear about your plagiarism. I work in the admissions office at my school and I once had someone concerned that my college was going to hear about her unexcused absences.</p>

3

<p>Aww thanks! It’s just that at my school, the school policy for plagiarism for seniors is that if we get caught, we HAVE to notify the university that we’re going to attend. =/</p>

4

<p>I very much doubt whatever letter your school sends will get matched to your file. Berkeley had 61k freshman applications this year!</p>