<p>After my freshman year ended I went on a school sponsored trip to Spain. Myself, and many other kids, consumed alcohol at one point while on the trip because there did not seem to be a drinking age. Anyway, when we got back to school we each received at 2 day suspension for violating the school’s alcohol policy.</p>
<p>Will this suspension hold me back when applying at a school like Brown? Or will they be understanding human beings and know that young people make mistakes and that this was not a lapse in character? Will the fact that it was in Spain, early in my high school career, and in the summer help me?</p>
<p>This will be on your school record, so they will see it.</p>
<p>However, the Common App has a place to explain blemishes on your record (briefly). Ask your college counselor how to phrase your explanation of the suspension while assuring the college of your maturity these days.</p>
<p>I agree with hollyert, however, if your excuse is that the incident took place in Spain and over the summer during a school sponsored event, I don’t think you’ll be helping your case. I’m really not trying to be mean or rude, but I’m sure you know the difference between right and wrong as a freshman in high school—even a six year old knows the difference. What will really hurt your case though is the fact that it was an event sponsored by your school. Typically, school rules apply during events held by the school. Just because it took place over the summer and in Spain did not mean that school rules did not apply to you anymore. Unfortunately, you are going to have to utilize that extra space on the Common App very wisely (i.e. provide a very strong case for yourself) if you want this blemish to disappear. I wish you all the best! We all make mistakes :)</p>
<p>Now that I’ve got the negative aspect of this out of the way, let’s focus on the positives ;)</p>
<p>1) It took place freshman year so you had 3 more years to improve upon.
2) Hopefully, you haven’t encountered any other disciplinary violations.
3) You’ve maintained a strong academic record.
4) Perhaps you’ve attended an AA meeting or started some sort of chapter at your school?
5) This may be stretching it, but perhaps your parent(s) are alcoholics and it’s hereditary…AND you’ve worked hard to overcome the addiction.</p>
<p>I’m just throwing out different ways to clean this up for you. Best of luck!</p>
<p>I never said the OP was an alcoholic. Experimenting with alcohol can be harmless (I suppose), but it currently is not helping the OP’s record. I provided the cons to the case and provided pros to help placate the situation. Mistakes happen so I hope it won’t be that big of a deal.</p>
<p>If you’re hopeful, your school might cover it up for you. School wants students to go to top colleges after all. Ask your counsellor how school will handle this.</p>
<p>And the legal drinking age in Spain is 18 like the rest of Europe.</p>
<p>Some colleges care about this stuff, others don’t. I don’t know how you can figure that out before hand. You might want to take a look at the book “The Gatekeepers” – one of the students in there was suspended her senior year, and while it did affect admissions, there were schools who accepted her.</p>
<p>If it’s on your school record, there’s not much you can do about it. You need to present yourself as best as you can and hope that since it was so long ago and nothing has happened since, that most schools will overlook it. Assuming, of course, that nothing else has happened since.</p>
<p>However – the fact that you are eager to hide it, come up with flimsy rationalizations for why you did it – as opposed to admitting that you broke the rules and made a mistake – is troublesome. Every school trip I know of makes it crystal clear that students are not supposed to drink, and I’d be thoroughly shocked if this one didn’t.</p>
<p>This will considerably affect you. However, there is still hope. I would suggest you be open and honest with admissions officials. On the Common App there is space to explain your suspension. Do this.</p>
<p>I may have missed reading it, but are you sure that your suspension is listed on external documents? When I was in high school I had a 3-5 day suspension for fighting, and it was only annotated on internal documents. If its not listed on whatever documents your school sends out, then it didn’t happen. If it is listed, I recommend you ask the school to remove it. See if you can make a case for why you think it should be removed, the officials may be receptive. Worst case scenario, I think the best approach is to own up to your mistake. If you take the “I didn’t know” approach, you will look like a jackass. Prove to the admissions official that it was a mistake and a learning experience.</p>
<p>If you try to hide it, it will be MUCH worse than admitting that what you did was wrong, broke the rules, and accepting the responsibility for making a bad judgment. Colleges know that kids make mistakes, and sometimes kids screw up. Colleges are interested in seeing how mature you are in owning up to what you did. If you face it maturely, it should not affect you in a bad way, but I am just guessing. If you try to cover it up, and one of your teachers or the guidance counselor happens to mention it, then for certain you will be screwed. Even if it is not listed on your record, you might want to explain what you learned from this incident. You never know when it will come back to bite you. Also, if you mention it on your own, it definitely looks positive as far as getting some growth out of it. Don’t try to hide it. That would be a bad decision. You might want to include how you changed in the subsequent years, as you said that this happened quite a while ago.</p>
<p>Don’t make excuses. Admit what happened, admit you were wrong, and stress that you’ve learned your lesson and have grown. They aren’t expecting perfection but hiding it or making excuses, unless you have a legit excuse, won’t help you.</p>
<p>Wow this is simply ridiculous. No wonder all these freshmen get **** drunk and need to be taken to hospitals. I know you guys are trying to be helpful, but don’t make him really feel like what he did was abominable and despicable and he’s lucky not to have a criminal record? Unless of course you want his 21st birthday present to be a coma. </p>
<p>And oh yeah I’m sure Brown will care a lot about this…that’s why the “substance free” dorm is the one you have to specifically request…and it ends up being the whore house full of crackpots …go figure</p>
<p>Having a goddamn beer or wine or sangria or whatever they had while in freakin Spain somehow makes you less of a person? Just…wow</p>
<p>But anyway…college admission is at this point the least of your worries…you have HELL written all over you. I hope you said your prayer and promised to never ever touch one single molecule of C2H5OH again…at least until you reach the age such that you have witnessed no less than 252 full moons. After that it’s ok. Your character then becomes suddenly immune to implosion after such horrendous actions. But until then, you must spend at least 4 years at your local monastery, thinking about what you have done, how evil and bad you are, all the people, beliefs you’ve betrayed and ****ed on, find a way to repair all the damage and pain caused, while bearing night after night horrible nightmares of the night you drank…beer!!..and then present your findings and show how this experience changed not only your life, thoughts, character, but most importantly your very soul. IF you live to tell the tale!</p>
<p>I think that’s possibly the dumbest thing I’ve ever read. Don’t say you went to an AA meeting even if you did for some stupid reason, it’ll make you sound like a tool.</p>
<p>Yes, seriously, and what’s up with his school anyway? We already got too many over-protected dumb “YEAH, mommy’s not around to ground me, LETS DRINK BEEER YEAHH!!” or “oh no i don’t drink alcohol it’s very very bad, mommy said so”. It’s ****ing beer, not magic potion/satan’s blood. This is what you want your kids to end up like?</p>