will a highschool suspension hurt me a lot?

Bryan
Thu, 05 May 2005 22:34:17 +0000

During my freshman year of high school, I was attacked by another student for essentially no reason, and the school automatically suspended both of us before even looking into what happened.

I had a pretty strong application otherwise (4.0 UW GPA, 95 college credits, some unique and hardcore ECs, 1500/800/770/750 SATs, disadvantaged nonminority background, 400 volunteer hours) and was rejected from HYPM. I was admitted to Cornell and a local safety school. I suspect that I would have had a different outcome if I had not been suspended, but, of course, that’s just speculation on my part.

My evidence is purely anecdotal and clearly does not represent a large enough sample size to draw sweeping conclusions. However, it does lend credibility to my personal opinion, which is this: Given the circumstances, your suspension will not hurt your chances at absolute top-tier colleges, it will eliminate them. Still, admissions at competitive colleges are unpredictable stuff, and the only way that your probability of admission to a given school is really zero is if you don’t apply. Just brace yourself for what might turn out to be an outcome you aren’t going to be happy with. If you aren’t aiming at schools prestigious enough to be assigned their own letter of the alphabet, the damaging effect of your suspension will be much less, provided your application is accompanied by a letter of explanation rife with sincere-sounding genuflection.