Please critique C&F disclosure Forum

[BA414]

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[Iroh]

I'm a fan of the strictly factual account of what happened, so here's how I would write it.

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I want to take this opportunity to explain a character and fitness concern that recently arose. On XXX, the XXX Office of Academic Integrity found that I violated the university’s Code of Academic Integrity for my actions during an online XXX exam. During the self-monitored online XXX exam, I relied upon class notes to help me answer a question.

The university imposed minimum sanctions (failure of the assignment in question, with no notation of academic dishonesty on my transcript) given that I was a first-time offender.

I accept full responsibility for this violation. If you have any questions or concerns about this disclosure, please do not hesitate to contact me at XXX or XXX.

I'm no expert on C&F disclosures (Mike Spivey and Karen Buttenbaum seem like the best people to consult on this matter), but this is the approach I took for my own, comparatively minor, C&F disclosure. The whole, "I learned a valuable lesson" shtick is really off-putting to me, mostly because it tends to sound overwrought and insincere (I'm not saying you don't feel genuine remorse for this).

I'm interested to see how other people approached their C&F disclosures.

[BA414]

Thanks so much for your help. Do you mind me asking how your c&f issues affected your cycle?

[Iroh]

Honestly, I doubt it affected it at all. It's never come up in any of my interviews. Of course, law schools frown pretty heavily on academic dishonesty, and my C&F issue was not severe enough to merit my undergrad Keeping a Record of what I actually did. All I had was a note that I had a disciplinary issue from my freshman year.

Make sure to consult some other people before you send anything out. Keep in mind, this is just one person's perspective.

EDIT: BTW, let me know when you've sent sent out your addendum, and I'll delete my post if you want to protect your anonymity.

[TLSanders]

Far too much drama and breast beating. It may be sincere, but it doesn't come across that way at all. When you're advised to take full responsibility and show that you've learned from this type of event in a disclosure, it doesn't mean saying, "I take full responsibility!" It means an honest recitation of what occurred that doesn't make excuses and does include any positive revelations or changes that came out of the situation.

I don't know how "recently" this occurred, but I don't think that you want to draw attention to highlight the fact that it was recent by employing that language. The closer in time something like this is, the harder it is to make a credible case for having reformed, so don't overstate it.

If, as it sounds like, this happened during the present semester and you're currently applying to law schools, this is going to be a significant negative.

[CanadianWolf]

My impression, based solely upon what you wrote in the initial post in this thread, is that the only lesson that you learned was not to get caught. Have you done this before ? What was the actual violation ? If using class notes, then was it in clear violation of any written instructions given prior to taking the exam ? In short, your C&F disclosure raises more concerns about your character than it alleviates.

Brevity may help: For example: Recently, I received a failing grade on an assignment for using my class notes during a self-monitored online test. I readily admitted my use of these notes & accepted full responsibility. There is no permanent record of this incident on my transcript.