C & F Disclosure Necessary? Forum

[bigGavelbrain]

I apologize if this is a really stupid question, but I'm an anxious wreck and I just genuinely don't know what to do. In college, I cheated on an exam. Years later, I don't really know why except I guess I just felt really bad, I emailed the professor to fess up to it. It was a freshman-level course so I don't think the professor would even know who I am, but I just emailed them anyway. Maybe I was dumb for doing that. This was several years ago at this point and I'm out of school already.

To the best of my recollection, I got 0 response from the professor. I probably checked my email over the course of a few months for any response from them or even a referral to academic misconduct. Nothing. Unless I missed something in my spam box or something, nothing, no response ever occurred. My school doesn't have anything on record for me either.

I am genuinely confused/concerned on whether my act of voluntary confession is something I need to/should disclose on law school applications. Part of me says that it's unnecessary because I was never disciplined and I personally don't know of any investigation happened because of this. But every post I read emphasizes the importance of candor/voluntary disclosure/etc. especially because of the bar. I'm telling myself that this doesn't fall under any of the questions usually asked by law schools/bars, but I'm driving myself insane that it might.

I'm worried that I'd be disclosing something I don't absolutely have to and would like someone to tell me I'm being crazy anxious in my own head lmao.

[cavalier1138]

I can't imagine this ever being responsive to a C&F question. Those generally don't ask whether you cheated (or confessed to cheating, etc.). They ask whether you were subject to discipline of any kind at school, which would include academic discipline for cheating. You were never disciplined, so there's nothing to report.

Also, your former professor must have been extremely weirded out to receive that email from someone who not only wasn't their student but was no longer attending school. I would have been surprised to hear that you received a response to it.

[bigGavelbrain]

I can't imagine this ever being responsive to a C&F question. Those generally don't ask whether you cheated (or confessed to cheating, etc.). They ask whether you were subject to discipline of any kind at school, which would include academic discipline for cheating. You were never disciplined, so there's nothing to report.

Also, your former professor must have been extremely weirded out to receive that email from someone who not only wasn't their student but was no longer attending school. I would have been surprised to hear that you received a response to it.

I know some jurisdictions ask whether you've ever been investigated and I guess I psyched myself out into thinking that sending a "confession" could potentially have made me liable to an investigation by the professor, but my understanding is if I was never informed of such an action (given the prof's non-response) then there's no need to worry? As in, it's not necessary to disclose information based on a hypothetic/what-if situation.

[cavalier1138]

I can't imagine this ever being responsive to a C&F question. Those generally don't ask whether you cheated (or confessed to cheating, etc.). They ask whether you were subject to discipline of any kind at school, which would include academic discipline for cheating. You were never disciplined, so there's nothing to report.

Also, your former professor must have been extremely weirded out to receive that email from someone who not only wasn't their student but was no longer attending school. I would have been surprised to hear that you received a response to it.

I know some jurisdictions ask whether you've ever been investigated and I guess I psyched myself out into thinking that sending a "confession" could potentially have made me liable to an investigation by the professor, but my understanding is if I was never informed of such an action (given the prof's non-response) then there's no need to worry? As in, it's not necessary to disclose information based on a hypothetic/what-if situation.

That's correct. I don't think it would even be possible to open a retroactive file like that, but to the extent it is, I can't imagine anyone going to the trouble.