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**Please forgive my n00bishness. I recently posted this under "Ask a current student", and realized I might have better luck scoring some feedback here.

Hi all,

I'm sure there have been a lot of threads like this, although I feel my particular situation is a bit of an outlier. I would sincerely appreciate any thoughts you have, as this is a difficult situation and I have little idea how to move forward.

So basically, I royally f***ed up sophomore year and committed an act of academic dishonesty. Though the scenario is a bit complex (as I'm sure many of them are), I won't attempt to justify it or blame "circumstances" or anything -- what I did was incredibly stupid, unfair to my peers who actually did the work (and those of you out there who do your's as well), and something that (rightfully) will be following me for the rest of my life. That said, it truly was a one time thing and won't be happening again.

The summer after this happened I had a chance to do a bit of soul-searching. I'm the first in my family to go to college, and it began to dawn on me that what I had done would essentially call into question the legitimacy of my degree whenever transcripts were required for jobs, graduate, and law school applications. As much as this sucks, I can't blame those who would second guess a candidate for having acted dishonestly. If someone is willing to lie once (and then gets caught), who's to say they weren't doing it before? The summer after the incident I spent a good deal of time (too much time) attempting to justify my actions to myself. When it occurred to me that I was acting like a ****, I transitioned to beating myself up about it (depression, anger, regret, etc.). When it occurred to me that I was digging the hole deeper, gaining weight, and letting a mistake rule my life, I resolved to learn from it and move forward. Since then, I feel I've done just about everything right. I retook the class with the same professor and got an A, my grades have gotten progressively higher, I've had some really awesome work experience, have secured some really good LORs, and have begun crafting an addendum. While I'd like to keep things somewhat vague (because I'm paranoid), here's a quick rundown of what my application is looking like (I've listed each part in order of what I'm assuming is most important):

LSAT: 172 -- is a retake worth it considering my situation? (Would be shooting for a 175+)

Education (Class of 2012, 2 years out of school):

UG: Top 3 Liberal Arts College
UG GPA: 3.6 (Cumulative), 3.8 (Major), 3.9 (Senior Year)

Study Abroad: Oxbridge
Study Abroad GPA: 3.67 (Cumulative)

Work Experience:
Top 10 Law Firm (Paralegal - 2 years)
White House (Intern)
Governor's Office (Intern)
Top 3 Law School (Project Assistant)
Well-Respected Company* (Intern)

Volunteer Experience:
Homeless Shelter
Tutor Disadvantaged Kids

Extra-Curriculars:
Varsity Sport
Glee Club
Campus Dems
and more!

"Softs":
First-Gen / Low-Income

Letter's of Rec: Complex situation here (although not a horrible one). I definitely have 3 professors/supervisors who are happy to write for me. 2 have let me read them, and while I personally think they're really supportive and awesome, I have no frame of reference to compare them to. My professor who I've retaken the class with has said s/he would be willing to write one for me (which couldn't be too bad, considering s/he gave me an A when I retook the course), although this would have to be submitted in place of a rec that I know is stronger. Also, I thankfully have professors/supervisors who are willing to write for me from some of the more "prestigious" places I've worked/studied (White House, Oxbridge). Given my scenario, is it worth it to take a chance on a rec that's more "prestigious" in place of one that is guaranteed* to be really strong?

Dean's Letter: I have a very good relationship with my Dean. Though s/he has said s/he usually writes "straightforward accounts of what happened", s/he has said s/he plans on writing a couple paragraphs afterward attesting to my character since the incident.

Addendum: I feel it's pretty strong. I don't spend time trying to "justify" my actions, just trying to show how I learned from the fallout they created and how this fits into the larger narrative of my life (which is spelled out in my personal statement).

Personal Statement: If I my application could be assessed on one thing only, it would be this. I know it's entirely subjective, but I really feel like if I'm good at anything it's writing (although maybe not in forums )


And that's that. Basically, anything of note I've done has happened since the incident. I've spent a bit of time researching schools, and if you aren't already completely sick of reading this incredibly long post, I would be immensely grateful if you could comment on what you think my chances would be of getting accepted to the following schools:

*indicates my top choices

FAR, FAR REACH:
Harvard*
Yale
Stanford

FAR REACH:
UChicago*
Michigan

REACH:
Northwestern*
Georgetown*

Please feel free to be as candid as you wish, as I have nothing to lose. Any advice anyone has is also welcome. (are there any success stories? Has anyone been in a similar situation?

Cheers.

You sound pretty contrite. Best of luck - we all make mistakes.

Apply for CCN, I think you have a decent shot at one of those. I think you're pretty much out from S/Y and very very very very slim chance at H (consider if you really want to spend $100 for each of these 3).

Apply early. Write a stellar PS. Get a LOR from the professor you had the "incident" with. Focus on your strengths in your application - don't make it a sob story. Although you should note it in an addendum with that same tone with the unfairness and stuff.

Also, our WE may be good, but in the T14 it's average at best and at HYS it's definitely below-average. Just know that the standard of softs rises as you climb up the T14.

We have the exact same numbers (to one-hundredth of a point on GPA). I EDed NU and got in. I personally think your internship work experience sounds impressive and the two years with a J.O.B. should be enough so that you're not grouped in with the KJDs. I have many years of patent experience, so that may have given me a boost, and I didn't have the academic dishonesty issue. Still, I think it's worth a shot if you're interested in substantially reducing your debt burden.
Lastly, unless you directly influenced other students, I would make sure you tell them exactly what you did. I'm sure people would assume plagiarism or stealing answers for a test is about the worst thing you could do. But it's not (you could have found a way to influence the other students' grades to put yourself ahead), and people will have to assume the worst if you don't tell them exactly what you did. Of course, if you did influence other students' grades directly, you might want to be vague.

I'm going to PM you the specifics, but you should know that law schools take academic dishonesty very seriously. Did your UG have any kind of hearing over this? Did you get suspended? I assume so since you reference a Dean's letter.

This is the type of thing that has the potential to put you out of the running for some schools at which you'd otherwise be competitive, but T14 is definitely a possibility given your numbers and WE. Therefore the way you treat it in your application has to be extremely precise. I would be completely honest about what happened and take responsibility for what you did (which it sounds like you already do). You do sound contrite, and in fact it sounds like you learned quite a bit from this -- so talk about that. Be specific. Remember that the only information the law school will be getting is what you and your Dean tell them. They're not going to investigate this independently. So it's up to you to paint it in the best possible light, and it's pretty easy to distinguish between people who are genuinely remorseful and those who are trying to whitewash.

FWIW, I definitely think this is something that can be overcome if the rest of your application is good. That being said, it is a serious matter and you should calibrate your expectations accordingly.

Also keep in mind that many firms will DQ you automatically when you're looking for jobs

there's a really good chance you won't even pass the moral character application with that on your record-i'd look into that before investing time/energy into law school.

lmr wrote:there's a really good chance you won't even pass the moral character application with that on your record-i'd look into that before investing time/energy into law school.

This is a very good point. You should investigate it.

Hello,

I was just wondering what happened to your law school application. I am a law school applicant facing a similar situation. I know it’s been 5 years but any information or response from you would be extremely helpful. Thank you.