A while ago I got accused of using ai during an online course. Obviously a very stupid mistake that I will regret forever. I ended up getting a warning that is apparently not on my record. However, I am unsure if I need to disclose it on my applications and write an addendum. When I asked my case manager, she said
"A Conduct Warning is considered a non-reportable sanction, meaning it does not become part of your educational record and you are not required to disclose it. While many law schools ask applicants to sign a release authorizing the University to provide information regarding their disciplinary history, a Conduct Warning would not be included in that report."
Since it is not on my record, and I am not required to report it, do I need to? I feel like ethically I should, and I do not want to get in trouble with the bar character and fitness test in a few years if I was actually supposed to report it and I didn't. But it sounds like I don't need to?
I would love some clarification on this if anybody has some insight! Thank you!
1 comments
Good question, @flipflop, and one that a lot of people ask every year!
The key here is that you're going to have to read every school's CF questions carefully. I randomly chose Duke's questions:
"1. Have you ever been warned, dropped, suspended, placed on disciplinary probation, disciplined, expelled, requested or advised to resign from any post-secondary school, college, university, professional school, or law school?
Have you ever been placed on academic probation or received a warning at any post-secondary school, college, university, professional school, or law school for poor academic performance, underenrollment, or other reasons related to satisfactory academic progress? (This question does not pertain to sanctions for academic integrity or honor code issues such as cheating or plagiarism, or violations of a student code of conduct. Such issues should be disclosed in Question 1 and will require a letter from the school.)"
So have you ever been "warned" by any college/university? On the surface, it would seem like something called a "Conduct Warning" would fall into that category. Whether or not it's on your record isn't relevant. What's relevant is if the incident happened AND a warning was issued.
But what if a CF question asks about a "formal warning in writing and on your record"? Well, if it's not on your record, you wouldn't have to report it.
You can check out our page here where we have profiles for every school, including their CF questions.