Cheating and College

No matter what you did in high school when it comes to cheating, you should know that cheating in college is quite different. It's a really big deal.

• College administration takes cheating seriously. It's not unheard of for whole classes to be expelled for "collaborating" or outright cheating.

  This happened recently at the University of Virginia, when a large part of an economics class was caught cheating.

  As a freshman, you will be introduced to the honor code at your college. It will outline the rules for your particular institution.

• When you're caught cheating, even once, you lose all credibility with professors. This is a big loss in college. In high school we can survive if our teachers lose confidence in us, or even if they don't like us. College is a different story.

  You're going to get to know your major professors pretty well, and you're going to need them for things like recommendations for internships, scholarships, awards, jobs, and special programs. To a great extent, your success will depend on their opinion of you. Don't mess that up!

• Professors are good at catching cheaters. They have more time and more resources. They also have tenure and a little bit more flexibility than high school teachers when it comes to checking out their suspicions and following through with allegations.
• In high school there's a tendency to treat cheating less seriously, perhaps because high school students are minors. In college you're an adult. If caught cheating, you'll pay adult consequences.
• Your high school education may have been funded by taxes, but your college education is probably funded by you and your parents. Whenever you cheat, you are wasting time. If you cheat in college you are also wasting money.
• College is competitive. Fellow students will take cheating more seriously in college, because they realize what's at stake. They're more likely to turn you in.
• Cheating is for losers. How would you feel if your parent was accused of cheating on the job? What if they were fired for it? They'd feel the same way if you were caught cheating in college.

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