Law School Discussion

I'm not so sure that saying you wanted to challenge yourself is the best angle.  What I see in that situation is, this kid almost died, then wanted to challenge himself?  Nah.

I think you should go with 'taking an aggressive graduation schedule' and working extra hard to meet you goal.

Just my $0.02.

Greetings!

I have an odd situation that I would like some advice on.  When I was a 2nd year, I was charged with academic misconduct.  The actual situation is not quite what would be expected.  During a test I noticed one of the schools top athletes copying from my exam, and the next day I met with the professor and informed him of this.  However, due to the very strict guidelines my university has regarding academic dishonesty, I was found guilty for assisting a cheater because I admitted that I noticed him doing it during the test and didn't stop it then.  I cooperated with the acadmic affairs committe throughout, but I got shafted by the letter of the law in the end.  The woman in charge of academic affairs for my school is writing me a letter of rec attesting to this.  However, the fact remains that I have still have an academic misconduct ruling on my record.  I received an F for this class on my transcript, which has lowered my GPA to a 3.74.

I feel obligated to report this on all of my applications, although I am afraid this will severely hurt my chances.  I have a 3.92 GPA with this class not counted (as will appear on my transcript at the end of this semester), with majors in Computer Engineering and Economics, and a minor in math.  I have an lsat of 167.  However, the applications I sent out will show the GPA of 3.74.

I am going to write an addendum discussing how this happened, accompanied by the letter of rec.  I'm trying for Top 10 schools, specifically Stanford and Harvard.

Any thoughts / advice? Just out of *sheer* curiosity, what would be the effects of not mentioning this on my applications.

Thanks!