Currently experiencing severe anxiety over this. please help

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didyouknow96

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Basically, I've started freaking out because I read that a few schools don't award latin honors to students that have been on probation. My friends and I were caught with alcohol one semester and I was put on probation. My schools says nothing about this (latin honors and disciplinary action) on the website, but I can't help but feel it must apply to all schools. I feel so terrified because I have an excellent GPA but if I can't graduate with honors grad schools will be confused and know something's up. On my cv I won't be able to list it as an award. I feel like such a loser. My parents will know something's up at graduation when they call my name and don't list an honors with it. They'll think I lied about my good grades all this time. If I tell them the truth they'll be so ashamed. My degree is pretty worthless without grad school. I'll have a ****ty job forever and never be able to go into research and become a clinical psychologist. I won't be able to support my parents and brother. I'll be a loser all because of a stupid stupid mistake. Do you think my school will still give me latin honors? I know grad schools won't see the probation since it's not on my transcript but now I can't stop focusing on this. I sort of feel like I'm going to die or have a heart attack any second.
 
Why are you asking here instead of inquiring from someone at your school, e.g. registrar, dean, etc.?

Also, maybe you should look into going to your university's counseling department for this anxiety.
 
didyouknow96 said:
Basically, I've started freaking out because I read that a few schools don't award latin honors to students that have been on probation. My friends and I were caught with alcohol one semester and I was put on probation. My schools says nothing about this (latin honors and disciplinary action) on the website, but I can't help but feel it must apply to all schools. I feel so terrified because I have an excellent GPA but if I can't graduate with honors grad schools will be confused and know something's up. On my cv I won't be able to list it as an award. I feel like such a loser. My parents will know something's up at graduation when they call my name and don't list an honors with it. They'll think I lied about my good grades all this time. If I tell them the truth they'll be so ashamed. My degree is pretty worthless without grad school. I'll have a ****ty job forever and never be able to go into research and become a clinical psychologist. I won't be able to support my parents and brother. I'll be a loser all because of a stupid stupid mistake. Do you think my school will still give me latin honors? I know grad schools won't see the probation since it's not on my transcript but now I can't stop focusing on this. I sort of feel like I'm going to die or have a heart attack any second.
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Dude. Chill the **** out! No one cares about "Latin honors." Who got you so worked up about such trivial nonsense?

Do you have solid GPA, good research experience, and good GRE scores? If you don't, I would be anxious about this.
 
Last edited:
psych.meout said:
Why are you asking here instead of inquiring from someone at your school, e.g. registrar, dean, etc.?

Also, maybe you should look into going to your university's counseling department for this anxiety.
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Because I feel so terrified to ask and hear them say "no you will not allowed latin honors." I might seriously like, faint.
 
erg923 said:
Dude. Chill **** out. No one cares about "Latin honors." Who got you worked up about such trivial nonsense?

Do you have solid GPA, good research experience, and good GRE scores? If you don't, I would be anxious about this.
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But won't they see my transcript and be confused?? Like if she has such a good GPA where are the honors?
 
didyouknow96 said:
But won't they see my transcript and be confused?? Like if she has such a good GPA where are the honors?
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I don't think my graduate program even paid attention to honors; the GPA score itself was FAR more important in their selection of students (and experiences/essays/GRE scores).
 
erg923 said:
Do you think psychologist are a bunch of idiots or something?
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They'll know that something must have happened, then they might specifically request my judicial record and I'd be doomed.
 
didyouknow96 said:
They'll know that something must have happened, then they might specifically request my judicial record and I'd be doomed.
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Well, now I AM confused. Did you even read my first response, or do you just think that I'm lying to you???
 
erg923 said:
Well, now I AM confused. Did you even read my first response, or do you just think that I'm lying to you???
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But like when you look at every single person's transcript and always see latin honors and then you look at mine, despite having a high gpa, no latin honors, won't they be like wait what?
 
didyouknow96 said:
But like when you look at every single person's transcript and always see latin honors and then you look at mine, despite having a high gpa, no latin honors, won't they be like wait what?
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I give up.
 
didyouknow96 said:
They'll know that something must have happened, then they might specifically request my judicial record and I'd be doomed.
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Wow, you must think selection committees have a ton of time and motivation to pry into the personal lives of undergraduates/applicants. Here's the reality: they don't care that much about people they don't know. I think you're going overboard with your concerns here and ignoring the advice/feedback of people in here, which would have been reassuring to most people.

As others have said, get clarification from your institution. If you don't get the Latin honors, it probably won't matter nearly as much as a low GPA, low GRE, and lack of experience. Thus, you don't need to fixate on this minor point.
 
didyouknow96 said:
Because I feel so terrified to ask and hear them say "no you will not allowed latin honors." I might seriously like, faint.
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Being "terrified" to ask questions, because you're worried what the answer will be is not really conducive to graduate school. I mean, what are you going to do when you're supposed to be defending your thesis or dissertation?
 
foreverbull said:
Wow, you must think selection committees have a ton of time and motivation to pry into the personal lives of undergraduates/applicants. Here's the reality: they don't care that much about people they don't know. I think you're going overboard with your concerns here and ignoring the advice/feedback of people in here, which would have been reassuring to most people.

As others have said, get clarification from your institution. If you don't get the Latin honors, it probably won't matter nearly as much as a low GPA, low GRE, and lack of experience. Thus, you don't need to fixate on this minor point.
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Okay, I am very comforted by the fact that grad schools don't care. Still would be a little hurtful if my parents don't get to see my name called with honors, but I'll be doing a thesis for distinction so hopefully that helps. Thanks everyone
 
psych.meout said:
Being "terrified" to ask questions, because you're worried what the answer will be is not really conducive to graduate school. I mean, what are you going to do when you're supposed to be defending your thesis or dissertation?
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This is totally different. I'm worried this will endanger my entire future.
 
didyouknow96 said:
This is totally different. I'm worried this will endanger my entire future.
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Right, not getting Latin Honors endangers your future more than failing in your thesis or dissertation defense. You totally understand college and grad school.
 
I do now have a fun image of me and a bunch of colleagues pouring over minutia in applications.

“Well well well. Dr Bransworth, did you notice that this applicant doesn’t list Latin Honors on his forms? Marcia, do forward this to food services so they see if the food court has an opening.”
 
MCParent said:
I do now have a fun image of me and a bunch of colleagues pouring over minutia in applications.

“Well well well. Dr Bransworth, did you notice that this applicant doesn’t list Latin Honors on his forms? Marcia, do forward this to food services so they see if the food court has an opening.”
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I heard that even Argosy and Alliant won't take students if they don't have latin honors.
 
As everyone's said the honors thing doesn't matter, but every grad school I've applied to has asked about academic probation/disciplinary action.
 
tiy123 said:
As everyone's said the honors thing doesn't matter, but every grad school I've applied to has asked about academic probation/disciplinary action.
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.....and before the OP has a full blown panic attack, no one will care about a several-years-old one semester probation for being caught with alcohol either. Still make it clear you learned something etc, but it's hardly going to be an app killer.
 
tiy123 said:
As everyone's said the honors thing doesn't matter, but every grad school I've applied to has asked about academic probation/disciplinary action.
Click to expand...

Yes but have they requested a dean’s certification or actual copy of this? I’ve heard only a few law schools actually do
 
Not that it even matters, as many have already pointed it, but it may help to know that some schools do not award Latin honors based on gpa alone, but restrict it to students who have met a certain gpa threshold AND who complete an honors thesis. Then the specific level of honors is determined by the faculty examiners.

So all of that is to say that there may be plenty of students floating around with high gpas and no Latin honors, if they attended such schools and did not complete honors theses. So nobody is necessarily going to even question or think of this as odd.

And keep in mind that you still don’t even know if the alcohol write-up is going to impact this at all. Avoiding the question is just feeding your anxiety (as avoidance tends to do for most people). Think about how relieved you’ll feel once you arm yourself with actual information on your school’s policies. Either you’ll learn that you are still eligible (relief!) or you will learn that you are not, which can help you generate a plan B. Ask an academic advisor or mentor. In the grand scheme of things, this is really not that big of a deal for grad school admissions (and the course of your life!).

As for your parents and graduation, are students at your school even awarded their degrees individually? I went to a medium-sized, high profile, highly selective university, and nobody ever read my name (and achievements)out loud or even awarded my degree personally!
 
MCParent said:
You said law school in the prior post. Replace w license board.
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I haven’t heard of this ever being an issue in all of the extensive research I’ve done. I don’t have a criminal record, it’s not on my transcript.
 
OP, If you haven't already, you need to take about 47 steps back and a deep breath. Some schools don't even HAVE latin honors, or academic honors in general other than based on overall GPA- my relatively small undergrad didn't have honors options that I know of. (One person per department could also get an award for being awesome in other ways and would have prob been disqualified from that). No one on an admissions committee will even think to notice the absence of any specific honors that your school may offer that some other schools don't. So chill the heck out and learn from the bigger picture here: 1) do something about that anxiety. Develop some coping skills and quit the avoidance. 2) You could go a step further than that. Assuming your parents aren't insane, consider telling your parents you got a citation, what you learned from the experience, and get it over with. That part will also help you think about what to say IF you do have to address it in any future applications-- which, if you did, it is seriously no big deal. Considering the number of people who make it all the way to the point of applying for internship (per my conversation with an internship director with whom I was sharing an office last week while they were reviewing applications and have listed DUIs on their internship applications ), which is a much bigger deal than being caught with alcohol on campus, take heart. Literally NO ONE CARES. Except you and maybe your parents. I don't even remember that any applications asked for info on things like college citations, only convictions of actual legal offenses. The real issue here, assuming this isn't a troll post, is how you need to work on some big-picture perspective taking and coping strategies. Best way to get over a situation that is making you anxious is to face up to it, not avoid it, as has been said by previous posters. Take a deep breath. It's fine.
 
SadandHopeful said:
I haven’t heard of this ever being an issue in all of the extensive research I’ve done. I don’t have a criminal record, it’s not on my transcript.
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If you’ve never heard of a state bar having a problem with a discrpenacy between an application and a file, your research was not extensive.

Bottom line: just disclose what is asked in the application. No one will care about your absence of Latin Honors or a piddly one semester probation for alcohol if that’s the only instance of anything like that.
 
MCParent said:
If you’ve never heard of a state bar having a problem with a discrpenacy between an application and a file, your research was not extensive.

Bottom line: just disclose what is asked in the application. No one will care about your absence of Latin Honors or a piddly one semester probation for alcohol if that’s the only instance of anything like that.
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State bar..? I’m not applying to law school! Plus, by the time licensing came around for say, my practice, I would have graduated 6 years ago! The records are destroyed after 5.
 
Okay no need to be rude. I commented back previously saying i wasn’t applying to law school and only brought it us as an example. You brought it up for a second time which confused me.
 
singasongofjoy said:
OP, If you haven't already, you need to take about 47 steps back and a deep breath. Some schools don't even HAVE latin honors, or academic honors in general other than based on overall GPA- my relatively small undergrad didn't have honors options that I know of. (One person per department could also get an award for being awesome in other ways and would have prob been disqualified from that). No one on an admissions committee will even think to notice the absence of any specific honors that your school may offer that some other schools don't. So chill the heck out and learn from the bigger picture here: 1) do something about that anxiety. Develop some coping skills and quit the avoidance. 2) You could go a step further than that. Assuming your parents aren't insane, consider telling your parents you got a citation, what you learned from the experience, and get it over with. That part will also help you think about what to say IF you do have to address it in any future applications-- which, if you did, it is seriously no big deal. Considering the number of people who make it all the way to the point of applying for internship (per my conversation with an internship director with whom I was sharing an office last week while they were reviewing applications and have listed DUIs on their internship applications ), which is a much bigger deal than being caught with alcohol on campus, take heart. Literally NO ONE CARES. Except you and maybe your parents. I don't even remember that any applications asked for info on things like college citations, only convictions of actual legal offenses. The real issue here, assuming this isn't a troll post, is how you need to work on some big-picture perspective taking and coping strategies. Best way to get over a situation that is making you anxious is to face up to it, not avoid it, as has been said by previous posters. Take a deep breath. It's fine.
Click to expand...

Thank you, i’m trying to work on these strategies.
 
tiy123 said:
As everyone's said the honors thing doesn't matter, but every grad school I've applied to has asked about academic probation/disciplinary action.
Click to expand...

This. The lack of "honors" denoted on your transcript is a nonissue. However, as the poster above notes, you will need to respond to questions about academic probation and/or disciplinary action. As noted by MCparent, this is also not a big deal. However, you will need to come up with a way to succinctly communicate the situation, take responsibility for your role, and describe what you learned.

SadandHopeful said:
Yes but have they requested a dean’s certification or actual copy of this? I’ve heard only a few law schools actually do
Click to expand...

It does not matter if it is not recorded on an official school report. IF a grad school application asks about disciplinary action, and many do, you must disclose it. Your ethics as a grad school candidate will be called into question much more for the failure to disclose the probation than some underage drinking. Seriously. Don't lie on the application.
 
Ok, a few things:

1) My undergrad institution didn't award latin honors as a policy. So no one graduated with magna cum laude, etc etc. Was not a problem at all with any grad school, nor was the fact that I didn't graduate with honors (which would have been possible if I had done an undergrad thesis). I stayed on to do research for a couple years postbacc, so the places I applied to knew I was well-aware of what research involved, even without the thesis.

2) Do not lie on your applications to graduate school about being on probation or any kind of disciplinary action. Such "hiccups" are extremely common and would almost assuredly not jeopardize your admission as long as you explain what happened, what you learned from it, that it won't happen again, etc. If you do NOT disclose it and someone finds out later, however, that's a major academic dishonesty problem, and could lead to your acceptance being rescinded. Same with licensure boards - you always get asked questions about these kinds of things, and even though the board is unlikely to call up your undergrad institution and ask about it, you would be absolutely screwed if you lied about it and then the board found out about it after the fact. Remember that licensing boards for psychologists (and most other professions with such boards) serve a protective function for consumers - they regulate us to make sure we are behaving ethically - and so if you ever face a complaint from a client and that client manages to dig up this information, or someone else does, the board doesn't look kindly at being lied to.

3) Agreed with other posters that this level of anxiety sounds like it is really getting in the way of your ability to manage and might be well-addressed by going to the student counseling center on your campus. Student health records are confidential and cannot be released without your permission under almost any circumstance (exceptions if you threaten to harm yourself or others, disclose ongoing child abuse, etc.). If you're extremely concerned about confidentiality, find an off-campus provider that is in your insurance network (if you have insurance) or does low cost or sliding scale therapy (if you don't have insurance), which isn't connected to your school in any way.

Good luck, OP.
 
erg923 said:
My Latin honors from undergrad probably would have been I TAPA KEG.

8 years later...Ph.D.
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Same here. I didn't have Latin honors on my transcript. It wasn't because of a technicality or an unrelated infraction, either - my GPA was too low to even approach the Latin honors range because I didn't work hard enough. Yeah, I had to boost other areas of my application to compensate for that weakness, but I still got into multiple programs. Now I'm a licensed psychologist. Deep breaths!
 
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