Honor Code Violations

In recent studies, it has been projected that around 70% of college students violate their university’s honor code. Some may find these statistics to be surprising and alarming, but I am not one of those people. I think that these statistics can eye opening to many people, those people who have lacked exposure to a very competitive environment, however as someone who was exposed and participated in that competitive environment, I have experienced violations of the honor code many times over.

As a student who grew up in the Research Triangle area in North Carolina, I was exposed to some of the greatest high schools and colleges not only in the country, but in the world. I went to a nationally competitive high school and applied to 3 Ivy League colleges as well as my local school and parent’s alma maters, Duke University. My high school was fortunate enough to have graduated a plethora of students attending Harvard University, Yale University, Duke University, an UNC Chapel Hill. The rigor of my high school was very high, and the results have been shown. This unfortunately breeds a lot of pressure and competitiveness for students to deal with. …show more content…
Unfortunately, I became a part of it more than once. I was under a lot of pressure from my parents, my teachers, and more importantly, myself. I was scared and I put myself in a hole, I did not study enough, and there was not enough time to make up for my mistakes. As a result, I took the easier route and cheated. I am not proud of what I did and I will not do it again, but I understand from a first-hand point of view why people cheat and