Do I need to disclose my academic misconduct on this grad school application? I have one incident of academic misconduct on my record from my sophomore year (I was guilty), and I received a grade sanction and disciplinary probation. This does not appear on my transcript and I am no longer on disciplinary probation.
I am now applying for PhD programs and some applications ask about conduct. On one application, I'm not sure whether I have to disclose my academic misconduct because of the wording of the question.
It asks if I have ever been &quot;disciplined for academic performance&quot; and gives examples like &quot;academic probation, dismissal, suspension, disqualification, etc.&quot; For the same question, it also says: &quot;Academic Infraction: Indicate whether you have ever been disciplined or placed on academic probation while attending an academic institution.&quot;
At least at my university, academic probation is something you receive for poor grades (like having a dangerously low GPA), whereas disciplinary probation is something you receive for misconduct (anything from underage drinking to academic misconduct). So I'm thinking I can answer &quot;no&quot; to this question, since I was disciplined for misconduct not academic performance, and it was disciplinary probation, not academic probation. It seems that &quot;academic infraction&quot; would be discipline for poor grades. But that &quot;etc.&quot; makes me nervous and I wanted others' opinions.
I don't want to answer &quot;yes&quot; and put myself at a disadvantage when I don't have to, but I also don't want to mistakenly answer &quot;no&quot; and then be caught and have my application disqualified (or worse, get accepted, have someone find out about my academic misconduct halfway through my PhD, and be dismissed). I want to make sure I'm being truthful, but only as truthful as I have to be. For obvious reasons, I don't want to disclose this unless directly asked/required. Do you think I should answer &quot;yes&quot; or &quot;no&quot; to this question?
Edit: To be clear, I am not intending to deceive by being so particular about the word choice. I have disclosed my misconduct on other applications where it was clear that my answer should be &quot;yes&quot;. I think it's understandable that I want to be absolutely certain that I am required to disclose it before I do. I am trying to be honest and accurate.
It seems that &quot;academic infraction&quot; would be discipline for poor grades.

That is wrong.  Misconduct is a type of infraction.  You were disciplined for an infraction.  Disclose it.