All the pressure to get into college combined with being really good at doing spontaneously stupid stuff makes being a high school student on a college track even more trying.

Until this school year, boys could be boys – same for girls – do something stupid, get disciplined and not have to pay again for the infraction when they applied to college.

Prior to this school year, it wasn’t that hard to keep probation, suspension, removal, dismissal, expulsion or a reprimand for cheating on a quiz in ninth grade from admissions’ eyes.

A student simply completed the Common Application, which did not address discipline issues, instead of a specific college’s application.

That escape route has been shut down. In an effort to better view students’ pasts to better envision their futures, colleges pressured the makers of the Common Application to close the discipline loophole by adding two new questions:

1. Have you ever been responsible for a disciplinary violation at any secondary school you have attended, whether related to academic misconduct or behavioral misconduct, that resulted in your probation, suspension, removal, dismissal or expulsion?
2. Have you ever been convicted of a misdemeanor, felony or other crime? If students answer yes to either question they’re asked to give the date of each incident and to explain the circumstances. Students are then asked to sign a document authorizing all secondary schools they’ve attended to release all requested records.

It’s essential that you remind your darling young ones to mind their manners because the most minor, brain-dead infraction that results in a suspension can undermine a college application.

Marcia Goldreich, the exceptional director of school counseling at East Lyme High School, notes that her department has made it its business to let students know about the change in the Common Application, the importance of good behavior, and if there was a lapse in good judgment, the importance of acknowledging how a student learned from the mistake.

“ I always tell them that honesty is the best policy. I don’t like students to gloss over any incident as it can come back to bite them,” Goldreich said the other morning.

“Many years ago,” she recalled, “an anonymous source sent a local newspaper article to a college about one of my students. HeHHHe had not admitted to an arrest. He was called to the college with his parents for a personal meeting with admissions. Boy, was he embarrassed and his invitation to attend school was rescinded.

“I tell students to explain the charge or suspension. It is better for the college to have the information rather than wonder what the charge was. Often it’s a simple suspension for a school rule that the college considers petty.”

Jean Baker, the tireless director of guidance at Daniel Hand High School who just hosted a mammoth college fair the other night in Madison, notes "students should disclose any behavioral or academic infraction with their counselor.

“We, in turn, depending upon the violation could very well write a supportive letter. That could prove to turn it into a win-win. Hey, it's all about growing up and making mistakes and learning from them, right?”

Baker’s view is reminiscent of a legendary tale I heard years ago about a football star with stellar grades, who was kicked off the team and suspended from school for Friday Night Bud Lights that led to record-breaking lunacy.

He subsequently noted in his college application how deeply the suspension and the loss of his captainship hurt and how he ultimately benefited from the setback.

The person who told the story, an admissions officer at one of the elite schools, said the student was accepted because admissions was confident that he wasn’t likely to get burned twice by the same hot stove.

“Nearly every kid runs the risk of getting reprimanded for something,” said the admissions officer. “We look to see what the student does when he’s in and then out of the frying pan.”

Today’s violent climate, however, makes it harder for admissions officers to give a student with marked baggage a break, because if that student goes gonzo the decision to admit will be questioned by their employers and the media.