“I cheated through university and I’m not sorry.”
Well, that’s certainly a title that gets our attention.
A Redditor posted this on a throwaway account in the r/confessions thread, admitting to their lack of remorse over cheating their way throughout university.
At first glance, we definitely disapprove. But this is one of those “hear me out” situations.
Why they cheated through university
“I was never particularly fond of the idea of pursuing a higher education. I have plenty of hobbies and interests, but few of them translate to something I could study at a typical university. So I did the practical thing and chose a degree that could open the most doors and net me more lucrative job opportunities.”
It’s true that not everyone has an innate passion for education and academics. It’s honestly not a bad move to pursue a career or field simply based on the lucrativeness, especially if having a good financial standing is your top motivator.
However, this Redditor believes that in reality, the job they were pursuing didn’t even require a degree for one to be competent in it. Yet, each job listing in said field requires a bachelor’s degree. That’s why they cheated through university, and is still able to work in their field.
It’s true that there are a lot of careers out there where you can definitely do and even excel in without reallyneeding a degree. But oftentimes, a degree signals some baseline level of competency and capability to even understand the basics of any given industry.
But the Redditor’s argument is that we seem to be living in a time where everyone is forced to either “forgo college and live your life constantly working sh*t gigs and toeing the line of poverty, learn a trade (still expensive and a form of higher education), or you can plunge yourself into student debt in the hopes of living a reasonably comfortable life.”
Honestly, I have to admit that they’re right. There are exceptions to this rule, but that’s just that — an exception. And of course, there are those who are academically gifted enough to get a scholarship, or privileged enough not to worry about student loans and debts.
But for those who aren’t so lucky, upward mobility has become increasingly challenging. Still, though, does that really justify academic cheating?
Let’s continue reading their confession…
“During my first semester, I discovered that the workload was this eldritch amalgamation of busy work, pointless circular discussions, pedantic essays, some of the hardest and most specific exams I’ve ever taken, and a partridge in a pear tree. All while I worked a part time job that felt a hell of a lot more like a full time job.”
Well, even though they cheated through university, you can’t say they lack descriptive writing capabilities!
Basically, the Redditor felt like there weren’t enough hours in the day to do everything: study hard, work hard, and rest. So, they decided to cut out the “study hard” part, and replaced it with… we already know, academic dishonesty.
“I have no doubt that some of you will think what I did was wrong regardless of my reasons. But to me, putting good jobs behind unnecessary barriers is the real misdeed. We live in a dishonest and deeply unfair world. I had the choice between floundering and failing, or doing what I had to do to get where I needed to be. And for that, I have no regrets.”
It’s true. Some people would think that cheating and dishonesty are universally wrong, regardless of the reason. However, this Redditor makes a good case about why meritocracy fails — because starting points are never equal, and the ideal creates a false promise. When society assumes success comes only from hard work, it ignores the unfair advantages of wealth, genetics, and luck.
The story could end just there, but there’s actually another incident that made this Redditor particularly frustrated with the education system as it is. And it has to do with a friend of theirs that they dubbed “Friend X.”
“I met him in my first semester and we’ve been good friends ever since. I consider myself to be pretty average in terms of intelligence, but Friend X is well and truly gifted. He excelled in school for a while until some personal events took a sledgehammer to his mental health. He reached out to the school for counseling services, and they basically told him to get lost. After getting no help from the school and no leniency from his professors, he ended up failing half of his classes in the second to last semester before graduation. I think that kind of broke him.”
This caused Friend X to break down. He even outright bawled to the Redditor, saying that he had been throwing up everything he ate and how he couldn’t sleep without medication.
“I mean, come on. Is this really the most efficient way of getting an education? How can they justify paying for this shit? And the institution that put him in that state couldn’t even be bothered to slot him in to talk to a therapist.”
Friend X knew that the Redditor cheated, and after his breakdown, he asked for some pointers and eventually followed suit. The Redditor claims that it didn’t magically solve all of his problems, but it did help him graduate on time and recover his GPA.
If you’ve got people like Friend X resorting to cheating, you need to rethink your entire academic structure.
If you cheated through university, you might try to do something similar later in life. Source: RDNE Stock Project via Pexels
Relooking the academic system
More than advocating for academic dishonesty, the real issue here is re-examining the way higher education is structured.
It’s also a stark reminder that some career paths are now being gatekept by a degree — which, when you look deeper, is often just another way of saying money.
But of course, we’re not saying that Friend X and the Redditor are both faultless. There is always a choice to be made. Maybe if the Redditor actually pursued a subject they enjoyed, they could’ve gained more value from their studies.
Perhaps if Friend X were able to seek counselling through other means, they would be able to improve their mental health and pick up their grades without resorting to cheating. Perhaps both of them just needed more support overall from friends, family, and the faculty at large.
Especially in the age of AI, which makes academic dishonesty that much easier, schools must relook at how they support their students and facilitate real education, rather than just having students sit through a bunch of assignments and exams that they can find a way to cheat out of.
While this Redditor can justify why they cheated through university, cheating can turn into something much worse later in life — think fraud, embezzlement, and the like. If doing well in exams just isn’t your talent, try to look into how others have navigated it, because trust us, you’re not alone in this.
