Listen to the following words closely:
-All schools do background checks, and no matter how well this is dismissed, expunged, etc, they will find out.
-What age did this happen? Were you under 18? What was the verdict - dismissed, convicted, etc? What was the sentence?
-You are lucky it wasn't above 200 dollars, otherwise you'd be a felon and have some real problems on your hand.
-pay very, very close attention to what the schools are asking for. IE if your case was dismissed and the school asks 'have you ever been convicted of misdemeanor/felony?' you can legally say no, and when they find it, you weren't being dishonest. Answer what you have to, but don't blabber on about things they aren't asking for, however .....
-DO NOT LIE ABOUT THIS!!!! Absolute worst thing in the world you can do it lie. It will come back to bite you, and you will not get in for sure.
Now ...
-Yes, this is going to look bad, immature, etc.
-I hope it happened a long time ago so you can explain how you've grown and regret it and grew from the experience.
-I don't know how much it will affect you, my guess is that it's not killer (IE not a DUI, no violent charges, drugs etc), but definitely not good.
So here is what you do ....
-Go to a lawyer, listen to what the lawyer has to say (that is what legal professionals do), and do it.
-Ask them about what happened, what you need to let schools know, if you could maybe get it expunged, etc etc.
Good luck.