Post-Acceptance Criminal Background Question

[summerinoslo]

Hello all,

I've just received my first acceptance to medical school and could not be more pleased! However I still am a little worried about some issues in my background. I hear horror stories of people having their admissions rescinded for similar things and am wondering if anyone has any input.

First of all, I have not lied on a single application, primary or secondary. I did not report anything in my background in the AMCAS application because my activity did not fit the criteria. 6 years ago, I was in a bad place and flew off the rails a bit, and was caught shoplifting and convicted of petty theft (conviction has since been expunged). Later that year I was charged with drug possession (marijuana, hash, underage alcohol) when I was at a party that was busted by the cops. None of the drugs were mine, but no one laid claim to them and so everyone there was charged with possession since no one told the cops who they belonged to. Since, incidentally, the search was illegal, the charges were dismissed.

Obviously this was all a very long time ago and I am a COMPLETELY different person now, have volunteered in major county hospitals and clinics, held medical jobs, the works, but I still get a pit in my stomach when I think about what licensure might look like for me down the road, or applying for residencies. I did run a Certiphi check on myself which has come back clean.

Has anyone been in this situation before, or know someone who has? I don't really want to be biting my nails for 4 years while going through med school wondering if it will all be for nothing. @LizzyM ???

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[Goro]

Expunged convictions are still discoverable by background checks, as the very wise @gyngyn has pointed out.

No secondary ever asked if you were arrested and/or convicted???

I suggest that you contact the Admissions Dean of where you were accepted and just tell him the truth.

 

[summerinoslo]

Expunged convictions are still discoverable by background checks, as the very wise @gyngyn has pointed out.

No secondary ever asked if you were arrested and/or convicted???

I suggest that you contact the Admissions Dean of where you were accepted and just tell him the truth.

I have had secondaries ask this, and I disclosed appropriately in those cases. The school I have an acceptance from did not. I ran a background screening on myself from the same company that does the AMCAS checks, Certiphi, and my record according to them was clean.

Just wondering if calling them and letting them know my situation would help at all if this seems to only affect the licensure part of the whole med school process.

 

[LizzyM]

I have no expertise in medical licensure. That said, the pupose of expungement is to provide a "clean slate" that is to say so that certain one-time crimes do not ruin one's ability to move on. If it happened when you were relatively young, a licensure board might be lenient with you. A charge that was dropped shouldn't be held against you, IMHO.

 

[Lamel]

I have had secondaries ask this, and I disclosed appropriately in those cases. The school I have an acceptance from did not. I ran a background screening on myself from the same company that does the AMCAS checks, Certiphi, and my record according to them was clean.

Just wondering if calling them and letting them know my situation would help at all if this seems to only affect the licensure part of the whole med school process.

Doesn't seem like you have anything to worry about.

 

[Louis C.K.]

As long as you didn't lie, I don't think anything can be held against you. AMCAS asks, "Have you ever been convicted of, or pleaded guilty or no contest to, a Misdemeanor crime, excluding 1) any offense for which you were adjudicated as a juvenile, 2) any convictions which have been expunged or sealed by a court, or 3) any misdemeanor convictions for which any probation has been completed and the case dismissed by the court (in states where applicable)?"

If your charges have been expunged/dismissed, then why would you have to answer yes to this question? I can understand the viewpoint of full disclosure, but, you are well within your legal and moral right to honestly say no to this question. I think if you are asked on a secondary, "Have you ever been convicted of, or pleaded guilty or no contest to, a Misdemeanor crime?", then you should reply yes because there is no "excluding" clause in it, and it could be argued that you were being deceptive if you answered no. However, if there is no such question on a secondary, then where are you supposed to disclose your offense? If it was somehow found out later, I don't really see how you could receive disciplinary action because you answered everything honestly and fully. However, take this with a grain of salt because I'm no J.D., and I am certainly not experienced in this matter.