Stellar student suspended for a year

Emerge NC said:

Hey guys, I've been browsing these forums for about a year but this is my first post. I'm a freshman at a big state school and I got a 3.75 gpa first semester and will be getting a 4.0 spring semester. Unfortunately, as of a few days ago I got suspended from school for possession of marijuana for a year (very strict drug policy). I am a work hard party hard kind of person. This was really quite a wake up call for me however, and I now realize if I want to make medicine my future I am going to have to drop this occasional recreational habit from my life. So my two questions are 1) How bad will this hurt my chances of getting into a credible medical school (I am having the charge expunged from my criminal record) 2) What is my best option to do with this year off? I have a few options. I can continue working at my local animal hospital and raise money for school, save up money and travel, maybe do some humanitarian work in a needy country, try to get an EMT license (I've always been interested in working as an EMT), or continue my course load as normal at my community college. Thanks for reading this extremely lengthy post and for any advice you have for me.

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No clue but even if you could get into med school, you might have licensing issues with a drug charge. Even expunged records are revealed when applying for a license. You may want to research that.

I'll let other chime in.

Emerge NC said:

Hey guys, I've been browsing these forums for about a year but this is my first post. I'm a freshman at a big state school and I got a 3.75 gpa first semester and will be getting a 4.0 spring semester. Unfortunately, as of a few days ago I got suspended from school for possession of marijuana for a year (very strict drug policy). I am a work hard party hard kind of person. This was really quite a wake up call for me however, and I now realize if I want to make medicine my future I am going to have to drop this occasional recreational habit from my life. So my two questions are 1) How bad will this hurt my chances of getting into a credible medical school (I am having the charge expunged from my criminal record) 2) What is my best option to do with this year off? I have a few options. I can continue working at my local animal hospital and raise money for school, save up money and travel, maybe do some humanitarian work in a needy country, try to get an EMT license (I've always been interested in working as an EMT), or continue my course load as normal at my community college. Thanks for reading this extremely lengthy post and for any advice you have for me.

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Drug charges are going to make medicine very difficult (if not impossible) to pursue. I'm not so sure that expungement prevents the state from seeing your drug charge and blocking you from receiving a medical license (actually, I'm pretty sure that it won't). You should probably have that conversation w/ an attorney specializing in medical licensing issues in the specific state where you hope to practice.

They may ask if you've been arrested, which you will probably have to say yes to.

But saying that you were arrested but not convicted and the charges were droppedwill probably be fine.

Why the hell did the school expel you?

Emerge NC said:

Well my lawyer informed me that once I get this expunged from my record (I was never even convicted, the charge shows as nolle processed which means the charge was dropped) that all records of my arrest and trial are physically destroyed and that legally I am allowed to say I was never charged, nor convicted of a crime. I understand that background checks are extremely thorough but could this harmless misdemeanor that I have learned from really ruin my future dedicated my life to the well being of others?

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Honestly, I was told the same thing about a charge that was actually dismissed (as in due to lack of evidence because the charge was a false charge) and it STILL shows up on my background check and I STILL have to explain it for medical school. (In my case, though, they just roll their eyes and laugh. Not so sure that's what would happen here.)

that sucks. no way to appeal, esp on the grounds that you got the charges dropped??

if you city/state has no reason to press charges, why should the university care.

I don't have answers to your questions, but just wanted to say that I hope things work out!

Isoprop said:

No clue but even if you could get into med school, you might have licensing issues with a drug charge. Even expunged records are revealed when applying for a license. You may want to research that.

I'll let other chime in.

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Yeah I remember hearing about the guy who had something expunged, thought it was okay to say he was never arrested because it was expunged, and it (the arrest, at least) showed up and he got banned from the match for lying or something.

I think I've heard about people getting into med school with a drug charge that was from freshman year or highschool, because they say they were a stupid kid and then turned their life around and worked hard for the next three years and are ready to be a professional. OP, you can't be flippant when you explain this to interviewers

I like how you call yourself a stellar student. I thought we'd be talking about someone in the third person.

Probably shouldn't have pot and you wouldn't be in this situation.

Move out here to California, no one will care.
I heard someone else say on these boards, that a lot of CA med schools specifically say to list all crimes minus marijuana procession... (again, this was second hand)


I don't know the first thing about licensing, but I'd imagine that if Virginia has some stupidly harsh marijuana policy, there are other states in which that wouldn't be a problem.

Honestly, I can't imagine there are many adcoms that didn't try weed back in the day, and I really can't imagine them caring all that much about one incident, your freshman year, maybe a few schools will, but most shouldn't.

As for your forced gap year, stay productive. Either go full time to a CC, and finish up your GE work, while continuing to volunteer and gaining some clinical experience, or as you said get an EMT, CNA and gain some really good clinical experience

Emerge NC said:

Well my lawyer informed me that once I get this expunged from my record (I was never even convicted, the charge shows as nolle processed which means the charge was dropped) that all records of my arrest and trial are physically destroyed and that legally I am allowed to say I was never charged, nor convicted of a crime. I understand that background checks are extremely thorough but could this harmless misdemeanor that I have learned from really ruin my future dedicated my life to the well being of others?

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Suncrusher said:

Yeah I remember hearing about the guy who had something expunged, thought it was okay to say he was never arrested because it was expunged, and it showed up and he got banned from the match for lying or something.

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So...expungement isn't really? the lawyer OP cited seemed pretty clear in saying that there's nothing to be found

HAV000 said:

So...expungement isn't really? the lawyer OP cited seemed pretty clear in saying that there's nothing to be found

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Question: have you ever been arrested for...
Answer: Yes. (you were)
Explanation- charges dropped, big misunderstanding, wrong place/wrong time etc. Nothing to see here...
Ok great, all's well and good, except in your case, since you got suspended from school for a year. You have to explain that. Without lying or sounding like you're the victim of your states evil drug laws.
It's all not going to just go away.

At least you have a good GPA. Not everything sucks

I would try to spend the year doing medical work in a 3rd world country. You messed up - there is no denying that. A good way to "sneak" something passed medical admissions/interviewers is to do something so outrageous that interviewers don't pay much attention to other things. Most interviewers would key in on spending a year in Tanzania providing medical relief where you were actively involved in your passion of humanitarian work, etc. You could probably spend an entire interview talking about this and receive great reviews.

The other good option is to continue your course work elsewhere and mention to medical schools that you were just exploring your options elsewhere, it was cheaper, or whatever.

I would recommend not just traveling or doing EMT work. Neither would boost your application very much if at all. The question admissions will ask themselves is "why take someone with previous drug issues, arrests, or whatever else they see?". You should give them a good answer without them ever asking.

on AMCAS you will have to indicate if you have had any institutional actions taken against you. THe answer is YES as you've been suspended for a year. You will have to explain that action on your application and you will be asked about it at every interview you're granted. As for how this affects life after med school, it all depends how the questions are asked on licensure applications at the time you are completing them, in the particular state you are seeking licensure (one state's misdemeanor is another state's felony), and what companies are doing the background checks (as they all work a little differently and pursue various levels of detail).

it's not impossible to get into med school provided you have no new actions taken against you and you demonstrate that you've learned from this incident but you just have to be prepared to go over this time and time again, which is going draw attention away from everything else you are doing (have done).

TexasPhysician said:

I would try to spend the year doing medical work in a 3rd world country. You messed up - there is no denying that. A good way to "sneak" something passed medical admissions/interviewers is to do something so outrageous that interviewers don't pay much attention to other things. Most interviewers would key in on spending a year in Tanzania providing medical relief where you were actively involved in your passion of humanitarian work, etc. You could probably spend an entire interview talking about this and receive great reviews.

The other good option is to continue your course work elsewhere and mention to medical schools that you were just exploring your options elsewhere, it was cheaper, or whatever.

I would recommend not just traveling or doing EMT work. Neither would boost your application very much if at all. The question admissions will ask themselves is "why take someone with previous drug issues, arrests, or whatever else they see?". You should give them a good answer without them ever asking.

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I agree, and I hear that they don't bother you for doing pot over there, either.

just wanted to chime in that you should not be listening to the pre-meds in here telling you that you have slim or no chance. you are still young and adcoms know that. be sure to do something for your CV during the year off, don't wallow.

always tell the truth about this incident when asked about it, regardless of your expunge status. licensing boards will find out about this but by then it will be so far in the past that no one will care. the big hurdle will be getting into medical school, but you won't even apply for at least three more years.

think on the bright side: this isn't nearly as bad for your application as a DUI.

NickNaylor said:

I like how you call yourself a stellar student. I thought we'd be talking about someone in the third person.

Probably shouldn't have pot and you wouldn't be in this situation.

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I go to Pritzker and think I'm better than everyone else!

This hasn't ruined your chances for acceptance to med school. If you do a bit of searching, you'll find plenty of threads containing people with misdemeanors who have succeeded. However, all of those people:

1) Made a lifestyle change
2) Did not have a second offense

Nobody is going to go through life without making mistakes. What med schools DON'T want is somebody who makes mistakes without learning anything. Be a man, own up to what you did, show that you took something positive away from the experience and move on.

Mizoodles said:

I go to Pritzker and think I'm better than everyone else!

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Pretty much what I said.

edit.

You have a bigger issue than getting into medical school - paying for it.

Drug convictions preclude you from receiving federal financial aid. I think its a defined period. Eg. 1 year for 1st possession charge, etc.

In fact, maybe thats why they suspended you.

Anyway, you may want to look into the details of that and see how that is going to affect you. Don't get caught again.

This is such a shame. I think you will be fine, but it wouldn't hurt to get involved in some sort of "speak to high school kids about the evils of drugs" program if possible. This way you can show that you turned a bad decision into a positive. This being said, your school is incredibly lame to f its students over like this. It is probably run by squares like Nick Naylor who think wearing bowties and being a 40 year old virgin is neat-o and admirable!

From my understanding, expunged = never happened. I've had a couple friends in this situation, one was able to expunge the stuff from his record and one wasn't, and the one that did was allowed to answer "no" in the crimes section of his applications. Legally, that's how it works.

That being said, if you're getting suspended for this, you will have to explain that gap in your education on your applications. That and med schools can inquire for the reason of your suspension, so...I'm not sure if you'll be able to hide this.

saveourpens said:

I had two bs misdemeanor charges expunged from my record and that was the end of it. I don't know how you're going to explain your 1 year suspension thought....btw your charges being expunged means that your incident basically never happened.

First off, what the f kind of question is "have you ever gotten arrested?"..lets just lump in all the convicts with people like me who were falsely apprehended and who's charges were opposed by University Police.

I answer with a simple no to that question.

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That's the attitude the former resident had before he was tossed out of his program and permanently banned from the residency match. State licensure is the same way. Lie and get caught and they will revoke your license. The end. Good luck on appeal, and enjoy your unpaid vacation for several months while it is all sorted out. Tell the truth, explain the situation, that's it. You'll still get licensed, credentialled, accepted, etc.

IDoIt4Love said:

From my understanding, expunged = never happened. I've had a couple friends in this situation, one was able to expunge the stuff from his record and one wasn't, and the one that did was allowed to answer "no" in the crimes section of his applications. Legally, that's how it works.

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As others have said in this thread - this isn't always true. Some applications/licensing applications ask if you've ever been arrested. Then you have to say yes, and explain - regardless of if it was expunged.

Worse, sometimes it still shows up on your background check.

saveourpens said:

I had two bs misdemeanor charges expunged from my record and that was the end of it. I don't know how you're going to explain your 1 year suspension thought....btw your charges being expunged means that your incident basically never happened.

First off, what the f kind of question is "have you ever gotten arrested?"..lets just lump in all the convicts with people like me who were falsely apprehended and who's charges were opposed by University Police.

I answer with a simple no to that question.

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No, let's NOT lump in convicts with people who were mistakenly arrested. That's why you should answer truthfully with a 'yes' and then get a chance to explain that it was a misunderstanding. Purposefully misrepresenting yourself by claiming you were never arrested will cause you many more problems in your pursuit of a medical career than being truthful and revealing an arrest that didn't go anywhere because you were innocent.

The 'have you ever been arrested' was a residency or licensing question. My understanding of the story I was reading in the allo forum was that the guy didn't even mean to misrepresent himself, but was confused because when he had applied to med schools, the question had always been phrased 'have you ever been convicted of a non-traffic offense' ... which he had always truthfully answered 'no' to, because the offense had been expunged.

Correct me if I'm wrong.

Edit: I found the thread http://forums.studentdoctor.net/showthread.php?t=818724

Emerge NC said:

Thanks for all the replies! I will definitely look into doing some medical work in a 3rd world country over my break as that kind of work really interests me and I feel it would be a great way for me to get some hands on experience. Also, the majority of medical schools I am looking at are in california so hopefully this will help matters. As for paying for school, I am planning on going through the Army's HPSP program and I have heard from many prior service members that the Army could care less about past marijuana usage.

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Applying to California schools never helps anything. They are such a crapshoot.

Emerge NC said:

Well my lawyer informed me that once I get this expunged from my record (I was never even convicted, the charge shows as nolle processed which means the charge was dropped) that all records of my arrest and trial are physically destroyed and that legally I am allowed to say I was never charged, nor convicted of a crime. I understand that background checks are extremely thorough but could this harmless misdemeanor that I have learned from really ruin my future dedicated my life to the well being of others?

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It depends on the state. I just went through the licensing process and the application for my residency program's state explicitly said that you had to include any expunged offenses.

Also, the reason some med schools do background checks is to see if you'll be able to a) work in the hospitals during your 3rd/4th years and b) work as a physician once you graduate...there's no point in accepting someone who will be unable to complete medical school or use their degree.

But even before you get to licensing, even if the criminal conviction does get expunged you'll still have to explain the suspension and forced year-off to medical schools....which will definitely be an uphill battle. There are thousands of other applicants with great applications and no criminal record or year-long suspensions, and the drug issue in particular raises questions of immaturity, poor judgement and, of course, risk of substance abuse (and the "it's just a bs pot charge" attitude is going to reinforce that assumption)...so why would a school pick a known-risky applicant over one with a clean record? In most cases, they won't. Will it be impossible? The only way to know will be to apply and find out.

Would you want a pothead operating on you/prescribing your meds? I wouldn't.

BionicMan said:

Would you want a pothead operating on you/prescribing your meds? I wouldn't.

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I'd rather have a pothead than an alcoholic. Believe it or not, marijuana isn't as bad for you as drinking(which I feel like 90% of people here brag about all the time.) It's just ingrained in our society that weed is evil and you'll pay for it a lot more if you are caught.

BionicMan said:

Would you want a pothead operating on you/prescribing your meds? I wouldn't.

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smoking pot once in a while = pothead

lol some of you people are ridiculous, some of the smartest people I know smoke pot occasionally(including plenty of med students)

Im not saying that he should be smoking pot, its just that some of you are sheep that believe marijuana is evil

K.

OP,

I'm someone with *a bunch* of experience in these types of situations, in Virginia - probably near you... I get excited when I see things like this because you have a great opportunity here.

I would say to PM me, but I don't mind being honest publicly... which is what you're going to have to not only do, but embrace in order to fully make amends with this. The bad thing is, it's probably going to take a long time (years). The good thing is, if you're geniune about using that time to give as much of yourself as you can, you're going to be the happiest you've ever been - and, when you enter med school, you'll be your highest vision of yourself.

...and as far as not being able to practice... I very personally know an MD who was charged with 17 felonies (all drug-related) at one point, and currently practices... in addiction medicine, and helping other to get and stay sober helps him to stay sober. Funny how that works out, huh?

Secrets keep us sick. Be honest.

Another life ruined by this country's draconian drug laws.

The one year suspension will be pretty tough to cover up or put in a good light even if you won't need to mention the expunged charge on AMCAS.

Good luck OP, I hope things work out for the best.

SoundofSilver said:

Another life ruined by this country's draconian drug laws.

The one year suspension will be pretty tough to cover up or put in a good light even if you won't need to mention the expunged charge on AMCAS.

Good luck OP, I hope things work out for the best.

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NickNaylor said:

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Seriously.

You can easily argue that pot should be legal. However, that's irrelevant. Everyone knows the laws and the consequences, so I really have no sympathy for those who get caught.

The only people I feel sorry for are the ones caught up in the violence.

Sorry OP. I doubt you're a bad guy, so hopefully you can learn from this and move on with your life. Be honest, be remorseful, learn your lesson.

[YOUTUBE]-nqRkAsZumc[/YOUTUBE]

alwaysaangel said:

You have a bigger issue than getting into medical school - paying for it.

Drug convictions preclude you from receiving federal financial aid. I think its a defined period. Eg. 1 year for 1st possession charge, etc.

In fact, maybe thats why they suspended you.

Anyway, you may want to look into the details of that and see how that is going to affect you. Don't get caught again.

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Not applicable here, HPSP or no. OP was never convicted of anything, the charges were dropped. FAFSA only cares about convictions.

STAT EKG said:

K.

OP,

I'm someone with *a bunch* of experience in these types of situations, in Virginia - probably near you... I get excited when I see things like this because you have a great opportunity here.

I would say to PM me, but I don't mind being honest publicly... which is what you're going to have to not only do, but embrace in order to fully make amends with this. The bad thing is, it's probably going to take a long time (years). The good thing is, if you're geniune about using that time to give as much of yourself as you can, you're going to be the happiest you've ever been - and, when you enter med school, you'll be your highest vision of yourself.

...and as far as not being able to practice... I very personally know an MD who was charged with 17 felonies (all drug-related) at one point, and currently practices... in addiction medicine, and helping other to get and stay sober helps him to stay sober. Funny how that works out, huh?

Secrets keep us sick. Be honest.

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best response so far

Emerge NC said:

Thanks for all the responses guys I'm relieved to know there is still hope. And for all you haters ignorant to the countless benefits of marijuana and hemp, you are foolish and are part of the lie that is the "war on drugs". Not to rant but either way I will be eliminating ganja from my life for the foreseeable future to stay out of trouble. Does anyone know of any reputable organizations that offer medical-based internships abroad? I have been doing a lot of searching and the only results I've yielded have been overly expensive trips that seem like they are more aimed at padding pre-meds resumes than actually helping ( i.e. projects-abroad.org)

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Time to change your bong water, bro.

Emerge NC said:

Thanks for all the responses guys I'm relieved to know there is still hope. And for all you haters ignorant to the countless benefits of marijuana and hemp, you are foolish and are part of the lie that is the "war on drugs". Not to rant but either way I will be eliminating ganja from my life for the foreseeable future to stay out of trouble. Does anyone know of any reputable organizations that offer medical-based internships abroad? I have been doing a lot of searching and the only results I've yielded have been overly expensive trips that seem like they are more aimed at padding pre-meds resumes than actually helping ( i.e. projects-abroad.org)

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Go find a local organization where you can work in under-served areas. Why does everyone feel the need to fly off to some third world country to play the great benefactor? It seems (and is) kind of condescending, since people here just use it to pad their resume.

Didn't get a chance to read the entire thread, so I apologize if this was already mentioned, but you'll definitely have to report an Institutional Action for the suspension. And you''ll have to explain why you were suspended for a year. I'm not sure how much that will impact your application, but I'd imagine that a full-year suspension will be a tough hurdle to overcome. Best of luck OP.

Isoprop said:

They may ask if you've been arrested, which you will probably have to say yes to.

But saying that you were arrested but not convicted and the charges were droppedwill probably be fine.

Why the hell did the school expel you?

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No - schools don't ask whether you've been arrested, only charged and convicted - so if you were charged but not convicted you answer no to that.

Emerge NC said:

Well my lawyer informed me that once I get this expunged from my record (I was never even convicted, the charge shows as nolle processed which means the charge was dropped) that all records of my arrest and trial are physically destroyed and that legally I am allowed to say I was never charged, nor convicted of a crime. I understand that background checks are extremely thorough but could this harmless misdemeanor that I have learned from really ruin my future dedicated my life to the well being of others?

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If you do in fact get it expunged you are straight as far as AMCAS and specific questions about misdemeanor or felonies goes, you can answer No to that, but you are not free to answer no to the other question that asks about institutional action or school suspension. How exactly are you going to explain that one?

Additionally, make sure it does in fact get expunged because you might run into trouble getting federal financial aid, which you will need unless you can shell out 100K+ via other means for med school.

apumic said:

Honestly, I was told the same thing about a charge that was actually dismissed (as in due to lack of evidence because the charge was a false charge) and it STILL shows up on my background check and I STILL have to explain it for medical school. (In my case, though, they just roll their eyes and laugh. Not so sure that's what would happen here.)

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If the charge was in fact expunged then you should of contested it as not belonging to you when it appeared on your background check. I believe you have this option prior to them sending it to med schools. They would of had to take it off as far as I know.

Haha, I posted a similar thread about two days ago!
I was suspended from my college for three years, and it wasn't a drug charge. I wish it would have been because I lived out in California, and the medical clubs routinely delivered marijuana to campus.

I've talked to attorneys about this issue and the arrest will not go away.

The suspension will likely not show up on your transcript, but you should never lie because they could probably kick you out of medical school if they found out. It is best to use it to your advantage as best you can. "I straightened my life out, blah blah blah."

As far as school goes, you shouldn't take a year off. One, because it is sometimes hard to get back into school and many never go back. Two, the blemish on your app that will already be there will be magnified that much more. They will be wondering why the hell weren't you in school? You should continue on like you are invincible and nothing will halt your progress.

I applied to 9 undergraduate schools right away and got accepted to 8 of them with scholarships at some, and I was completely honest about my issue. If you do plan to continue school start applying now because a lot of schools don't accept transfer apps during the summer or after their deadline.

Also, you must have either had a crap load of marijuana, some other types of drugs, or multiple offenses to get suspended for a year! DAMN

Financial Aid will not be affected in any way unless you were charged with a federal offense. The state charge doesn't matter on the FAFSA.

I am in a similar situation (sort of): got arrested, DEJ, community service and charges were dropped. I just talked to a lawyer specializing in licensing issue this morning. He looked at my record and see the arrest then charges were dropped (no mention of the DEJ) and this is what he said:

The arrest will not go away. However, the type of dismissal that I have (I didn't ask him about other types of dismissals) is complete and the board will rarely ever hold that against me. I think this is the type of dismissal you have too. They could theoretically to ask for all evidence and deny you even without conviction but this is rarely ever done. So in this regard I think you are good.

When you apply just do what I am going to do. When asked for conviction say no. If ask for arrest say yes, charges were brought and dismissed. End of story.

As others have said the biggest issue is your suspension. As long as you could work around that then you should be fine.

alwaysaangel said:

You have a bigger issue than getting into medical school - paying for it.

Drug convictions preclude you from receiving federal financial aid. I think its a defined period. Eg. 1 year for 1st possession charge, etc.

In fact, maybe thats why they suspended you.

Anyway, you may want to look into the details of that and see how that is going to affect you. Don't get caught again.

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expunged != convicted.