Ever convicted of a misdemeanor question

[BuckeyeForBass]

Ok. So here is my situation: Before entering my frosh year of college, I was caught with some friends drinking some beer outside of a concert. We were arrested, convicted of "person under 21 posessing beer", and all given $250 fines. The courts said that our record would be cleared upon completion of an alcohol consumption course, and under the condition of no repeats until the age of 21 (which I also fulfilled).

Should I be listing this when secondaries ask if I have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor (my record should be cleared, right)? Also, how will this affect my chances of gaining an acceptance if I do list it?

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[agr285]

You should go down to the county court house where you got caught and take a look at your public record. If its still there then you will probably have to report it. I'm not entirely sure but I don't think misdemeanors can be cleared unless you officially petition the Secretary of State to do so. There is a **** load of rules about what can or cannot be expunged. The people at the courthouse can tell you where to find that info. If it turns out that you do need to petition to get it erased, then I'd do so quickly. Like most government process, I'm sure it takes a long time to process such a request. If its still there, you should probably put it on the secondary if asked (I don't think anyone is really going to care). If its still on your record but you know for sure that it can be erased then just tell schools that you are in the process of getting it expunged. Most schools don't do background checks until they accept you, so chances are it will be gone by the time they look. If you wanna risk it, you could leave it off and hope it gets expunged before you get an acceptance. In your case, I definitely wouldn't do that. It's not worth of the risk of having your acceptance rescinded because you covered something up, especially something as trivial as this.

 

[Cirrus83]

Ok. So here is my situation: Before entering my frosh year of college, I was caught with some friends drinking some beer outside of a concert. We were arrested, convicted of "person under 21 posessing beer", and all given $250 fines. The courts said that our record would be cleared upon completion of an alcohol consumption course, and under the condition of no repeats until the age of 21 (which I also fulfilled).

Should I be listing this when secondaries ask if I have ever been convicted of a misdemeanor (my record should be cleared, right)? Also, how will this affect my chances of gaining an acceptance if I do list it?

I don't believe posessing beer when you're under 21 is a misdemeanor. But then again I don't know where you live. Not every crime is a misdemeanor.

The law seems to vary by state, for example in Texas it's not a misdemeanor unless you got caught three times. But in Iowa it's a misdemeanor even the first time.

So...go figure out what the law is where you live.

By the way on the applications I'm pretty sure the question is whether you've ever been convicted of a misdemeanor-so even if it is expunged you're supposed to tell them.

So what I would do is this:
Find out whether it's a misdemeanor where you live.
If it is, just tell the med schools you messed up-it's not like you were convicted of assault, I'm sure the med schools honestly won't care that you drank when you were under 21-I'm pretty sure that description applies to 99% of college students.
If it's not a misdemeanor, go have a drink

 

[BuckeyeForBass]

when you google my (uniquely spelled) name, it comes up as the 5th entry, behind some honor roll stuff, a publication, and blood borne pathogens training.

how wonderful haha.