For the "have you ever been arrested" questions

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Shizz

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Do the arrests count if they occurred in another country?
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Probably technically yes. Are they going to contact interpol? Probably not. Murder a hooker?
 
Did it lead to conviction?

If not... don't mention it. They're not going to find out. Personally, med school adcoms should not be asking if you've been arrested. It's prejudiced and goes against the innocent until proven guilty thingy.

I love how as American's we wipe our *****es with the constitution. You can be arrested for not paying parking tickets. Sooooooooooo in essence, don't answer it yes.
 
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If it won't show up on a background check then I see no reason for it to show up on your application. Did the charges follow you home? Did you have to get US legal representation?
 
I don't know anything about international law, but if you were caught with a fairly small amount, it probably won't be a huge strike against your application. I'd put it on there to be safe.
 
I found this via google for med school admissions..... See the last bullet (I included all of them for thoroughness). It seems that they run a international criminal background check IF you are an international citizen. If you have American citizenship, my guess is that they don't check. For all they know, you have never left your hometown. I know I wouldn't want a reefer possession on my record.... For the record, take this with a grain of salt.


Information available/sought through background investigation process
  • The Criminal Background Check will include all convictions and conviction-equivalent adjudications plus all arrests regardless of adjudication (including not guilty, dismissals, etc.) plus all arrests without final adjudication/felonies and misdemeanors. The following databases are examples of those that may be examined as part of the criminal background check:
Social Security Number Search A search of credit report header data to help confirm the applicant's identifying information such as name, aliases, address(es), Social Security Number and to determine areas of prior residence..
County Criminal Records Searches
A direct search of county courthouse records for any felony or misdemeanor criminal history. All records are researched to help ensure positive identification and complete, easy-to-read details.
Statewide Criminal Records Search
A search conducted through statewide criminal records repositories or court systems for any felony or misdemeanor criminal history.
Federal Criminal Records Search
A direct search of federal courthouse records for any felony or misdemeanor criminal history. All records are researched to help ensure positive identification and complete, easy-to-read details.
National Criminal Database Search
A multi-jurisdiction private database search covering more than 194 million criminal records collected from across the country. While the database does not contain information from all states, it supplements county, statewide and federal criminal searches. To ensure compliance with Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), all database "hits" are verified directly through the source of information to ensure that records reported are current and up-to-date.
National Sexual Offender Database Search
A search of a national private database which contains sex offender data collected from across the country. All records are researched to help ensure positive identification.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals/Entities Search
A search of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General List of Excluded Individuals/Entities (LEIE), a database which provides information to the public, health care providers, patients, and others relating to parties excluded from participation in the Medicare, Medicaid, and all Federal health care programs.
Search for Dishonorable Discharge from the Armed Forces
Military records are verified through either telephone interviews with the subject's former commander or by obtaining the applicant's DD-214 form. Verification generally includes subject's name, Service Number, rank, dates of service, awards and decorations, and place of entrance and separation.
International Screening
International criminal records searches are generally performed by facilitating the applicant in obtaining an official Police Clearance or Police Certificate from the desired country. In those countries that have established third-party criminal records search facilities—including Canada and Great Britain—searches will be obtained directly through those channels.
 
Weed? Seriously? That's all???

Forget it. Don't mention it if you don't want to. If you feel comfortable enough "lying" then do it.
 
I would say the better question is can an international arrest affect licensing in the US. As for med school, if its just weed you may as well own up to it. You would hate for someone to accidentally find out about your arrest and then making it known to whatever school you end up going to.
 
hownowmauvecow said:
I would say the better question is can an international arrest affect licensing in the US. As for med school, if its just weed you may as well own up to it. You would hate for someone to accidentally find out about your arrest and then making it known to whatever school you end up going to.
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Agree.
 
My vote is to contact the school directly and ask. You can be anonymous if you wish. I'm assuming this is a secondary question, so go ahead and call them.

The way the question is worded in the OP makes it sound like you should probably disclose it just to be safe.
 
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I don't see the ambiguity here. If the question asks if you've been arrested, you must answer yes, since you have. If it asks about convictions, answer appropriately. If it asks about arrests within the United States, you may be able to answer no.
 
People seem to be overlooking an important question:

Are you a fugitive?​

If you fled the country of your arrest, then an international screening will likely reveal your status.

A second concern would be the country in which it occurred. In the U.S., weed is not a big deal, but many other countries consider possession of even the smallest amount to be a felony. I suspect that a felony arrest could show up on a screening.
 
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Some schools will require a secondary background check so checking your certiphi screening may not be enough. Fess up or do a *67 anonymous phone call and ask. You don't want it to be the reason you have an acceptance rescinded.
 
ucbsmd said:
Some schools will require a secondary background check so checking your certiphi screening may not be enough. Fess up or do a *67 anonymous phone call and ask. You don't want it to be the reason you have an acceptance rescinded.
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Better find a payphone and use a voice modulator. The man is watching.
 
Kphrogg said:
People seem to be overlooking an important question:

Are you a fugitive?​

If you fled the country of your arrest, then an international screening will likely reveal your status.

A second concern would be the country in which it occurred. In the U.S., weed is not a big deal, but many other countries consider possession of even the smallest amount to be a felony. I suspect that a felony arrest could show up on a screening.
Click to expand...

How many schools do an international screening?
 
Shizz said:
How many schools do an international screening?
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I would think it would probably be more dependent on the applicant than the school. If you grew up overseas I would expect an international screening to be done.
 
Shizz said:
How many schools do an international screening?
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No idea. But as others have said, you can find out with some anonymous phone calls. I can't imagine anyone going beyond what Certiphi regularly checks though.
 
It's complete crap that they ask for arrests in the first place. Asking for convictions is obvious, but asking for arrests is shady IMO.

OP: I'd get the background check myself as well as think about somehow getting it cleared. That could be a sticky (and expensive) situation since it's overseas though...
 
there was some guy on here this past year who had his acceptance rescinded because he failed to disclose some traffic (speeding? driving without license?) violation in another state. he had paid the fine and got some points off his license, but he didn't report it on his secondaries because it explicitly asked about misdemeanors, and he simply did not know it was classified as a misdemeanor. result: a misdemeanor appeared in the background check, which was incongruous with what was reported on the secondary. screwed. no questions asked. (well actually it's been quite a few months since then, so there may be more to this story now. does anyone know if he was re-accepted?)

anyway, the point is that, in this game, you should always try to be as open and honest as possible. so unless someone here actually knows, it may be better just to disclose. you probably have better chances of this coming back to bite you in the ass because you tried to hide it than the chances of it preventing you from getting in anywhere to begin with.
 
WeAreNotRobots said:
there was some guy on here this past year who had his acceptance rescinded because he failed to disclose some traffic (speeding? driving without license?) violation in another state. he had paid the fine and got some points off his license, but he didn't report it on his secondaries because it explicitly asked about misdemeanors, and he simply did not know it was classified as a misdemeanor. result: a misdemeanor appeared in the background check, which was incongruous with what was reported on the secondary. screwed. no questions asked. (well actually it's been quite a few months since then, so there may be more to this story now. does anyone know if he was re-accepted?)

anyway, the point is that, in this game, you should always try to be as open and honest as possible. so unless someone here actually knows, it may be better just to disclose. you probably have better chances of this coming back to bite you in the ass because you tried to hide it than the chances of it preventing you from getting in anywhere to begin with.
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His was technically a conviction though because he paid for the ticket correct? If it asks for convictions he should definitely not say yes. Only a few secondaries have ask for arrests AND convictions. I don't believe they can fault you for answering "No" if there was an arrest with no conviction. I know the AMCAS primary explicitly said to answer "No" if there were no charges or if they were dropped, or if the record was expunged/sealed.
 
hownowmauvecow said:
I would say the better question is can an international arrest affect licensing in the US. As for med school, if its just weed you may as well own up to it. You would hate for someone to accidentally find out about your arrest and then making it known to whatever school you end up going to.
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I don't know about that. Drugs are a serious issue when people are talking about allowing you to prescribe lots and lots of drugs. I never touched drugs, just knowing that you could really harm your career by being associated with them in any way.
 
Vandy Premed said:
His was technically a conviction though because he paid for the ticket correct?
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geeeesh, um, yeah...i guess. but he never went to court or prison or anything that would indicate the violation was anything more than a mere traffic ticket. somehow it was classified as a misdemeanor, and so you're right. glad i'm not going into law.

i still think the OP should answer the question as openly as possible. does it ask for "arrest" or "arrest and conviction" or "misdemeanor" or "whatever"? covering it up or wishfully thinking it is something that it's not is a foolish decision.
 
WeAreNotRobots said:
geeeesh, um, yeah...i guess. but he never went to court or prison or anything that would indicate the violation was anything more than a mere traffic ticket. somehow it was classified as a misdemeanor, and so you're right. glad i'm not going into law.

i still think the OP should answer the question as openly as possible. does it ask for "arrest" or "arrest and conviction" or "misdemeanor" or "whatever"? covering it up or wishfully thinking it is something that it's not is a foolish decision.
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Lol sorry to be picky. I was just pointing out that it was a conviction (albeit an insignificant one), and not just an arrest or charge. I'm glad I'm not going into law either :).

I completely agree with the second part. I just wanted to make sure the OP knows that there is such thing as telling the truth and being open while still not disclosing unnecessary details.
 
sector9 said:
My vote is to contact the school directly and ask. You can be anonymous if you wish. I'm assuming this is a secondary question, so go ahead and call them.

The way the question is worded in the OP makes it sound like you should probably disclose it just to be safe.
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To continue our argument in another thread........I agree with you here lol.

Disclose it. Im sure the chance of anyone finding out is next to nothing but this is something that could DEF sink you if anyone found out either in school or as part of licensing.

Unless the arrest occurred in some 3rd world country without modern record keeping, and thus no chance that you actually have a real record.
 
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