Misdemeanor speeding question

[Kishan93]

Hey everyone,

A few months back, I was driving home on I-57 in Illinois and I got zinged by a state patrol for going 31 over the speed limit, which is exactly what I needed to be put in the Misdemeanor charge zone (call it my luck or the cop was just a pig). None of my family's attorneys could travel down state to fight my charge at court and so I had to retain a local attorney who, after about 1000 dollars in retainer and court fees, negotiated a prayer/withhold judgement. I am currently on supervision for 6 months and after this time period, assuming I don't get busted again, the original charge shows up as no conviction.

When it comes around to application time for medical school or anything to that matter, would I have to check yes to the being convicted to a misdemeanor option? I've heard of people getting their misdemeanor moving violations moved to one class below (21-30), but that wasn't the case in my situation.

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[pathologyDO]

Hey everyone,

A few months back, I was driving home on I-57 in Illinois and I got zinged by a state patrol for going 31 over the speed limit, which is exactly what I needed to be put in the Misdemeanor charge zone (call it my luck or the cop was just a pig). None of my family's attorneys could travel down state to fight my charge at court and so I had to retain a local attorney who, after about 1000 dollars in retainer and court fees, negotiated a prayer/withhold judgement. I am currently on supervision for 6 months and after this time period, assuming I don't get busted again, the original charge shows up as no conviction.

When it comes around to application time for medical school or anything to that matter, would I have to check yes to the being convicted to a misdemeanor option? I've heard of people getting their misdemeanor moving violations moved to one class below (21-30), but that wasn't the case in my situation.

No. However, you will, with almost 100% certainty, have secondary applications that ask for you to disclose any misdemeanors that were expunged from your record. You will need to give an explanation.

There will be a very thorough background check done through AMCAS and also some schools do one on every incoming student in addition to that, so if it is even conceivable that the charge may come up in the search, you should disclose the information.

 

[jdfamily]

Sounds like your attorney would be the best person to ask about this. My advice would be to list that you recorded a ticket for speeding in city, state on date. Some medical schools ask you again about misdemeanor charges and I asked them similar questions and their response was always, "It is in your best interest to list anything that may show up on a criminal background check."
Then again if you haven't been convicted then you should be fine. Better to be safe then sorry as well. Good luck

 

[LizzyM]

Could you see someone getting kicked out of medical school for this? Schools may ask you to disclose, but they won't hold it against you. If it were a misdemeanor involving sex crimes, drugs, or violence they might not be as lenient.

 

[Kishan93]

Thanks for all the replies! I think I will get a certephi background test on myself when it comes to application time and if I'm still not sure about it.. I'll just list and explain the thing. Illinois just so happens to be talking of raising the speed limit to 75 mph.. sigh..

 

[Strudel19]

Haha, this kind of reminds me of House.