Really screwed up... what do I do...

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predds555

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So... I am currently in the application cycle, have received interviews, and just made a beyond stupid decision and got caught with weed/drug paraphernalia and charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and paraphernalia infraction. The other issue with this is that, I got pulled over in a state bordering Colorado so I'm sure schools will see that I was charged in a state other than where I live and see that I was trying to bring weed back home with me from CO, so it's not simply that I had it on me at home, but the fact that I brought some back with me from Colorado.....:bang::bang:

Basically I can do a diversion program which will get the charges dropped and will not show up on any criminal background checks and I won't have to answer that I got convicted for any applications.

The main issue with this is the timing, I received it in October, and if I get accepted, background checks will be done sometime in December or soon after I am guessing, and my charges wouldn't be dropped for months after that. So dental schools will see a pending/open case when they do the background check, even though I still will not be convicted, and had this happened say a year or 2 ago, they wouldn't even have a clue about this.

So what do I do??? I mean at the end of the day schools will know about this if they accept me, and I just want to be honest and open about it so I am thinking I will talk to the schools and bring it up myself if I am offered admission... any suggestions?

Also, in terms of my acceptance, could it be rescinded for this? I feel like this is going to look terrible literally being during the interview season and so close to Dec. 1st, plus it's not like I am just a college freshman or something, I just graduated this past spring so even though I am still young, I'm sure it looks bad having graduated. Plus the fact that I went to CO to get it...... But then again, if this happened even earlier this year or further in the past, it would be completely off my record and D schools wouldn't even know about this,
 
You could always run a background check on yourself to see if anything comes up. Could you be rescinded? I know some people in my class that did for DUIs after they were accepted, but were accepted after another interview the year following. I think the background check came closer to the time of matriculation into dental school, not immediately after acceptance, so you may be just fine.
 
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lul u gotta restrain on that ****e bro... at least till you know everything is gonna be gucci... can't blame nobody but u.

But yeah if you don't notify D Schools of this, and they later find out, that would put you in a pretty bad situation... But then again telling this to D Schools right now is iffy iffy too. You made the choice to do that, so it's your choice to take the risk of notifying the schools mate. May sound hard, but you gotta take responsibility.
 
So... I am currently in the application cycle, have received interviews, and just made a beyond stupid decision and got caught with weed/drug paraphernalia and charged with misdemeanor marijuana possession and paraphernalia infraction. The other issue with this is that, I got pulled over in a state bordering Colorado so I'm sure schools will see that I was charged in a state other than where I live and see that I was trying to bring weed back home with me from CO, so it's not simply that I had it on me at home, but the fact that I brought some back with me from Colorado.....:bang::bang:

Basically I can do a diversion program which will get the charges dropped and will not show up on any criminal background checks and I won't have to answer that I got convicted for any applications.

The main issue with this is the timing, I received it in October, and if I get accepted, background checks will be done sometime in December or soon after I am guessing, and my charges wouldn't be dropped for months after that. So dental schools will see a pending/open case when they do the background check, even though I still will not be convicted, and had this happened say a year or 2 ago, they wouldn't even have a clue about this.

So what do I do??? I mean at the end of the day schools will know about this if they accept me, and I just want to be honest and open about it so I am thinking I will talk to the schools and bring it up myself if I am offered admission... any suggestions?

Also, in terms of my acceptance, could it be rescinded for this? I feel like this is going to look terrible literally being during the interview season and so close to Dec. 1st, plus it's not like I am just a college freshman or something, I just graduated this past spring so even though I am still young, I'm sure it looks bad having graduated. Plus the fact that I went to CO to get it...... But then again, if this happened even earlier this year or further in the past, it would be completely off my record and D schools wouldn't even know about this,
Consult lawyer
The background check is done during registration after acceptance which is months from now
Divergence program is 3 months. At least the meetings are, community service is not a problem
Ask if it can be done faster, talk to a police officer who handles your case, be super nice and apologetic. They might be able to speed things up
 
This is what I love about Professional School applications/interviews.

Everyone lies and fibs to get into the school when they are just saying/doing things to get in.

You sound irresponsible and unfit to be in charge of other people's lives.
 
This is what I love about Professional School applications/interviews.

Everyone lies and fibs to get into the school when they are just saying/doing things to get in.

You sound irresponsible and unfit to be in charge of other people's lives.

I disagree. Yes he did make a mistake but marijuana is a gray area in terms of harmful effects to yourself/others WHEN COMPARED to legal substances such a alcohol and tobacco. At the end of the day breaking the law is breaking the law however I don't think based on this particular case alone you can come to a conclusion that he is unfit for this career.
 
I disagree. Yes he did make a mistake but marijuana is a gray area in terms of harmful effects to yourself/others WHEN COMPARED to legal substances such a alcohol and tobacco. At the end of the day breaking the law is breaking the law however I don't think based on this particular case alone you can come to a conclusion that he is unfit for this career.

I don't care if he was smoking pot, pot is nothing as you've said.

The issue is he was caught trying to take Marijuana back to his home state where it is not legal. Yes, he is immature. Yes he should be penalized and disqualified from matriculating imo.

Had he not been caught, he would have told Adcom's that he was a saint and a perfect fit for their program. It's all lies and bs in my opinion.

That's all applications/interviews are - lie through your teeth and put a fake smile on in order to make yourself look prim and proper.
 
I don't care if he was smoking pot, pot is nothing as you've said.

The issue is he was caught trying to take Marijuana back to his home state where it is not legal. Yes, he is immature. Yes he should be penalized and disqualified from matriculating imo.

Had he not been caught, he would have told Adcom's that he was a saint and a perfect fit for their program. It's all lies and bs in my opinion.

That's all applications/interviews are - lie through your teeth and put a fake smile on in order to make yourself look prim and proper.

If you put it that way I can't really argue :depressed:. We don't live in a perfect world after all. I understand your point though. The application process may not be perfect but I just didn't think it was fair to say OP is unfit for the job based on this one instance. He may actually be the most compassionate/qualified person here who made a mistake or he may not be.
 
lul u gotta restrain on that ****e bro... at least till you know everything is gonna be gucci... can't blame nobody but u.

But yeah if you don't notify D Schools of this, and they later find out, that would put you in a pretty bad situation... But then again telling this to D Schools right now is iffy iffy too. You made the choice to do that, so it's your choice to take the risk of notifying the schools mate. May sound hard, but you gotta take responsibility.
See the thing is, I don't think I have to notify dental schools of this, because I wasn't convicted, so I am not doing anything wrong by not telling them. It's just, depending on when they do the background check they may or may not find out about this.
I know I have to take responsibility for this and I want to do the right thing and make this right, but when I don't legally have to say something about this I'm not going to do that either because I think that would be stupid too.
 
See the thing is, I don't think I have to notify dental schools of this, because I wasn't convicted, so I am not doing anything wrong by not telling them. It's just, depending on when they do the background check they may or may not find out about this.
I know I have to take responsibility for this and I want to do the right thing and make this right, but when I don't legally have to say something about this I'm not going to do that either because I think that would be stupid too.

Your right. The application only asked if you were convicted of anything. However I'm not sure if it will show up on background checks or not. UDM already did a background check on me through certiphi and it only looked at the state level for misdemeanors so assuming everything is processed not in your home state it may not show up at all. However I'm not sure if every school searches the same parameters through certiphi.

Edit: even if the schools found out later, technically you didn't lie or anything but is it still grounds for rescinding admission? either way I wish you the best of luck.
 
This is what I love about Professional School applications/interviews.

Everyone lies and fibs to get into the school when they are just saying/doing things to get in.

You sound irresponsible and unfit to be in charge of other people's lives.

I don't care if he was smoking pot, pot is nothing as you've said.

The issue is he was caught trying to take Marijuana back to his home state where it is not legal. Yes, he is immature. Yes he should be penalized and disqualified from matriculating imo.

Had he not been caught, he would have told Adcom's that he was a saint and a perfect fit for their program. It's all lies and bs in my opinion.

That's all applications/interviews are - lie through your teeth and put a fake smile on in order to make yourself look prim and proper.
Firstly I am not lying and not just saying/doing things to get in. That's not who I am, I did not lie on my application or make up stories and crap about myself during interview questions. If you really do read my first post, I think you would see that I am not trying to get away with what I did and make it seem like I am a saint or perfect. But I am also not going to notify dental schools when I don't have to, because that's not being a saint IMO, that's being stupid. It's just that dental schools may find out about this depending on the timing of the background check, so I know what I did was immature, idiotic, irresponsible, everything in the books..... but to say I shouldn't be allowed into dental schools because of it, I don't agree with that.
I wouldn't have a good application and interviews if I was unfit to become a dentist. I am still a good person, hard working, care for others, get along well with others, compassionate, intelligent enough to become a dentist... and yes I smoked marijuana, but like you said yourself, the drug itself is no big deal....

But it is illegal and what I did was against the law and stupid, I realize my mistake, so now I am done with it.

This is not going to affect my ability to make it through d-school or be a good and caring dentist, so I don't want it to, so I am going to do my best to make it right, honestly and wisely.
 
This is what I love about Professional School applications/interviews.

Everyone lies and fibs to get into the school when they are just saying/doing things to get in.

You sound irresponsible and unfit to be in charge of other people's lives.

i don't think people are lying, people leave out things about themselves that should be left out... is OP supposed to bring up the fact that he smokes pot at his interviews? leaving that part out doesn't mean he lied to get into a school
 
Your right. The application only asked if you were convicted of anything. However I'm not sure if it will show up on background checks or not. UDM already did a background check on me through certiphi and it only looked at the state level for misdemeanors so assuming everything is processed not in your home state it may not show up at all. However I'm not sure if every school searches the same parameters through certiphi.

Edit: even if the schools found out later, technically you didn't lie or anything but is it still grounds for rescinding admission? either way I wish you the best of luck.
Yea I may just do a background check on myself and see what happens, but like you said I have no idea whether it is grounds for rescinding but I wouldn't think so because I did not lie about anything and was not convicted of anything. If they are allowed to rescind because I got charged with this and d-schools know that I did something like this then I guess there is nothing I can do about it... I just wouldn't agree with it, it doesn't have anything to do with my ability to become a good dentist, I made this mistake and am moving on and will not do anything this stupid again...
 
i don't think people are lying, people leave out things about themselves that should be left out... is OP supposed to bring up the fact that he smokes pot at his interviews? leaving that part out doesn't mean he lied to get into a school

This isn't a matter of "smoking pot". This is a matter of smuggling illegal goods back in hopes of not being caught.

This is arguably the most pivotal moment in OP's life and they risked it to bring home some contraband. This shows that rather than quell their urge for a few months/1 year, they decided to put their future on the line. A future they argued to Adcom's to be the most important thing in their life, and especially in the past few years to get up to this point.

This would show me that OP did not go to Colorado for a leisurely time, but instead planned to bring back some marijuana for a future session, or perhaps for re-sale (OP isn't in a position to deny this statement, anything really goes once you are caught). A habit that most likely will continue into my 4 year program.

Do I want this kind of behavior or to take this risk?
 
This isn't a matter of "smoking pot". This is a matter of smuggling illegal goods back in hopes of not being caught.

This is arguably the most pivotal moment in OP's life and they risked it to bring home some contraband. This shows that rather than quell their urge for a few months/1 year, they decided to put their future on the line. A future they argued to Adcom's to be the most important thing in their life, and especially in the past few years to get up to this point.

This would show me that OP did not go to Colorado for a leisurely time, but instead planned to bring back some marijuana for a future session, or perhaps for re-sale (OP isn't in a position to deny this statement, anything really goes once you are caught). A habit that most likely will continue into my 4 year program.

Do I want this kind of behavior or to take this risk?

Everyone agrees that what OP did was stupid but it would be naive to think that other applicants or even students currently in medical/dental school aren’t smoking pot... to suggest OP is unfit to be a dentist because of that is a huge over reaction.. the schools may rescind their offer once/if they find out and I don’t think OP has anyone else to blame but themselves if that happens but I don’t think this incident alone makes them unfit to be a dentist
 
I don't care if he was smoking pot, pot is nothing as you've said.

The issue is he was caught trying to take Marijuana back to his home state where it is not legal. Yes, he is immature. Yes he should be penalized and disqualified from matriculating imo.

Had he not been caught, he would have told Adcom's that he was a saint and a perfect fit for their program. It's all lies and bs in my opinion.

That's all applications/interviews are - lie through your teeth and put a fake smile on in order to make yourself look prim and proper.
You must be so fun at parties
 
I don't care if he was smoking pot, pot is nothing as you've said.

The issue is he was caught trying to take Marijuana back to his home state where it is not legal. Yes, he is immature. Yes he should be penalized and disqualified from matriculating imo.

Had he not been caught, he would have told Adcom's that he was a saint and a perfect fit for their program. It's all lies and bs in my opinion.

That's all applications/interviews are - lie through your teeth and put a fake smile on in order to make yourself look prim and proper.


I find it a bit silly that you just admitted to lying through your teeth to get through your interview and you're calling OP immature.

OP, get a lawyer and be cautious of advice that you receive from individuals on here. I know others who have gone through similar situations.
 
I don't care if he was smoking pot, pot is nothing as you've said.

The issue is he was caught trying to take Marijuana back to his home state where it is not legal. Yes, he is immature. Yes he should be penalized and disqualified from matriculating imo.

Had he not been caught, he would have told Adcom's that he was a saint and a perfect fit for their program. It's all lies and bs in my opinion.

That's all applications/interviews are - lie through your teeth and put a fake smile on in order to make yourself look prim and proper.
Do you really believe that people choose to waste their youth to “help people” and not to better provide for themselves and their families?
 
Sometimes When I screwed up I just have a Cup of Coffee and every thing will Fine.!!
 
OP, I would ignore all the haters on here. You sound like a good kid, who made a mistake. Mistakes happen to everyone, and I guarantee it will help you mature.

As far as notifying schools, it’s a tough call. I would check with the state if your case will even show up on a background check. Pre diversion programs are meant to keep you out of the criminal justice system, so if you weren’t technically convicted, it might not even show up. This heavily varies from state to state, so do your research. If it does show up, I would try and get in contact with the person who interviewed you and explain the situation-they met you, and hearing your honesty might get you a pass. Good luck, nothing I read from you makes me think you’re unfit to be a dentist.
 
OP, I would ignore all the haters on here. You sound like a good kid, who made a mistake. Mistakes happen to everyone, and I guarantee it will help you mature.

As far as notifying schools, it’s a tough call. I would check with the state if your case will even show up on a background check. Pre diversion programs are meant to keep you out of the criminal justice system, so if you weren’t technically convicted, it might not even show up. This heavily varies from state to state, so do your research. If it does show up, I would try and get in contact with the person who interviewed you and explain the situation-they met you, and hearing your honesty might get you a pass. Good luck, nothing I read from you makes me think you’re unfit to be a dentist.


i agree.... Brady does = GOAT #StriveFor6
 
Firstly I am not lying and not just saying/doing things to get in. That's not who I am, I did not lie on my application or make up stories and crap about myself during interview questions. If you really do read my first post, I think you would see that I am not trying to get away with what I did and make it seem like I am a saint or perfect. But I am also not going to notify dental schools when I don't have to, because that's not being a saint IMO, that's being stupid. It's just that dental schools may find out about this depending on the timing of the background check, so I know what I did was immature, idiotic, irresponsible, everything in the books..... but to say I shouldn't be allowed into dental schools because of it, I don't agree with that.
I wouldn't have a good application and interviews if I was unfit to become a dentist. I am still a good person, hard working, care for others, get along well with others, compassionate, intelligent enough to become a dentist... and yes I smoked marijuana, but like you said yourself, the drug itself is no big deal....

But it is illegal and what I did was against the law and stupid, I realize my mistake, so now I am done with it.

This is not going to affect my ability to make it through d-school or be a good and caring dentist, so I don't want it to, so I am going to do my best to make it right, honestly and wisely.

I have heard some stories about dentists developing substance abuse problems because they have unrestricted access to narcotics and it becomes a slippery slope. We can agree to disagree on how hard of a drug pot is and whether or not it's addictive, but the bottom line is that you got yourself into a bind doing something dumb in order get access to a recreational drug. This is probably not an obstacle that is going to keep you from D school, but for your own future welfare you need to be completely honest with yourself as to whether you have an addictive personality and if this is going to be a problem for you down the line when you have access to opiates, etc. that you use to manage pain in patients.

You will be up a creek without a paddle if you have hundreds of thousands of dollars in student debt and then lose your license because you develop a problem with pain pills. If there is even a chance that this is a situation that could repeat itself then you need to get counseling and develop skills to avoid going down that path.

This isn't meant as criticism, so please don't take it this way. It's very well intended advice based on being old and watching my peers destroy their careers with alcohol and other various substances for the last 15 years.
 
Do you really believe that people choose to waste their youth to “help people” and not to better provide for themselves and their families?

Yes, some of us waste our youth helping other people. Then we wake up in our mid-thirties and realize we should go to dental school so that we can have the means to keep fighting the good fight and also make enough money to hopefully help our kids get through college.
 
Yes, some of us waste our youth helping other people. Then we wake up in our mid-thirties and realize we should go to dental school so that we can have the means to keep fighting the good fight and also make enough money to hopefully help our kids get through college.
That is exactly what I said.
If you really just wanted to help people without the means part, you would have been somewhere in Africa on a mission, permanently
 
OP, I cannot stress enough that you should consult an attorney. Even if the charges are dismissed as a result of your completion of the diversion program, the record of your arrest may not go away. It may get sticky with D school if you were to ignore this and it comes up. Arrest records can be squashed on the state level, but the private background firms rarely update their records once and arrest is logged in.
 
I definitely think times are changing, you might get a very liberal person on the admissions board reviewing your application. I would disclose this situation to the schools you're applying to, unless you can get the police to speed up the process of getting it off your record, which sounds a lot more difficult to me.

And I don't think this makes you susceptible to substance abuse. Everyone smokes weed, it's not a big deal. Kids get drunk underage all the time and that's breaking more laws, and yet they're not required to put that on their application. Yeah it's unfair, but you're not a less compassionate person for sneaking weed over a state border.
 
I definitely think times are changing, you might get a very liberal person on the admissions board reviewing your application. I would disclose this situation to the schools you're applying to, unless you can get the police to speed up the process of getting it off your record, which sounds a lot more difficult to me.

And I don't think this makes you susceptible to substance abuse. Everyone smokes weed, it's not a big deal. Kids get drunk underage all the time and that's breaking more laws, and yet they're not required to put that on their application. Yeah it's unfair, but you're not a less compassionate person for sneaking weed over a state border.

I really don't think people are understanding the true issue here.

Nobody cares about smoking weed. Go out and smoke all the weed you want OP.

The issue is that OP was caught in the act of attempting to smuggle contraband into his home state where he knows it's illegal, his mother knows it's illegal and the whole entire state knows it's illegal.

He knew this would not be good if he was caught, he knew it would potentially affect his Dental School acceptance if he was caught, and he did it.

It's equivalent to if he was a Dentist and he knew that committing fraud could jeopardize his license, but "Hey I won't be caught! It's just one time!".

He is prone to bad decisions, D schools should be notified.
 
I really don't think people are understanding the true issue here.

Nobody cares about smoking weed. Go out and smoke all the weed you want OP.

The issue is that OP was caught in the act of attempting to smuggle contraband into his home state where he knows it's illegal, his mother knows it's illegal and the whole entire state knows it's illegal.

He knew this would not be good if he was caught, he knew it would potentially affect his Dental School acceptance if he was caught, and he did it.

It's equivalent to if he was a Dentist and he knew that committing fraud could jeopardize his license, but "Hey I won't be caught! It's just one time!".

He is prone to bad decisions, D schools should be notified.
Not saying whether or not I agree with your point about OP not deserving to be a dentist, but I can't believe your point needed to be clarified a second time. I was banging my head reading all the responses to you the first time you made the distinction.

And about the OP's actual situation:
When I was at Rutgers for an interview, they made us sign a sheet that explained we needed to disclose any infractions/misconduct (with law, or with undergraduate school) before leaving that day, because they will do a background check + consult your undergraduate record after acceptance. They said if they found anything that was not already self-disclosed by the time of acceptance, the acceptance has a good chance of being rescinded. The dean of admissions says one time they had to rescind due to an drinking-related incident they found out from the student's undergrad. I don't recall fully, but I think she said something about it not being a big deal, but it was rescinded because the student signed the sheet and knowingly did not disclose. Now ofc, this is at Rutgers only, and no other school I went to asked us to sign a sheet like that. And the details might not be 100% because it was a while ago. The dean's story might not even be true.

Idk if this helps you at all with your decision to tell the schools or not, but good luck.
 
Right, if you know for a fact it is in writing and will show up, disclose at all costs. Only way an acceptance gets rescinded is if something shows up that was not disclosed in any way, shape, or form.
 
This is what I love about Professional School applications/interviews.

Everyone lies and fibs to get into the school when they are just saying/doing things to get in.

You sound irresponsible and unfit to be in charge of other people's lives.

OMG get over yourself. Unfit to be in charge of other people's lives? That comment really burns me. If you think smoking weed is a big deal then I am not sure we are living on the same planet. Dude made a mistake, don't get all high and mighty. I used to smoke weed, which is against federal law, and later became a Navy officer, passed background checks a maintained a top secret security clearance. I disclosed my drug history when applying to OCS and it was not an issue. Oh, and I was definitely in charge of other people's lives. I am not saying the Dental boards will be as forgiving as the Navy, but there is no reason to shame anyone. Life is all about second chances. And the stupidity of this country's weed laws are in a state of flux anyway.

If it were me, I would defer for a year until my record cleared. You don't have to compromise your integrity, but you may be able to find a way to get a deferment some other way. It is none of the dental schools business why you are deferring. I would not attempt the "hope and see" method. There are plenty of worthwhile things to do with your life while you wait a year or, worst case scenario, have to reapply again. Just take this as a hard lesson learned.
 
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Soooooo did you get an acceptance on Dec 1st? My school emailed me about needing to do a criminal background check and if anything was found that wasn’t disclosed to them on AADSAS/by email, then they have the right to withdraw my acceptance. If yours does the same, you should probably have disclosed
 
Don't say a thing.
If you let them know so they know, you won't get in.
If you don't tell them and they find out, you won't get in.
If you don't tell them and if they don't find out... then you are good...
 
OMG get over yourself. Unfit to be in charge of other people's lives? That comment really burns me. If you think smoking weed is a big deal then I am not sure we are living on the same planet. Dude made a mistake, don't get all high and mighty. I used to smoke weed, which is against federal law, and later became a Navy officer, passed background checks a maintained a top secret security clearance. I disclosed my drug history when applying to OCS and it was not an issue. Oh, and I was definitely in charge of other people's lives. I am not saying the Dental boards will be as forgiving as the Navy, but there is no reason to shame anyone. Life is all about second chances. And the stupidity of this country's weed laws are in a state of flux anyway.

If it were me, I would defer for a year until my record cleared. You don't have to compromise your integrity, but you may be able to find a way to get a deferment some other way. It is none of the dental schools business why you are deferring. I would not attempt the "hope and see" method. There are plenty of worthwhile things to do with your life while you wait a year or, worst case scenario, have to reapply again. Just take this as a hard lesson learned.
Actually, the OP's problem is not smoking pot, rather it is about possession compounded by transporting across state lines. Deferments are not easily granted and are usually reserved for med/family issues. Good luck trying to get a deferment and telling schools "it is none of " their "business why you are deferring". As fortune would have it, acceptance, rejection, rescinding an acceptance based on drug infractions/background checks, and deferment is decided by demigods and none of our opinion expressed or implied will make an iota of difference on the final outcome. Just as there are members on SDN who have the "take no prisoner" attitude, there are going to be members of adcoms/deans with similar attitude.
Transfers/Withdrawls US DS
 
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