Secondaries and dismissed/expunged criminal charges

[future_doc_hopefully]

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For those who have filled out secondaries or are familiar with the questions that are not essays, do most of them ask to disclose dismissed and then expunged criminal charges/citations (that did NOT result in convictions)? I am very worried about this and am not sure which schools ask this, or how common it is on secondaries. If anyone recalls specific schools that do ask for non-convictions/expunged records please list them, thank you

 

[MedScat]

From experience, no schools asked to disclose dismissed charges. If they were dismissed, you are fine. My lawyer even said that the arrest gets dismissed once the charges are dismissed so I don't even have to report that I was arrested (speak to your lawyer about this part though) But anyways, I was charged of a crime, charges were dismissed, and here I am in medical school. Certiphi is the criminal background check that my school used for background check so, I just made sure to run my name through Certiphi independently before allowing the school to do it just to make sure everything was going to come up ok. After running the check, everything was dismissed! Nothing showed up. I've seen some horror stories about when you are applying for you medical license during residency and charges coming back up but, as long as you have documentation that your charges were dismissed they should not be held against you. I went through this same exact thing so feel free to reach out to me privately if you'd like

 

[gonnif]

1) It would likely be a direct legal violation for a school to ask about arrests and dismissed charges. Dismissed means a court found no basis for further criminal proceedings and you are free.
2) Court records in most states either seal or expunged proceedings that did not result in a conviction and that have no further appeals
3) If you were convicted and then records were sealed, in most states there are exceptions allowing certain licensing boards access to such records when considering a license
4) Expunge means exactly that, the records are deleted and therefore no longer exist
5) Arrest records are different than court records and can exist in background checks even if charges were expunged or dismissed/

 

[Paul202]

Sorry to bump the thread, thought it might be useful for anyone else thinking about the same thing. When filling out Duke's secondary I noticed that it asked "Have you ever been charged, arrested, or convicted of a felony or misdemeanor?" From memory I think Emory may have asked the same thing, although I am not certain. @gonnif I guess someone should lawyer up on duke

 

[zorcandpals]

UCSF also asks

Candidates and current students must meet the ethical and legal standards to be licensed to practice medicine in the State of California as well as the standards of the UCSF School of Medicine. Accordingly, candidates for admission must acknowledge and provide written explanation to the School of Medicine of any felony offense, misdemeanor offense, and institutional action taken against them prior to matriculation. This disclosure is required of all charges and convictions, including expunged and diverted offenses that have not already been reported in the primary AMCAS application. Failure to disclose prior offenses can lead to disciplinary action by the school that may include dismissal.

Edit: Northwestern too
Have you ever been convicted (or pled guilty or no contest) to a crime other than a minor traffic violation? (This includes felonies, misdemeanors, and local ordinances.)

 

[Isomerase]

I think a couple Ohio schools even ask you to disclose speeding tickets

 

[gonnif]

I think a couple Ohio schools even ask you to disclose speeding tickets

In some states like Ohio some speeding in fractions are considered misdemeanors

 

[gabbyfeher]

From experience, no schools asked to disclose dismissed charges. If they were dismissed, you are fine. My lawyer even said that the arrest gets dismissed once the charges are dismissed so I don't even have to report that I was arrested (speak to your lawyer about this part though) But anyways, I was charged of a crime, charges were dismissed, and here I am in medical school. Certiphi is the criminal background check that my school used for background check so, I just made sure to run my name through Certiphi independently before allowing the school to do it just to make sure everything was going to come up ok. After running the check, everything was dismissed! Nothing showed up. I've seen some horror stories about when you are applying for you medical license during residency and charges coming back up but, as long as you have documentation that your charges were dismissed they should not be held against you. I went through this same exact thing so feel free to reach out to me privately if you'd like

How did you run your name independently ?

 

[zorcandpals]

How did you run your name independently ?

When you apply through AMCAS you can spend like 80 bucks before you get accepted and they'll run it for you.