Secondaries that ask if you have ever been charged with a crime?

[premed1293]

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Does anyone know which schools ask if you have ever been charged with a crime, rather than just the conviction on the secondary?

I am wondering because I have been charged with 2 alcohol violations in the past but I was found not guilty of one and the other one I was also found not guilty because the police officer never came to the court date (major disorganization at the courthouse).

They were both minor offenses, but I might want to avoid applying to schools that ask for charges on their secondaries because I don't have much money to spend on applications. Would you say that the majority of schools do not ask for simply charges and only convictions on their secondary applications?

 

[ld9]

Does anyone know which schools ask if you have ever been charged with a crime, rather than just the conviction on the secondary?

I am wondering because I have been charged with 2 alcohol violations in the past but I was found not guilty of one and the other one I was also found not guilty because the police officer never came to the court date (major disorganization at the courthouse).

They were both minor offenses, but I might want to avoid applying to schools that ask for charges on their secondaries because I don't have much money to spend on applications. Would you say that the majority of schools do not ask for simply charges and only convictions on their secondary applications?

If you were found not guilty, I wouldn't even mention it. I don't see how they can find out. Don't they usually ask if you've actually been convicted?

 

[frescoengano]

yea, if ur not guilty, i don't think you have to mention it. although on the primary they ask you for misdemeanors/felonies.

 

[Geckoe]

University of Wisconsin-Madison, for one.

Just be honorable and tell the truth, for the sake of your personal integrity. It is an unfair question and none of their business ie. an expunged record of a juvenile misdemeanor charge, no conviction. They also ask you to explain what happened and how it was resolved or something similar. Made me lose respect for the school. This was 2009 cycle.

 

[TriagePreMed]

If you were found not guilty, I wouldn't even mention it. I don't see how they can find out. Don't they usually ask if you've actually been convicted?

yea, if ur not guilty, i don't think you have to mention it. although on the primary they ask you for misdemeanors/felonies.

Bad advice. Unless the arrests have been expunged, they could come up during the background check process. This means that at this point the school could suspend you/terminate you based on violating their honor code. This type of violation will also make it a million times harder to get licensing if you manage to graduate from another medical school. Best advice is not to apply to these schools. Only time it's okay to say "no" is if you have the arrests expunged or they ask solely about convictions and not charges.

 

[RedSHIFT]

delete

 

[Keem]

Bad advice. Unless the arrests have been expunged, they could come up during the background check process. This means that at this point the school could suspend you/terminate you based on violating their honor code. This type of violation will also make it a million times harder to get licensing if you manage to graduate from another medical school. Best advice is not to apply to these schools. Only time it's okay to say "no" is if you have the arrests expunged or they ask solely about convictions and not charges.

It seems pretty wrong that you would be discriminated against for being charged for a crime but not found guilty... Dare I say unamerican. Is this actually true?

 

[LizzyM]

I suspect that schools ask this because they know that it will come up on a background check and they don't want surprises. Having a heads-up before hand assures them that the background check is correct in identifying you (and not someone else based on a incomplete fingerprint match) and that what you've reported is accurate.

I suspect that many schools will be lenient with issues around alcohol provided that no one was hurt and there was no criminal damage to property as a result of the alcohol infraction.

 

[premed1293]

I understand and thank you for the responses. I'm not saying that me disclosing those facts doesn't bring up questions, but the whole thing is very questionable to me in terms of screening someone, certainly speaking from ideology. There is enough stigma that comes with being charged with a crime, and putting a question like that on an application surrounded by others that determine your acceptance to medical school is unfair, and a better standard should exist.

If this is for licensing issues, it should be made more clear on the application.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll avoid those secondaries yet, maybe I'll call a lawyer and see if there's anything else I can do.

 

[abmd]

If you lie and they don't find out your okay. If you lie and they find out you're screwed. They will thinks its more than just a simple alcohol violation because you covered it up. You are not alone in having an alcohol violation. But it is not unfair if affects your admission. You made the mistake why are you blaming the system for unfairly screening against you.

 

[Simplify]

Talk to a lawyer. State laws vary. In my state, arrests and convictions that have not been expunged are accessible on a background check procured for a hospital. They can see your arrests for any crime whether you were found guilty or not.

 

[Compass]

If you've been charged for a felony but the charges were later dropped, it still doesn't preclude the fact that you were CHARGED for a felony. It reads charged, not convicted, implying they're asking about charges, not convictions...

 

[LizzyM]

I highly doubt that this (records of arrests) is used to weed out candidates but is intended to get things out on the table so that when they come up on crim background check there is no surprise.
Applciants can be admitted and licensed despite criminal or civil records. (Ask some of the docs who were in college during the Vietnam War protests.)

 

[jgauger]

UW-Madison and MCW. They ask if you have had any violation more than a speeding ticket. A lot of ppl can take a class so that they're never even convicted of the violation, but were charged. In WI an underage drinking ticket is not a crime, but they still want to know about them. It is illegal in wisconsin to discriminate on the basis of those charges though, I believe.

 

[Art Vandalais]

LSU-N.O. asks that question.

 

[TriagePreMed]

It seems pretty wrong that you would be discriminated against for being charged for a crime but not found guilty... Dare I say unamerican. Is this actually true?

I don't think many people will be able to give you any hard data on this, but yes, this can happen. And yes, it is completely unamerican. You'll see a lot of unamerican things if you take more than 10 minutes to research any social/public institution. Even asking you if you've been convicted of crimes shouldn't be any of their business. Schools are there to train students, not to make sure they get licensing.

 

[premed1293]

If you lie and they don't find out your okay. If you lie and they find out you're screwed. They will thinks its more than just a simple alcohol violation because you covered it up. You are not alone in having an alcohol violation. But it is not unfair if affects your admission. You made the mistake why are you blaming the system for unfairly screening against you.

It is totally unfair because the law in this country reads "innocent until proven guilty" therefore in the eyes of the law and official proceedings such as job and medical school applications, I am innocent until proven guilty.

I highly doubt that this (records of arrests) is used to weed out candidates but is intended to get things out on the table so that when they come up on crim background check there is no surprise.
Applciants can be admitted and licensed despite criminal or civil records. (Ask some of the docs who were in college during the Vietnam War protests.)

Thank you for the input LizzyM, it makes me feel better and more informed. Maybe I'll call and ask this question directly to one of the schools anonymously. It looks like this will just be part of the game, and I can handle that.