Stole from University bookstore and received an IA, what are my chances of admission?

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Ya my bad I thought this was another thread. No laws apply to sealed educational records. FERPA doesn’t apply because it’s another school at which you are seeking admission

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[wysdoc]

You missed the part where OP said "My records are sealed by my universities student discipline committee and can't be released without my permission."

OP is going to give permission when they submit their secondaries, and the "sealed" IA will be disclosed in the Dean's Letter the med school will receive before matriculation, at which point OP will be SOL if they made it that far without disclosing based on the legal advice being given on SDN.

the overwhelming advice in this thread is that they disclose the infraction

 

[KnightDoc]

the overwhelming advice in this thread is that they disclose the infraction

Yes, I agree. I was referring to the bad advice being given by some when I said not disclose based on legal advice provided here. My sarcastic point was that OP should not be seeking legal advice on a pre-med forum.

Sorry I wasn't more clear, but people talking about FBI fingerprints and suing people releasing sealed information might be getting OP's hopes up. The fact remains that it happened, the school documented it, and they are not going to hide it from another school seeking disclosure, with a release from an applicant. Applicant has to disclose and hope for the best.

And yes, you, and everyone who understands how things work, have been clear about this. Unfortunately, some folks with credibility are not fully understanding the situation and are inadvertently giving bad legal advice.

 

[xffan624]

You missed the part where OP said "My records are sealed by my universities student discipline committee and can't be released without my permission."

OP is going to give permission when they submit their secondaries, and the "sealed" IA will be disclosed in the Dean's Letter the med school will receive before matriculation, at which point OP will be SOL if they made it that far without disclosing based on the legal advice being given on SDN.

I was just saying whether the VA could find it is irrelevant to this case as it's an IA not a crime. OP most definitely will have to disclose based on AAMC guidelines. Time and positions of responsibility are the only things that can ameliorate this mistake.

 

[KnightDoc]

I was just saying whether the VA could find it is irrelevant to this case as it's an IA not a crime. OP most definitely will have to disclose based on AAMC guidelines. Time and positions of responsibility are the only things that can ameliorate this mistake.

Fair enough, but your post implied OP could get away with not disclosing, since it won't come up in a FBI background check. After all, that's the whole point of the thread.

 

[LizzyM]

Last part is unenforceable. If law/policy is that the records are FULLY sealed, than they are sealed. AMCAS can tell you you have to report it, but if you don't and still somehow the info is divulged and you're dinged for it, depending on the context of the record seal you may very well have a legal case against where the record leak came from.

Do you want to test it? I think that AMCAS can certainly enforce its rules for applicants. If the information is true, and if it was not divulged on the AMCAS application as required by AMCAS, and if the applicant has signed a document saying that everything in the AMCAS application is true and complete, then the applicant has lied on the AMCAS form and there well could be repercussions for that lie such as having the application pulled and perhaps even being blackballed from every applying through AMCAS in the future.

And you pretty much sign away your FERPA rights when you agree to release your records and waive your right to read letters sent on your behalf by university officials and instructors.

Proceed with extreme caution if you have been the subject of an institutional action and you think that you might take a chance at withholding that information.

 

[sean80439]

Even if you manage to sneak by med school background checks - good luck getting your medical license.

 

[dabears505]

Even if you manage to sneak by med school background checks - good luck getting your medical license.

Bro are you serious? He doesn't have a criminal record from police. It's not going to prevent him at all from getting a medical license.

 

[deleted314957]

We’ve all done stupid **** at some point in our lives. I think that what will help you is putting some years between you and this incident, making sure that you do not have any more lapses in judgement, and when it comes to applying to medical school, you’ll need to report this (Don’t even think about not reporting this). I had a very similar, though slightly more serious situation than yours.



In Winter 1993, I was hanging out with a friend, and we stole a bicycle in Henderson, TX. We were arrested, spent the weekend in jail and ultimately, we were charged with a Class B misdemeanor. This affected my life for some time; when I left the active-duty Army, it took almost 10 years before I was able to get a job working as a civilian paramedic (Texas doesn’t play) and I realized that this whole thing was going to potentially be a barrier to me getting into medical school. I obtained a letter from the prosecuting district attorney attesting to me having completed my probation AND he was able to talk about a program that I started in town that was designed to give teenagers an alternative to the gangs and drugs that were rampant in town at the time. I also made sure to stay out of trouble in the intervening years so that helped. I addressed the issue briefly in my primary applications; I didn’t blame peer pressure or youthful indiscretions for what were my actions, nor did I try to minimize my actions by saying the bike only cost $200. I made a poor decision by stealing a bike and I recognized how serious of an issue this is in light of me wanting to enter a career where trust is paramount. I highlighted what I’d done in the intervening years to show how I wasn’t the same person that I was in 1993 and briefly discussed lessons learned. That was it. When I applied to medical school, I was offered five interviews, attended four of them and was admitted to all four schools. One of my interviewers asked a few questions related to the program that I started in Henderson, TX for teens, but outside of that, I haven’t had to speak on it. Since that time, I’ve been able to obtain my civilian paramedic license though every time I renew, I do have to divulge this misdemeanor conviction and when I apply for a medical license, I have to divulge it. Not sure if this will be the case for you when you get to that point.



As others have said, you need to put some time between you and this incident. How much time, I cannot say. For me, I literally had decades between me and my misdemeanor conviction. I don’t want to suggest that you’ll need that kind of time but at the same time, I can see how five to 10 years between you and the incident, with no other transgressions and a strong record of volunteerism, etc., could be very useful to you.I have a friend who was able to gain admissions to a US medical school with a felony on her record but again, she had years between her and the event. I think that you have a chance at admissions to medical school but how much of a chance, I think, is going to be totally dependent on what you do to distance yourself from this. Understand that its not going to be a quick fix though so you will have to be patient.

Time——-TIME—— heals all wounds. Lots of it in OP’s case.
Time and true contrition and emotional growth.