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[YouGiveMeHeartFailure]

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[NotAProgDirector]

Ask a lawyer. Really. It all depends on lots of details we don't have.

Residency programs use all sorts of background checks. It will depend on the program.

 

[YouGiveMeHeartFailure]

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[hamstergang]

I will try to make the story as short as possible.

I don't think you tried very hard. Many extraneous details.

Anyway, I agree that a lawyer would know best.

 

[backcountryrez]

I'm not a lawyer, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but here are some thoughts...

"After this incident, I ran a criminal background check on myself from a website that charges 30 or 40 dollars that I found online. That background check came back clean. It claims to check all FBI, State, Federal, and a whole bunch of other databases. But I know not all background searches are created equal."

Any background check where you're not asked to submit a fingerprint card is not thorough enough. Most, if not all, internet companies who claim to run "extensive" background checks likely are not. These companies run name and age searches, and if your name is common enough, a "check" would return false positives.

Real background checks take time to process and require a bit of legwork if the company knows what they are doing.

SO... my questions are:


1) Was this a misdemeanor?

For Marijuana? If you paid the fine then no. What was assessed then was an "administrative fine", which was placed on the car and technically was "impounded" until you paid it.

2)Should I mention this when the program sends me the paperwork after match day?

Honesty is the best policy, really. You could not mention it, but if you don't and it comes up, the general thought is, "what else could s/he be hiding?"

2) What kind of criminal background checks do residency programs conduct? Do they query the CBP database? Does CBP even have a database?

That's the $64,000 question. Err on the side of caution and assume CBP maintains a database within the NCIC.

 

[NotAProgDirector]

Thank you for your reply aProgDirector. I will definitely consult a lawyer.

Since you are a program director, I was hoping you could answer a couple of secondary questions. Which background search does your program use, and does it search CBP? If I matched at your program and you found this out on a background check, what would you do, considering all the things I have said so far? What would you do if i disclosed this before the background search?

Agree with the above answers. We have a VA so you actually get two background checks, one done by the FBI.

You need to know if this is a misdemeanor. That's it. If it is, then you report it as such. If not, then you leave it off. Even if it is, a short explanation is likely to allay fears. And by "short", I mean not your original post. I mean short.

 

[YouGiveMeHeartFailure]

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