worried about background check, please help!

[almostDDS]

Hello,

So I have been accepted to a school but I am worried about the background check.
Here is why:
In 2010, I was living with a roommate in an apartment, had a party that got busted and got charges. We both received 1. underage possession of alcohol 2. possession of marijuana 3. petty larceny (he had street signs on the walls in his room) 4. obstruction of justice (turned the lights of and pretended we were not there when the police officers were knocking on the door)

However, all the charges were dismissed. I even checked on the local court website and checked the case and for all the charges it says "dismissed."
So these were all misdemeanors but I was not convicted of any of them. I did not disclose these charges on aadsas. All I have is a reckless driving charge for driving 25 over the speed limit which I did disclose this on aadsas.

So, I am worried that even though these charges were all dismissed that they will possibly affect my entrance to dental school.

Thank you for your comments/suggestions.

This is not my SDN account, I just made this one quickly so I could ask this question.

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[tomhrxbfg]

you better call the school since we are not experts on these matters

 

[Sal427]

Can you call up the people that do the background check and ask them?

 

[jmh018]

"...have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, other than minor traffic violations?"

That's what's it says on aadsas. If you weren't convicted and the other is a traffic violation that you admitted to online you should be fine. You followed the rules as they were written.

 

[qnzbabi91]

I think you will be fine, but I don't know how that works. When I was a freshman, I was held in custody on my campus for using my friend's library card to get into the library and study for my honors biology final (how pathetic I know). I thought that was the end of my world. I could only imagine how you feel.

You really need to call and ask maybe a different school to see their take on it. Then, call your school informed with information.

 

[mbuchan7]

I'm pretty sure that if charges are dismissed then that means they are wiped from your record and you do not have to disclose them at all. I know of a friend that got an underage charge dismissed and he passed an Army background check with flying colors. So, if they said all the charges were dismissed then I would say that you are alright. Did you have to do community service and all that jazz?

 

[ddsmission]

Sorry to say but if you were arrested, that will remain on your arrest record. My friend went through it. As for your charge, it wont be on your record i believe because it's been dismissed.

 

[alucidinterval]

depends on whether or not it was phrased as "have you ever been convicted of a crime" or "have you ever been charged with a crime." I know on the main AADSAS application it says convicted, but it may differ from secondary to secondary so it really depends on the school.

 

[alucidinterval]

I'm pretty sure that if charges are dismissed then that means they are wiped from your record and you do not have to disclose them at all. I know of a friend that got an underage charge dismissed and he passed an Army background check with flying colors. So, if they said all the charges were dismissed then I would say that you are alright. Did you have to do community service and all that jazz?

gotta say that's not true, if you run a background check you'll find that anything that you were charged with remains on your record, it just states what the outcome is. this is where the "explain the nature of the crime" part comes to play on the application. I think most adcoms will know that just because an alcohol/drug charge got dismissed doesn't mean that the student is actually innocent of the crime, but depending on the circumstances/length since the offense I've heard oftentimes schools are understanding and won't blackball you for a misdemeanors.

 

[azimmer]

My friend's sister who's a lawyer specifically told me that the way it is phrased in the AADSAS primary app "Are you currently under charge or have you ever been convicted of a felony or misdemeanor, other than minor traffic violations" only requires you to disclose convictions. If you plead guilty in a court and were, indeed, convicted then of course it will be on your record. However, if you got it deferred it will still show up as a charge on your record but you would not have to disclose it because it will say case dismissed or deferred, thus, showing your school that you were not convicted of a crime. This does not mean that the school would probably not infer that you actually did those things. This, however, does show that you were not lying in your AADSAS app because you were not convicted. The only time you should be obligated to disclose such information is if the school asked you for any charges on your criminal record.

 

[mbuchan7]

gotta say that's not true, if you run a background check you'll find that anything that you were charged with remains on your record, it just states what the outcome is. this is where the "explain the nature of the crime" part comes to play on the application. I think most adcoms will know that just because an alcohol/drug charge got dismissed doesn't mean that the student is actually innocent of the crime, but depending on the circumstances/length since the offense I've heard oftentimes schools are understanding and won't blackball you for a misdemeanors.

So in an actual background check report to the school it would disclose all your prior violations and the outcomes of the proceedings regardless of if it were dismissed or not? I have never actually seen one, but he was told that legally you never have to mention it and it can't be used against you. Granted, that may have been completely inaccurate information.

 

[RaeRae0903]

I could be way off on this, but I am under the impression that the background check is to make sure that there's nothing on your record that could prevent you from becoming licensed upon graduation (this is what my acceptance letter states). So if it was dismissed then it shouldn't matter if it even shows up, should it? You weren't charged...so that shouldn't stop the board from granting a license. Personally, I'd call the state board of dentistry and ask them if your charges that were dismissed would affect you getting your license someday. I'm sure they'd be happy to answer your questions. In any case, good luck to you!

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Information about the CBC process.

 

[predent12]

How long does a background check take? Why don't you just order one on yourself?

 

[cv103]

In my freshman year, I had a charge for underage possession of alcohol but it was dismissed with a diversion program. I ran the Certiphi background check preorder through AADSAS (like $47 BUCKS) and nothing showed up at all.

good looks my dude

 

[azimmer]

In my freshman year, I had a charge for underage possession of alcohol but it was dismissed with a diversion program. I ran the Certiphi background check preorder through AADSAS (like $47 BUCKS) and nothing showed up at all.

good looks my dude

See, you'll be fine!

 

[cc3515]

I knew of a guy that was in a similar situation and he found a website that did official background checks for a fee. He saw that he was clean and everything went smoothly.

 

[almostDDS]

Sorry it took me a while to respond, just had two finals today.
I want to thank everyone for taking the time to respond to my situation.

Can you call up the people that do the background check and ask them?

I tried a few months ago, they basically said no.

gotta say that's not true, if you run a background check you'll find that anything that you were charged with remains on your record, it just states what the outcome is. this is where the "explain the nature of the crime" part comes to play on the application. I think most adcoms will know that just because an alcohol/drug charge got dismissed doesn't mean that the student is actually innocent of the crime, but depending on the circumstances/length since the offense I've heard oftentimes schools are understanding and won't blackball you for a misdemeanors.

Yes they still show up on the record because I can search for them online myself, they all say dismissed. I feel confident that I followed the directions of aadsas and did not list them since they were not convictions but I am just super worried that if/when the school sees the background check with all these charges that say dismissed that it will raise really red flags.

In my freshman year, I had a charge for underage possession of alcohol but it was dismissed with a diversion program. I ran the Certiphi background check preorder through AADSAS (like $47 BUCKS) and nothing showed up at all.

I have to say this makes me feel a lot better hearing this. Thank you

 

[R3DEUCE]

I just got my background check today and they allowed me to review it before allowing it to be released to the school. Not sure if that's the case for everyone. Mine was through Certiphi (I believe)

 

[elchido200]

Yeah, you should wait for your background check through Certiphi and make a decision based on what it reports back. Best of luck, but from what I saw, you didn't do anything wrong during your application process.

 

[mbuchan7]

I just got my background check today and they allowed me to review it before allowing it to be released to the school. Not sure if that's the case for everyone. Mine was through Certiphi (I believe)

Did Certiphi e-mail you when they had completed the check or did you just log in to find out?

 

[almostDDS]

Yes everyone gets to review their background check.
So I submitted to certiphi yesterday. I guess we'll see what happens

 

[R3DEUCE]

Did Certiphi e-mail you when they had completed the check or did you just log in to find out?

They emailed me, I logged in, and once I reviewed it and confirmed everything was okay, I released it to the school.

 

[alucidinterval]

In my freshman year, I had a charge for underage possession of alcohol but it was dismissed with a diversion program. I ran the Certiphi background check preorder through AADSAS (like $47 BUCKS) and nothing showed up at all.

good looks my dude

Gotta say that makes me feel pretty good too.. I have 3 misdemeanor alcohol charges, 1 from high school and 2 from freshman year and both showed up on the background check I ran. If they don't show up on certiphi that will be a big relief, I was just hoping that school adcoms could see past my immaturity/stupid from when I was 18, and understand that's not the same person I am now.