Criminal record going to hurt me?

Parents Forum
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<p>At the advice of Andale, I'm posting this here...any advice/help is deeply appreciated.</p>

<p>So...... About 4 years ago (I was 20), I was cited for driving under a suspended license, a misdemeanor. I plead guilty to the charge, and paid a $200 fine. (License was suspended due to non-payment of a traffic ticket...I paid the ticket the next month, reinstating my license.) Also, two summers ago, I was arrested for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. I plead no constest, paid a fine, and took a court ordered drug assesment class.</p>

<p>So yeah, I know, I'm an idiot. For what it's worth, the process of worrying about how this will affect me is enough to make sure it never happens again. Putting myself in these situations has proven to be stupid and childish. </p>

<p>Do you think these incidents will have an adverse affect on my admissions decision? On one hand, I'm sure the majority of applicants have no record at all, so that certainly does me no favors. On the other hand, I don't think these convictions offer anything negative in terms of my character or moral turpitude. Or do they? I just hope the adcoms will realize that many students have, or at some point will, commit crimes similar to mine. (I'm aware this in no way excuses my behavior, but I do believe it is not completely irrelevant)</p>

<p>As far as the explanation I provide, do you think something short such as the above summary would suffice? Or should I explain all the details? </p>

<p>Any feedback is greatly appreciated.</p>

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<p>Yes, it will effect your chances. There are many students without records colleges have to choose from. The fact that there are two different charges you will need to report won't help any. It will depend somewhat on the types of schools you are thinking about applying to. </p>

<p>As a 24 year old applying for first year college, you are already a pretty non-traditional applicant. What schools are you looking at? What have you been doing for the past 6 years?</p>

<p>Rest assured that these charges will not keep you from getting into college, but it may affect which colleges you should be considering.</p>

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<p>Some colleges won't care much, and won't even ask about convictions on their applications. Others will care very much, and, as Corranged said, this may require some thinking on your part about which schools you should be considering.</p>

<p>If you were enrolled in college and receiving financial aid at the time of the drug conviction, it will affect your ability to receive financial aid (<a href="http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq003.htm#faq003_5%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/faq003.htm#faq003_5&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/p>

<p>What concerns me most in your post, however, is this statement:
"On the other hand, I don't think these convictions offer anything negative in terms of my character or moral turpitude."</p>

<p>This line of thinking is a problem because the colleges who do care will be seeking assurance that you recognize the seriousness of having two arrests on your record and that you have taken responsibility for your actions and learned from them. In fact, that's mainly what they will be looking for in your essay - not so much the details of what happened, but evidence that you're worth taking a risk on.</p>

<p>They will also take into account your age at the time these events occurred and the fact that there are TWO of them. They'd be more inclined to view the transgressions of a 16 year old who did the same sorts of things or a single violation in a more forgiving light than those of an adult who has repeated legal problems. </p>

<p>So, it will be particularly important that you show convincing proof that you've moved beyond these sorts of events. It would help, for instance, if in your essay you could point to having been in drug rehab, etc. </p>

<p>As Corranged said, there are colleges that will take you, but you will have to be realistic about things, and show that you have learned and matured signficantly.</p>

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<p>"I just hope the adcoms will realize that many students have, or at some point will, commit crimes similar to mine."</p>

<p>No, I don't think that many have done this, and if they did, that's not even relevant to the issue of whether or not you've figured things out yet. You still sound immature, like you are saying, since others have or will break these same laws, it's not so wrong what I did.</p>

<p>I think you have to measure yourself by yourself if you want to impress anyone that you've moved on beyond this. </p>

<p>I did some research for you and found some discussion of how prior convictions affect financial aid. Actually there was some change recently on it. If you weren't taking fin aid for college when the conviction occurred, then you are still eligible to apply for finaid now. That used to not be possible.</p>

<p>There's a student advocacy group for student drug policy; google them up.</p>

<p>I think you MIGHT be sorry but you haven't learned to express it well yet.
If you were my brother I'd recommend you go and make a one-hour appointment with a clergyman. Tell him you're trying to go to college (he'll be supportive) but neeed to work through the issue of remorse/rehabilitation so you can express it in words. They write sermons and always have to choose language, so they can help you on this. </p>

<p>First, though, you have to figure out with him what you really think about what happened. If you still really think that "others" have done this so that makes it not so bad, you might need to work harder in your thinking. You need to sound as though you seriously aren't excusing what you did before (breaking laws) and respect laws today. Even if you thought those weren't such bad laws to break.</p>

<p>Hey--I have a feeling you might even be THINKING right but so far you're not WRITING it right. So that's why I was suggesting a clergyman because they have to write about these kinds of issues all the time (change, remorse, rehabilitation) in letters, speeches and sermons. One or two good sentences that a clergy helps you write could make a real difference on your application, which probably asks for only a short statement anyway.</p>

<p>This might be interesting to read, a scholarship for people with drug convictions, who are denied finaid (but you might not be); interesting to read:
<a href="http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/Perry-index.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.raiseyourvoice.com/Perry-index.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>ALso on the FAFSA page of FAQ's there's 2 questions that relate to how to fill out the finaid form if you have prior convictions.</p>

<p><a href="http://daily.stanford.edu/article/20...rugOffende%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://daily.stanford.edu/article/20...rugOffende&lt;/a> rs
makes interesting reading], kind of optimisitic</p>

<p>Good luck. Don't give up but work a bit harder here.</p>

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<p>Timed out; I am fixing up that last link in the above post for the Stanford University article. Hope this works:</p>

<p><a href="http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/2/9/billCouldAlterLawThatDeniesAidToStudentDrugOffenders%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2006/2/9/billCouldAlterLawThatDeniesAidToStudentDrugOffenders&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>the poster is 24, and doing something foolish at 20 does not mean you are a some sort of lifetime ne'er do well</p>

<p>give the poster a break, being all sorry for what he did is inane, yes it was wrong, but for heavens sake, he hasn't done it since</p>

<p>Yes, you will get into college and have a good life</p>

<p>It is amazing how some people think that colleges will throw away people who had a dobbie, while their campuses are filled with dopers</p>

<p>Yes, I hear the stories, but to the OP- find a school you like and as an older student, your process can be different anyway</p>

<p>What are your plans, do you want to go fulltime?</p>

<p>Some schools have great programs for "older students" so see what your school choses offer</p>

<p>ps- what city and state were you in when you got arrested for pot- cause i dont want to go there</p>

<p>we let drunks drive all the time and get away with it but heaven forbid you have some mary jane on you</p>

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<p>The driving offense- even though it is a misdemeanor- will not matter in the slightest. The drug charge will matter, but can be explained, and if done so properly and SINCERELY, you will find some colleges that will give you a chance.</p>

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<p>I'm on my way out the door and don't have any time to respond, but I would like to add that I'm a sophmore with a 3.97. Relatively impressive work experience and aside from the record a very well qualified applicant.</p>

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<p>Now I really don't understand. How can you be a 24 year old sophomore, unless you are already in college? You are still protesting too much. Thousands and thousands of applicants have never done either of the things for which you were criminally convicted. Those convictions will be with you the rest of your life. You can get beyond them in many ways but they will dog you; they don't mean you shouldn't or can't get an education, but you do need to look at schools that are large and whose admissions process is essentially numbers driven and anonymous (many state universities) or small and provide an opportunity to explain and place your criminal actions in context. You may need to report these matters many times for the rest of your life and your situation should serve as an example to those who think driving without a license, failing to appear in court and using illicit drugs is no big deal.</p>

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<p>I agree the OP's story has some holes, but please keep in mind that Admissions staff do NOT just look for perfect applicants. I have a lot of experience with this particular issue and have talked to many, many college officials about it.</p>

<p>The thinking that "there are so many applicants WITHOUT these issues that you won't make the cut" is very flawed. That is simply not the way it works. A minor arrest, a suspension, even a serious high school alcohol violation are NOT deal-breakers at MOST schools- even the highly selective ones. These decision-makers are very willing to accept that young people make mistakes, and even, on occasion, prefer an applicant who shows a maturing process as a result of some "incidents". To say that someone with an arrest or disciplinary incident is at a huge disadvantage is the same thinking that leads to kids thinking there life is ruined if they get 750 on an SAT section!</p>

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<p>He could have started college and dropped out to work for awhile--lots of people do this. We need more info to be helpful.</p>

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<p>First, do college applications ask these sort of questions? If not, how would they know about the arrests?</p>

<p>I was arrested for criminal trespass during a Biafra protest at the Ohio State Capital and was accepted by Cornell as a graduate student.</p>

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<p>Originaloog, yes, many college applications do ask this question and as Carolyn noted above, IF they ask, you must answer honestly (a numbers driven school may not have it on an application and so looking for schools like that is one idea). As others have noted, the applicant should be writing a statement that indicates what they have learned from these experiences and what they have done since then to turn their lives around and the statement should be sincere. It would help if recs backed that up as well. Some schools might give the student a chance if this is their only blemish and they have taken steps to change and avoid such problems in the future and can discuss that maturely and sincerely. The student needs to come off mature and responsible and acknowledge the mistakes as serious ones and what they are doing about it....steps that were taken, etc. Making excuses won't look good. Colleges are willing to overlook mistakes in youth if the person has learned from them and has changed course. Perfection is not required from teenagers. Two arrests are not so great and the second is more serious. Of course, no arrests on a record is a smoother sail into college.</p>

<p>PS...the way the OP implies that many other kids have done these things too.....nuh uh.....don't say that on an application.</p>

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<p>Are we to assume to OP is a sophomore in college and is looking for info on graduate school? Or is he a sophomore in high school looking for undergrad admissions.</p>

<p>Chessiestyle-when you can, please give us more information as to where you are and where you are looking to head.</p>

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<p>The OP could be a sophomore and taking a GED (graduate equivalency degree) for high school -- anyway, there are people here ready to be helpful, so please write back when you can!</p>

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<p>Maybe he's looking to transfer into a 4 year college from a community college.</p>

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<p>UCD- your thought sound the most reasonable; that didn't even cross my mind! No coffee at the time of my post :-0</p>

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<p>Hey guys, thanks for all the response, allow me to offer some more info. I'm a 2nd year community college student, looking to transfer to a 4 year school. I'm aware that some schools, i.e., big state schools, only request info regarding felony convictions. This is certainly a back up plan. My stats however, along with the desire to attend a T14 law school, warrant applying to more selective schools. My stepfather is a Virginia law alum, and that is my number one choice. </p>

<p>I fear I've given the impression that I do not take my criminal record seriously, and I want to clear that up. I'll admit, at first I was more sorry I got caught that anything else. During the past few years however, I feel I've matured a good deal and recoginize the importance of being an upstanding member of society. My attitude has shifted from behaving when someone's looking over my shoulder to just behaving all the time. I realize that by taking part in a society, I'm agreeing to follow whatever laws are applicable, and doing otherwise is a form of dishonesty. That is not the person I want to be, and have truly changed the way I go about my life. From that perspective, I believe these events served as somewhat of a blessing in disgiuse. </p>

<p>Hopefully my grades/essays/reccomendations will reflect this sediment. Like I said, I have nearly a 4.0, good work experience, and 3 proffessors willing to write on my behalf, one of which whom approached me. If my convictions bar me from attending a T25 university, I am willing to accept that. I realize the punishment of these crimes can often extend past the courtroom. I only hope I'm not denied admission on the assumption that my criminal record is an indication of future problems to come, as I know myself that is not the case.</p>

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<p>ha, sorry, *sentiment</p>