<p>After passing my license test I was given a temporary license that lasts 60 days, and you have that long to go in and with a parent and birth certificate to get your picture taken and get an official license. I let this temporary license expire, and when I was pulled over for having my lights off the cop gave me a Class E criminal ticket for driving without a valid license.</p>
<p>Really my only major crime here is procrastinating and not going in to get my picture taken, but they still convicted me of a "crime." </p>
<p>Do I have to include this on college applications? I read some reviews from college admissions saying "we don't want to waste time reading about very minor behavior like smoking a ciggarette in the parking lot." My offense is not even nearly as bad as this, yet it's still considered a "crime." Do I have to include this on college applications?</p>
<p>I would include it on the application just in case, and then supplement it with a written explanation.</p>
<p>I disagree. If that’s your worst transgression, then don’t bore the admissions committee with it unless it happens to dovetail with the subject of one of your essays, or if the application specifically asks for minor violations. Isolated traffic violations are very close to the bottom of the list of “crimes” they want to know about.</p>
<p>I was talking a few weeks ago with a high muckymuck who had made millions on Wall Street before moving to the non-profit sector. He explained, “If we found out someone lied on his application, we didn’t hire them. If we already hired them, we’d fire them. We couldn’t have liars on our staff.” Even a small lie was enough for an employee to get the axe.</p>
<p>Tell the truth. If it’s called a crime, it’s a crime. Report it and explain. Most likely it won’t make any difference in your applications.</p>
<p>Does the app ask you to list “crimes” or “felonies?”</p>
<p>If the fear of being exposed as a liar so grips you, heather123, then at least minimize it. Call it “expired license” and be done with it. Factually correct, yet appropriately dismissive. Saying something like “convicted of Class E offense” is just going to make it sound worse than it really is.</p>
<p>This is exactly what the common application asks:
(most applications have similar word structure on this question)
“Have you been convicted of a misdomeaner, felony, or other crime?”</p>
<p>Looks like you do have to report it, but I still say the simple phrase “expired license” is an appropriate and sufficient explanation.</p>
<p>Okay, that makes sense. Very irritating! I may be a procrastinator but I’m not a criminal.</p>
<p>Exactly.</p>
<p>I’ve been caught driving with an expired license twice, both times well into adulthood. Each time I had to go to the courthouse and show a judge that I had renewed my license properly. Each time the judge spent all of ten seconds on my case and waved me out the door so he could move on to his real job. I’ll bet the only reason you were treated differently is because you’re young, and they wanted to teach you a lesson.</p>