<p>Was arrested last year at a football game tailgate for drinking activity in a public area during game time, hired a lawyer to represent me, all charges were dropped and I have 'arrested with dismissal' on my record. On track to graduate in May 2008 a BS Engineering Tech degree from a Big 10 school. Grad school on the horizon.</p>
<p>I searched the grad school sub-forum for others in my situation (applying to graduate school with an arrest on the person's record) and came up with nothing. I also googled and found little information other than most grad applications require applicants to disclose -any- arrests/convictions other than minor traffic infractions. </p>
<p>Obviously having such a history will not help my acceptance potential when I begin applying to schools, but how do review committees view such minor infractions? Anybody involved in applications processing for grad school have any insight for their particular institution? thanks.</p>
<p>First, read the fine print carefully on graduate admissions forms. Some only require that you reveal convictions. When both arrests and convictions are asked for, sometimes there is an "explanation box." I would explain your situation there, briefly, as in: "arrested for open container at football game, charges dropped." </p>
<p>The main reason this question is asked is to identify felons (violent and sex offenders) who are ineligible for certain positions / awards / financial aid.</p>
<p>This sort of stuff is reviewed at the Graduate School level (meaning the administrative office that processes applications). This information might not even appear on the paperwork that is then forwarded to the departments to which you are applying. If it does appear, the "explanation box" would suffice, and I can confidently say that it will not impact your chances for admission at any normal academic department. All you would appear to be is honest.</p>
<p>Oh, and in my opinion, I see no need to address this issue in your personal statement. At all.</p>
<p>Best wishes to you.</p>
<p>(I direct a graduate program, and my committee -- if we even saw the information -- would not hold this against you in any way, but would merely see your explanation as an honest admission.)</p>
<p>Just out of curiosity, why would "arrested with dismissal" even appear on your record? If you were never tried or convicted, shouldn't your record be totally clean?</p>
<p>I mean, if I was arrested because the cops mistook me for somebody else, would they put "arrested with dismissal" on my record? And then would I be obliged to declare that I was arrested at one point for every application for university or jobs for the rest of my life?</p>
<p>You will be glad to know that there is nothing on your official record, as far as I can tell from the few law classes I have taken. Usually when someone refers to your "record" they are referring only to convictions, not anything else. Although court appearances and dismissals are available to the court for a certain amount of time (in Quebec, where I live, at least) if your case was dismissed, it is not considered part of a criminal record, period.</p>
<p>Yeah I know it's like that in Canada. But the OP is referring the United States, a country with a long history of peculiarities with its justice system --not to mention new absurdities since the Patriot Act came into force. :P So I just have to ask.</p>
<p>Despite the differences between the Canadian and American justirce systems, I'm fairly sure the way your record work is roughly the same, i.e. youth records are wiped clean at 18 and are only accessible for a certain amount of time, depending on what offense you commited, ect. Likewise I would be shocked if in the US you could have a "record" just for getting arrested. I'm basically 100% sure that mike's "record" is officially nonexistent.</p>
<p>I do think the arrest could show up on a background check for future employment, but grad schools ought to only ask about convictions to which OP could answer NO.</p>
<p>Even if he wasn't convicted, it's very possible that it was still sent to the school for them to deal with directly as well, through some sort of student code (especially since it was at a football game, assuming this was his college football team). That's how it works at my school. I don't know how to answer OP's though.</p>
<p>That's very possible, but my understanding of the question was that the original poster was asking if he had to volunteer this information on a college application, which I doN,t think he does, because his infraction was dismissed.</p>
<p>Also, I doubt this will show up if an employer runs a background check either. Simply getting arrested isn't supposed to show up years after it has happened.</p>
<p>Different agencies (US) use and maintain their databases. E.g. Child Protection Service (CPS) maintains a nation-wide database of every child abuse <em>allegation</em> (even if you are dismissed by court or their internal investigation) going back for decades. So your "record" depends on very much on the databases a background check uses.</p>
<p>As far as grad school application goes, a dismissed charge shouldn't hurt you as Professor X noted. However, for future employment, you may want to disclosure this incident on a case-by-case basic. It usually doesn't make a favorable impression if your potential employer finds something on your "record" that they fully expect you to disclosure up front. Personally, I won't worry too much. We all live and learn.</p>
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I do think the arrest could show up on a background check for future employment, but grad schools ought to only ask about convictions to which OP could answer NO.
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<p>It won't show up on national checks, but it might come up on local ones. Unless the applicant is doing a security clearance, odds are it will never be an issue.</p>
I know this is an old post but I stumbled upon it because I was searching for some answers online. I am in a simialr situation in that I am applying to grad schools. However, my question is that my lawyer said my charges will be dropped 6 months after the incident. In that 6 months, if I get in trouble again, I would get called back to appear in court. It was classified as a misdemeanor but because I have NEVER been in trouble before and honestly will never again…the case was dismissed. But the key is I cannot get in trouble within those 6 months. My problem is my top school’s deadline is January but my case will be dismissed Feb. I’m scared this will show up if they do a background check during the admissions process. Please help! This has been wrecking my brain.