<p>how does uva view this? my friend was recently charged with this and wants to know how this will affect his college admissions. he has not gone to court yet and has an option of just pleading guilty and paying a 25 dollar fine plus 120 court fees. otherwise, he would have to hire a lawyer and spend a lot of money to get this off his record. any thoughts?</p>
<p>I don't know how adcoms view underage drinking. </p>
<p>They do ask the question on the app but they also provide a large space for an explaination. A year or so ago Virginia passed a law allowing colleges to do criminal background checks on applicants. So not reporting it knowing it might get picked up elsewhere would IMO be worse than providing your own explaination.</p>
<p>Good Luck.</p>
<p>Dean J, maybe you could shed some light on this subject</p>
<p>The other thing to consider is how it might affect future employment. At an orientation at my Ds university a parent was asking whether the local police were prone to handing out a lot of MIPs - supposedly the city her other child went to school gave out a lot and someone she knew had had one and it had affected his ability to get hired by some government research job he wanted. This is purely anecdotal so I don't know how much truth there is in it but, depending on future career plans, it my be worth investigating as that may make a difference to whether he wants to fight it or not.</p>
<p>thanks a lot swimcats mom. hes been thinking about that and he knows that even if he just pleads guilty and pays the 145 dollars, it will be wiped off his record at the age of 18 as long as he doesnt get in anymore trouble with the law.</p>
<p>"Rite of passage" incident. Much much much much less serious than say, an academic dishonesty incident. Adcoms are often sympathetic. (Just look at the CC article on this ... I haven't memorised the url but apparently they say "sharing a beer under the bleachers" is more of a minor issue compared to cheating.) </p>
<p>It wasn't even an antisocial crime. It was a victimless crime.</p>
<p>It's probably not a <em>huge</em> deal, but it's not great to have anything like that on your record in general. Is there any way you can hide it from them when applying?</p>
<p>Once you get to UVa, underage drinking isn't a huge deal as long as the drinking isn't accompanied by anything like fighting, driving, etc...</p>
<p>theres no real way to hide it on the application. they ask if uve ever been charged with a misdemeanor other than a minor trafic violation. they can do a background check and find it even if u dont report it on ur application. then you'd be hosed. he just barely wont be 18 when applying so hed have to include it in his application</p>
<p>If it was an experimentation thing, it should get by. Of course, the OP's friend probably needs to attach an explanation. </p>
<p>If the OP's friend drinks regularly though, I'd be more concerned about how he's stunting his neural stem cell regeneration/development than college admissions.</p>
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If the OP's friend drinks regularly though, I'd be more concerned about how he's stunting his neural stem cell regeneration/development than college admissions.
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</p>
<p>And is 21 an appropriate drinking age?</p>
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If the OP's friend drinks regularly though, I'd be more concerned about how he's stunting his neural stem cell regeneration/development than college admissions.
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<p>I actually LOL'd at this.</p>
<p>haha wow, that is very interesting</p>
<p>The problem is not drinking regularly, it's drinking excessively regularly.</p>
<p>Indeed, but even if you don't get drunk regularly, damage may still occur.</p>
<p>If you graph benefit as a function of blood alcohol level, the optimum peak of euphoria occurs very early on. But most peers seem to overshoot that peak (a very steep peak, may I add) too much and too often.</p>
<p>Cool.</p>
<p><em>drinks beer</em></p>
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<em>drinks beer</em>
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<p>Light beer. I'm trying to stay away from the freshman 15. But c'mon, the good stuff has half the calories and does a better job :D</p>
<p>xkcd</a> - A webcomic of romance, sarcasm, math, and language - By Randall Munroe</p>
<p>(note: link is humourous)</p>
<p>Wow, everyone on here sounds like a bunch of goody-goods, no offense.</p>
<p>Actually, I support the legalisation of cannabis and think gene doping would be pretty cool. It's just that you should not be shooting yourself in the foot, that's all.</p>
<p>boy, did this thread get off topic!</p>