<p>So I am a freshman at a private liberal arts college in Ohio, and I know I will have to go Graduate school to do anything with my major. Earlier this year I was intoxicated and ended up stealing 5 traffic cones and a "No Parking" sign from University property, someone told security and now I have been given Disciplinary Probation, and a monetary fine. Its not a big deal now, it doesn't affect my scholarship or academic standing at all, but now I'm worried about this event getting in the way of my being accepted to graduate school. I know this was a REALLY stupid thing to do so please don't tell me how foolish I was. I would like any input on if this will affect my chances of being accepted especially with the label of "theft" on the crime. Please help me!</p>
<p>When I applied for graduate school there wasn’t a question asking if I had past convictions. I’m not even sure that they do a background check for biological sciences. However, if you plan to go into medicine or pharm, a degree that allows you to be responsible for lives and/or work with narcotics, this may be different. However, I doubt such a stupid “crime” would hurt your chances for graduate school a few years down the road.</p>
<p>Thank you!</p>
<p>They typically don’t ask about this, so probably not.</p>
<p>Graduate programs care about academic dishonesty, not about disciplinary probation because of a college prank. Even if the application asks generally about disciplinary actions, answer honestly, with a one sentence description in your SOP. They won’t care at all; after all, they were once college freshmen themselves. :)</p>
<p>I think all the applications I went through only asked to list past felony convictions. If this was just a simple disciplinary matter at your school, then I doubt it’ll cause a problem with admissions.</p>