Criminal Record + Med school = disaster??

[darwins]

Hi, 1.5 years ago, I made a mistake while driving. I was working for a company, in a company truck, while working.... Long story short, it ended in a criminal record.

 

I am 4.5 years away from a pardon which will erase my record. I am just going to be starting back to university starting a BScn. That will be a 4 year program which puts me pretty close to the 4.5 years.

 

Here are my questions :

 

1) Do universities do criminal record checks for all courses?

 

2) Will the driving offense greatly impact my chances of acceptance?

 

3) When I get the pardon, the record is completely wiped from my name. Do I still have to tell them about it? I dont legally have to tell any employers, the customs officers ..etc ... but do I have to tell them?

 

4) Id there anything I can do to fix this? or should I just forget about med school?? lost cause kind of thing?

 

Thank you in advance for any help you may have on any of the 4 questions.

 

Cheers,

 

A.

[HBP]

what was the crime? dangerous driving? under the influence? road rage resulting to assault?

 

if you're pardoned, i don't think you have to tell them about it.

[mrhumble]

Hi, 1.5 years ago, I made a mistake while driving. I was working for a company, in a company truck, while working.... Long story short, it ended in a criminal record.

 

I am 4.5 years away from a pardon which will erase my record. I am just going to be starting back to university starting a BScn. That will be a 4 year program which puts me pretty close to the 4.5 years.

 

Here are my questions :

 

1) Do universities do criminal record checks for all courses?

 

2) Will the driving offense greatly impact my chances of acceptance?

 

3) When I get the pardon, the record is completely wiped from my name. Do I still have to tell them about it? I dont legally have to tell any employers, the customs officers ..etc ... but do I have to tell them?

 

4) Id there anything I can do to fix this? or should I just forget about med school?? lost cause kind of thing?

 

Thank you in advance for any help you may have on any of the 4 questions.

 

Cheers,

 

A.

 

Hmm good questions.

 

I would be concerned with the immediate situation.

 

Every year, as a nursing student, we have to get police check and vulnerability sector check done to make sure that we don't have any criminal record. We have to submit the report to the clinical coordinator.

 

I don't think that you are allowed to do the clinical portion of nursing with a criminal record.

If you fail the clinical portion, you fail the entire year.

 

You should talk to your nursing coordinator as soon as possible.

[deeman101]

This is a long shot, but are you below 18y.o.? The criminal record gets erased once you pass 18.

 

If not then its really hard to "erase". There will still be a trace of it. But then again, you can use it on your PS and interviews to your advantage. Just don't hide from it if its there.

 

Also, did you think about consulting a lawyer on this?

[future_doc]

Hi, 1.5 years ago, I made a mistake while driving. I was working for a company, in a company truck, while working.... Long story short, it ended in a criminal record.

 

I am 4.5 years away from a pardon which will erase my record. I am just going to be starting back to university starting a BScn. That will be a 4 year program which puts me pretty close to the 4.5 years.

 

Here are my questions :

 

1) Do universities do criminal record checks for all courses?

 

2) Will the driving offense greatly impact my chances of acceptance?

 

3) When I get the pardon, the record is completely wiped from my name. Do I still have to tell them about it? I dont legally have to tell any employers, the customs officers ..etc ... but do I have to tell them?

 

4) Id there anything I can do to fix this? or should I just forget about med school?? lost cause kind of thing?

 

Thank you in advance for any help you may have on any of the 4 questions.

 

Cheers,

 

A.

 

1. If you are in the norml arts and science stream, there is no reason to check you.

 

2. no. but it depends, if you were speeding, no problem. I know an airline pilot and he had a serious charge against him which coulod have ended his career. The Crown were being overly zealous. He changed from a lega aid lawyer to an excellent criminal lawyer he need to pay. Bottom line, his lawyer wrote to the Crown Prosecutor, told him that the charges did not apply, it was extremely doubtful that a successful prosecution was possible, this was abuse of process and malicious prosecution, and should he keep the chrges as is alive, the defendant would lose his livelihood and there would be a civil action against the crown procesutor, his boss and the Dept of Justice for at least 20 million dollars b/c of loss of future earnings of this young man who had been earning $140,000/yr. Within days, the charges were changed to reckless d riving or speeding (or both), defendant pleaded guilty, was fined and no damage to his career. He may have "a record" but this type of 'crime?' does not matter. So, you may be in a similar situation with a similar type of so-called crime. Adcom are loking at serious crime, sexual assault, theft, drugs, etc.

 

3. When the pardon comes, it does not exist, it is as if it never happened and therefore you do not need to tell anybody and you are not misleading anybody or being untruthful. And if you get into med, they find out and threaten to throw you out, you need the best lawyer to explain to them that you told the absolute truth and should you be removed without due process, you will sue each decision maker personally, the Dean, Chancellor and the university for 50 M for loss of ernigns, reputsion, slander, libel, etc.

 

4. Absolutely do not forget about med school, forward and onward, everybody has a past, worse case scenario, study for an extra year until the time limit has passed.

 

Good luck darwins, may you join the lottery with us all and may you win!

[HBP]

speeding is not a criminal charge

[avenir001]

yeah i think this guy beat up his boss or something

[rmorelan]

After (not before in any way I believe) I got accepted I had to get a criminal reference check as a part of the acceptance procedure. I suppose something like this would have shown up on that check - I never had to really tell them anything like this, so I suppose once pardoned it won't be on that check and you would be fine.

 

No way to speed up that pardon? I though I heard there were ways of doing that with the help of a lawyer.

[darwins]

The situation was quite serious. I was driving came to a stop light, was distracted by the 2 way radio in the truck when someone called me, there was a one way sign over head that was bent out of shape by a previous truck hitting it therefor limited my ability to see it. I made a right hand turn going the wrong way on a one way street. I had no idea. The intersection were I made the turn was at the bottom of an incline so i couldnt see any other vehicles... It resulted in the worst. I only went about 50 feet and it happened to be a motorcycle coming in the other direction in my lane and we colided head on. There wasnt any alcohol, drugs or any other impairment. The police charged me with careless driving but the family of the person who was hurt wanted me thrown away in jail for as long as they could get. So they pushed and the crown increased the charges to Dangerous driving causing bodily harm which is criminal. It is something I have to live with and if had been anything other than a motorcycle everyone would have been fine. It was an industrial zone so it was one in a million that it could have been a motorcycle...

 

So because I got dangerous driving instead of careless I received a record. I am 28 starting to go back to university so I am at the begininng of the process trying to sort everything out. I am just trying to find out if I should even try or not or if my past will haunt me forever...

 

Thank you for the replies so far.

[deeman101]

I'd think a good lawyer could still solve that, but its not like I know all the facts of the case. I still think a lawyer could get the charges dismissed. I've seem some pretty crazy traffic charges get dismissed even years after the incident. I know a guy that did well over 250 kph on the 401 with his bike, and got caught doing it. They impounded his bike, suspended his license, charged him with some criminal charges (forgot exact ones, maybe dangerous driving), etc. He just got a damn fine lawyer on the case and is in the process of reversing the charges.

[WaveSense]

On the form we submitted for criminal records check, it stated that if the search came up with a record, a group of people would actually meet and decide if it will impact your suitability to be responsible for vulnerable people. I even think that you are a part of this discussion and so you can really lay out what had happened. Therefore, a criminal record I think does not automatically disqualify you for medical school.

 

However, it also states that if you DO have a criminal record for which a pardon has not been granted, you need to contact the dean or someone. But this is all after you are accepted. I'm not very sure about pardons, but have they already granted you one but said it'll only occur at a later date? Or is the 4.5 years just an estimate that your lawyer or whoever has given you?

 

I think you should apply regardless.

[HBP]

The situation was quite serious. I was driving came to a stop light, was distracted by the 2 way radio in the truck when someone called me, there was a one way sign over head that was bent out of shape by a previous truck hitting it therefor limited my ability to see it. I made a right hand turn going the wrong way on a one way street. I had no idea. The intersection were I made the turn was at the bottom of an incline so i couldnt see any other vehicles... It resulted in the worst. I only went about 50 feet and it happened to be a motorcycle coming in the other direction in my lane and we colided head on. There wasnt any alcohol, drugs or any other impairment. The police charged me with careless driving but the family of the person who was hurt wanted me thrown away in jail for as long as they could get. So they pushed and the crown increased the charges to Dangerous driving causing bodily harm which is criminal. It is something I have to live with and if had been anything other than a motorcycle everyone would have been fine. It was an industrial zone so it was one in a million that it could have been a motorcycle...

 

So because I got dangerous driving instead of careless I received a record. I am 28 starting to go back to university so I am at the begininng of the process trying to sort everything out. I am just trying to find out if I should even try or not or if my past will haunt me forever...

 

Thank you for the replies so far.

 

You should have got a lawyer and fought that. I understand what you did was wrong, but you likely could have got it knocked down.

[darwins]

You should have got a lawyer and fought that. I understand what you did was wrong, but you likely could have got it knocked down.

 

Hi, I did have a lawyer and maybe I should have found a better one. Med wasnt even a thought at the time. But now I am thinking it is where I want to be and my past is a problem.

 

The 4.5 years is the amount of time before I do receive a pardon and it is wiped clean. This is why I am thinking that if I take a 4 year undergrad that it will put me close to when I could be free of the charge.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the help.

[Endeavour]

Hi, I did have a lawyer and maybe I should have found a better one. Med wasnt even a thought at the time. But now I am thinking it is where I want to be and my past is a problem.

 

The 4.5 years is the amount of time before I do receive a pardon and it is wiped clean. This is why I am thinking that if I take a 4 year undergrad that it will put me close to when I could be free of the charge.

 

Thanks for all the replies. I appreciate the help.

 

Yup, i totally think you should follow ur dreams, even if it takes an extra1/2 or 1 yr...thats nothing compared to the satisfaction of being in something u've always wanted. 4.5 years and it will be wiped cleaned if anything....good luck with the process

[deeman101]

Honestly, I wouldn't be concerned if I was you. Even if they get hung up over your record, just tell them its going to be pardoned in 6 months. There are other, more pressing issues to be concerned with. Like getting a high GPA, MCAT, ECs, interviews, etc.

[peachy]

If you have a criminal record in medical school, yes, they will check and they will know. But nothing based on that will be automatic -- you'd be asked to meat with someone in administration and to explain what happened, and based on that they would decide whether to allow you to do clinical work. I.e. they would ask you the full story and base their decision on the particular case, not just a blanket rule for everyone with a criminal record.