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So I'm a little worried regarding the background check. Serious question: just how thorough is it? See when I was on spring break a few years ago in Italy I was arrested for public intoxication and spent the night in jail (traumatizing) nothing ever happened beyond that, I was released and just told to take it easy next time I visit the country....can I get away with not mentioning this since it was in another country and there's no record of it in the US, or would I need to report it.
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If it were me I would disclose it in a character & fitness addendum and talk about how it was an eye opening experience that caused you to take a look in the mirror/grow as a person/make positive changes in your life. There's way too much risk in hiding, and honestly it's really not that serious of an offense to begin with.
But wrong and that made me laugh
Poughkeepsie is surprisingly a good guess
Quite literally LOL'ed
What're you talking about? This is obviously Jake Lsatnydestroyer of the Poughkeepsie Lsatnydestroyers... His dad is the DA of Westchester County for Christ's sake! His dad is gonna be pissed!
Furthermore, please be aware that each and every page and post on this forum ends up on Google. Though your username is anonymous enough, this forum is part of the public record.
@grantnicar6 , you clearly meet both of these explicit criteria and you should take the lattermost VERY seriously, the comments on this thread notwithstanding.
Please note that there is NO exception clause if the violation/arrest was in a foreign country.
Please be safe and wise on this. It would break all of our hearts for this to backfire on you. A failure to disclose could result in disbarment.
I say this a lot, but—listen to @974 .
This.
FWIW I have also never encountered a situation in which a school actually requested the supporting documents. I view it as the equivalent of a polygraph agreement when getting a clearance. It's just there as a precautionary measure but it pretty much never happens.
If you really got arrested and not just thrown in a drunk tank you should really disclose. Many if not most schools don't always ask for supporting documents, just the disclosure, so just explain that you don't remember any details or have any paperwork.
I have been arrested and convicted in the U.S. for much worse than your little infraction and despite getting it expunged I still have to disclose in most states and consequently most if not all the schools to which I am applying. The incidents were almost 10 years ago but still very serious. I have held a DOD Secret Clearance for 5 years now and a TS--SCI for 2 years and they take that stuff much more seriously than do most state bars and therefore most schools. The only way I was able to do this was by disclosing what I had done and despite the serious nature of the offenses they put a higher premium on honesty and candor.
Also, as another example, I know of a lawyer who was admitted to a T14 with multiple hard drug convictions and he was able to submit a strong application to overcome those, but he still disclosed because it was required of him.
So again, if you were arrested, just say so. People are admitted to law school every year with real criminal records and most adcoms will just laugh off your story. There is pretty much nothing to lose by disclosing and potentially a lot to lose if you don't and it was found out later on that you lied. Nobody cares about the charge, they care about your integrity and disclosing things like this show you have great integrity and are not trying to be dishonest.
I wouldn't be able to provide any documentation at all. I honestly wouldn't be able to remember what police station, any names to give, other than saying I was arrested there's nothing to provide.
I wouldn't report it, but I'm also no law school admissions expert. Just seems to me like it would be a stupid blemish on your application. Here's how it's asked on my Columbia app, which I happen to be working on right now. I mean, you were arrested, but so I guess it would count, but how could they possibly know, especially since it's in another country? And would you even have the ability to get the records of the arrest, assuming that other schools ask for that?
Have you ever, either as an adult or a juvenile, been cited, arrested, charged with, indicted, convicted or tried for, or pleaded guilty to, the commission of any felony or misdemeanor or the violation of any law, except minor parking violations, or been the subject of any juvenile delinquency or youthful offender proceeding? This should include matters that may have been expunged from the records or subject to a diversionary program. Please note that you should have available and be prepared to submit or exhibit copies of police and court records regarding any matter you disclose in reply to this question. If you answered "Yes," you must attach a detailed, complete, and truthful explanation, including a statement of the charge(s), the disposition thereof and the underlying facts. Please answer honestly, irrespective of any advice you may have received to the contrary.
Do what you feel is right. As @974 stated above, when in doubt, always disclose. He gave really good advice that isn't only going to apply here, but further down the line in your law career. Personally, I wouldn't want to start my legal career out by hiding something that a school would most likely want to know. But, I've always been a victim of Murphy's law. Anything and everything that could bite me in the ass usually has if I didn't acknowledge it up front.
Weigh the risk of acknowledging a mistake (which most likely won't even be an issue to the school, no one is perfect) and showing how you have grown from it versus intentionally not disclosing it and the school finding out and quickly discarding your application for trust issues, etc.
No not at all, school never found out. Since it was a school trip if anyone found out I would have been in serious trouble with the school. My college record is spotless and never even written up.
Is it going to be on your disciplinary record for that school?
There's pretty much no record of it unless you went to the specific police station I was at in Italy. It was a class trip actually and the few students who were told were officers for the club I was with and the president had them all keep it quiet from our advisor so it wouldn't be reported to our school. no one I know was even with me when it happend so it's not like anyone took a video or pictures.
Also, is it possible to randomly find it on a Google search? If so I would disclose everywhere. Just because a background check might not be international doesn't mean that this couldn't easily turn up elsewhere given the nature of the Internet.
When in doubt, always disclose. This incident is not a big deal and at least a few years ago and so shouldn't really hurt you on your applications. What will hurt you is someone finding out and you didn't disclose it in the first place. Just read every C&F prompt thoroughly and if you think it excludes your circumstances then you don't need to disclose but generally schools will appreciate the candor and dismiss the petty nature of your infraction.