JLaur122 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 Hi, I was arrested for DUI last year and placed on probation. Per my lawyer, this will be on my record (DUI is NOT expungeable) as an arrest but not a conviction. However, I can do nothing to get the "arrest but no conviction" off of my permanent record. I am an excellent student and the last person on earth anyone would ever suspect of this (not that that matters on paper!). My question is simply this... do PA schools accept applicants w/ a DUI arrest on their record? I am not looking for judgement on my actions please, just an answer if you happen to know. My lawyer assured me he has defended many doctors, nurses, dentists, PTs etc. However, I don't know if they already had a license to practice. Also, can I be denied a seat for national board testing based on this? Has anyone had a similar experience? Thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moonlightlove Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 From what I know, although you may be able to get accepted into a program you can be denied licensure depending on the state due to having a DUI on your record. I would imagine even if this is not an official deal breaker for adcoms, it will factor into their decision making. This is something that I would assume varies program to program and quite frankly person to person. Obviously it is not something that looks good on your application, and people tend to have pretty strong opinions when it comes to drug/alcohol charges...especially when pursuing a career which is focused on helping people and using good judgement. Since this did happen only a year ago it is going to be pretty hard to write this off as reckless adolescence, I dont mean for this to sound judgemental but these are topics which are going to be raised down the line at any school or employment opportunity. You definitely need to be prepared to confront the issue head on because I am sure that it will come up if you are given an interview. If I were you I would start by contacting the programs you are interested and asking them directly. Also, I would look into the licensing ramifications in any state which you think you may want to practice in and find out from them as well. I dont know if you are already in some kind of treatment or counseling program (ex. AA, MADD etc) as part of the arrest, but if you arent I would make it a point to start going to some meetings so that if this is brought up they can see you were proactive in getting some type of help or at least an added awareness to what the lifelong consequences of drunk driving are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LESH Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 [ QUOTE=JLaur122;312704]My question is simply this... do PA schools accept applicants w/ a DUI arrest on their record? Yes, but most do not want to see a recent incident. The NCCPA can deny taking the PANCE based on their investigation. The state regulatory body can do the same concerning granting a license. Certain clinical rotations will not take a student with anything that shows up on a background check. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattK Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Hope I'm not thread jacking here -- Anyone know if it is okay to check "no" for any prior misdemeanors if the record was expunged? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LESH Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 Hope I'm not thread jacking here -- Anyone know if it is okay to check "no" for any prior misdemeanors if the record was expunged? No I would not recommend it. But I'm not a lawyer nor play on one TV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLaur122 Posted October 1, 2011 Author Share Posted October 1, 2011 If the charge is expunged, then you should be able to check 'no'. I have a friend in the medical field who had a similar issue...his lawyer told him it can always be "found" but unless you are applying to be ab FBI agent or the president...you should be in good shape. And just for the record, I had a BAC of 0. Truly, it was still misjudgement. I had no idea the pain medication I was taking for a broken ankle would effect me so much that I'd fall asleep driving as it hadn't in the past. Lesson learned. Just seeing if anyone else had run into this situation. I appreciate your honesty, and yes, I do assume that because of my carelessness, I'm really going to have to fight the good fight here (and hopefully win!). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgl003 Posted October 20, 2011 Share Posted October 20, 2011 I was arrested for a DWI two years ago but when I went to court the case was dismissed, so I was never convicted of it or anything. But, I did recently get accepted into a PA program so there's hope for you. But one question: If you were put on probation does that mean you were convicted? When my case was dismissed I wasn't given probation or anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JLaur122 Posted October 20, 2011 Author Share Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for you response, Pre-PA! As soon as probation is done (which is just a waiting period, I don't intend on having any issues), then it will just show up as an arrest, no conviction. So, of course it would be preferable NOT to have that, but at least it's explainable. I'll be applying for a 2013 cohort, and it happened Jan 2011. Not a ton of time elapsed, but I am hoping that my grades and experience will be a testament to my abilities. Thanks again... I feel a lot better! There is hope ! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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