Should I disclose my past to my school?

[nursingstudent2466]

I have found a lot of really helpful info on this site and decided to ask my own question about a tough situation I am in. I am at a local community college finishing up pre reqs for my nursing program. My clinicals begin in April which means I need to submit FBI criminal history and state background check to my school in January. My situation is that when I was a teenager "16" I was arrested for shoplifting and ended up with a misdemeanor charge. I did community service and paid a fine and that was that. I have been working to get it expunged from my record, but even if it gets expunged I have been told it will still show up on FBI check. The process to get it expunged is about 3 months or could be longer, my state is very slow... Should I just go ahead and have them run the check in January and see what happens or should I disclose all this to my school ahead of time and let them know what is going on. Should I consider waiting until September to apply for clinicals to make sure my record is cleared, or does it not matter because it will still show up anyway on FBI check? I have been making myself crazy about this because I am so embarrassed about telling anyone about the situation and it has has been 7 years since the arrest and I was a juvenile at the time "not sure if that matters". Also, I'm worried that if my school does let me into the clinical portion of the program will I be able to be licenced through the state after I graduate? I don't want a stupid immature mistake to follow me for the rest of my life and keep me from becoming a nurse. Any advise would be greatly appreciated!!

[SororAKS, ADN, RN]

A good first step would be contacting a lawyer that deals with professional licensure issues. Juvenile records should be sealed without any action on your part, but I am not an attorney and do not know the specifics of the laws in your state. It's always good to know what does show on a criminal background check, so I might go ahead with that.

[Omaapecm, ASN, RN]

You can order your own back round check. Go to your local sheriff's department and get finger printed and they have should have form request. Basically, just tell them you want to do your own federal background check. This is what I did pry to getting into nursing school.........I had a very crazy past filled with drugs and booze and I honestly could not recall many of the charges I had received. All misdemeanor charges but never the less I didn't know what was all in my record. So I did my own background check so I would know what to put on my application. If all you have is a misdemeanor charge at 16 you should be fine but you never know. If it doesn't show on your check don't disclose it! I hope this help.