Simple Misdemeanor + Career Change

[futureiaNP]

I am seeking a career change and am considering entering nursing school to obtain my BSN. From there I'd like to get my MSN and become a nurse practitioner. I have a simple misdemeanor (Iowa) for selling alcohol to a 20 year old from 1.5 years ago. Unfortunately the establishment was understaffed and I took a shortcut by not checking their ID to save time because I thought they looked old enough. Lesson learned.

I was not arrested - in Iowa it is a "scheduled violation" and I simply had to show up to a court date and pay a fine 10 minutes later. The judge was even going to give me deferred judgement until he figured out my charges weren't qualified for it - my luck.

By the time I complete my BSN and apply for my license in Iowa this will have been almost 3 years prior. My question is should I even pursue this career path with this simple misdemeanor? I don't want to put all that work into the degree and not be able to get licensed. My only other offense is a speeding ticket (5-10 over) from 10 years ago.

Anyone have a similar experience or words of advice?

[nurse5.0]

I just got approved with a criminal record in a much stricter state. You will be fine. Trust me. Do not get any other convictions (obviously). Run a Life Scan report on yourself. It will show you exactly what the BRN will see. If nothing pops up, you don't even have to report it. If it does, you simply get whatever certified court documents you can get, write a good letter of explanation, get letter of explanations from instructors and apply.