Admission into Nursing School w/ a record?

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I'm planning on starting my pre reqs in the Spring of 16' at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. 24 y/o male.

I'm curious if anyone here has gotten accepted into their respective Nursing program after their pre reqs with a criminal record. I'm not takling felonies here, but I mean misdemeanors.

I have a couple things on my record:

2010: Marijuana paraphernalia

2015: OWI (Wisconsin is the only state in the country that registers first time OWI offenses as misdemeanors, a little fact for you guys I guess)

I've already gotten feedback from a friend's sister who works down the hall from the CEO of a hospital. She said that the CEO says that the OWI is not a big deal in the application process for a job as an RN.

I additionally talked to someone who works closely with the Nursing Board of Wisconsin. I told him about the couple things on my record, and he said that those things should not hold my from getting a RN license, but it also depends on the board members that day (how they feel that day, etc. etc.) But they also look at curing time, aka how much time has passed since the incidents. By that time it would be 5 years and 10 years later for the offenses.

Back on topic, I'm curious if anyone could tell me their story or if they know anyone that had/is going through a similar situation. I've still yet to accept my financial aid package and register for classes.

Thanks for reading.

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Specializes in Telemetry.

Every program is different. Your best bet would be to talk to the admissions office at your school and see what they say, before spending time, money, and effort on something that may not work out.

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If you do a search on here you'll see several threads with helpful information. I think the best thing to do is to contact your state board and ask them directly. I heard some state boards tell you ahead of time whether you would be able to be licensed with your record, and others can give you general go ahead but nothing in concrete. At one of the programs I got accepted to they said with a OWI I wouldn't be able to even get into the hospital for clinicals because they do a background check. Every hospital is different. If I were you I would contact Wisconsin's board of registered nursing and ask them. Then I would contact the nursing school to see if you would be able to do clinicals with the record you have. Have you expunged your charges?

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Talked to someone today at my Nursing Schools Academic Affairs Coordinator, and it seems being accepted into the program wouldn't be the problem.

The problem is being accepted into the clinical experience with the surrounding area agencies.

My schools nursing program does not discriminate against any student with a criminal record. Although when a student gets accepted into the nursing program, the man I've been emailing back and forth today (Nursing School Academic Affairs Coordinator), does the following if you read part of what he sent in an email:

"I want to be absolutely clear about this. These decisions are made by each agency. When a student's background check is returned, I submit students with results to the major health systems in the area for review. If at least one of the major hospital systems agrees to accept the student, we know we have a realistic chance of getting that student through the program. If not, we know that it's going to be almost impossible. Even with that initial response, it remains a semester-by-semester issue. An agency could decide to not allow participation at any time."

I've been told the OWI is not a big deal, but the marijuana paraphernalia is. Also because those two offenses are within 5 years (2010 & 2015) that it could be construed as an ongoing problem with recreational chemicals.

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Talked to someone today at my Nursing Schools Academic Affairs Coordinator, and it seems being accepted into the program wouldn't be the problem.

The problem is being accepted into the clinical experience with the surrounding area agencies.

My schools nursing program does not discriminate against any student with a criminal record. Although when a student gets accepted into the nursing program, the man I've been emailing back and forth today (Nursing School Academic Affairs Coordinator), does the following if you read part of what he sent in an email:

"I want to be absolutely clear about this. These decisions are made by each agency. When a student's background check is returned, I submit students with results to the major health systems in the area for review. If at least one of the major hospital systems agrees to accept the student, we know we have a realistic chance of getting that student through the program. If not, we know that it's going to be almost impossible. Even with that initial response, it remains a semester-by-semester issue. An agency could decide to not allow participation at any time."

I've been told the OWI is not a big deal, but the marijuana paraphernalia is. Also because those two offenses are within 5 years (2010 & 2015) that it could be construed as an ongoing problem with recreational chemicals.

What was the outcome of your cases? Were you convicted? Case dropped or closed?

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.

I think most states consider first time DUIs as misdemeanors...?

It's going to be an uphill battle. Not impossible if you can manage to get into a school but a long, probably expensive uphill battle and you may still end up in a monitoring program for a few years.

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Convicted to both.

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Wisconsin (the state where I've lived my entire life) is the only US state where 1st offenses are considered misdemeanors. Lucky me..

The people I've talked to so far about this have been pretty vague with no definite answers. Clinical sites won't talk to me about hypothetical situations (I'd have to be accepted into the Nursing program first. I haven't even started pre reqs)

Some good news..I haven't been disqualified for volunteering at a local hospital. I sent in my background check at least a week ago and my volunteer coordinator hasn't emailed or called me to say that I won't be able to because of it. You'd think that's a good indicator because of similar processes for hiring as well? I get my MMR vaccine next Friday then I'll be set a schedule to volunteer, that should be around the time that I find out if I'm okay to volunteer or not, which could ultimately persuade me to even persue being an RN.

I've been pretty mortified by my bad mistakes of the past. Ive truly cleaned up my life, it's just unfortunate that those efforts aren't usually enough. But I'm staying hopeful. I just don't want to go through pre reqs, get accepted to Nursing school, and get denied for clinical.

If that were the case, I'm not even sure I could have a different career in the medical field. At that point it'd would be just about 3 years past the OWI and 8 for the paraphernalia.

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Specializes in PDN; Burn; Phone triage.
Wisconsin (the state where I've lived my entire life) is the only US state where 1st offenses are considered misdemeanors. Lucky me..

I really do not know where you got that info. Most states consider first time DUIs with no extenuating or mitigating factors to be misdemeanors. In NJ, a first time DUI is essentially a moving violation. Most nurses or wannabe nurses with DUI charges are facing the same battle. It's the "quality" of the charge that matters.

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That's what my teacher told our class (class for first offenders). What are you saying by "quality" of the charge?

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