Misdemeanor on background check for Chamberlain College of Nursing

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So I went through the whole process to sign up at Chamberlain including drug test, fingerprints and background check only to find out that my background check was flagged for a misdemeanor traffic ticket! It was for talking on the phone while driving and now I'm in limbo as to whether or not they're still going to let me attend. I am completely shocked. I'm not a criminal and I'm kind of upset that I am being treated this way over a traffic ticket. Has anyone gone through having such nonsense on their record and still been able to attend ?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Well- first of all violations of the traffic laws designed to protest the public from distracted and dangerous drivers are not nonsense.

However, a misdemeanor traffic violation will hardly keep you out of nursing school. What WILL keep you out of nursing school is killing yourself or someone else while distracted driving.

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Traffic tickets come up on background checks?!

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Specializes in Emergency Department.

While most traffic tickets are infractions, some are misdemeanors and others are Felonies. Misdemeanors typically require a courtroom appearance at some point, but if you simply paid the ticket w/o seeing a courtroom, you usually are considered to have "plead guilty" and paid the fine associated with the guilty plea. Since misdemeanors are a higher level of wrongdoing than an infraction, they will usually show up on a criminal background check. Law Enforcement can usually also "see" the infractions as well but depending upon the scope of the background check, your report might not have included any traffic infractions you have earned.

And yes, if the misdemeanor is "serious enough" in the eyes of the admissions committee (or whomever approves admissions to the college program), you can be denied entry because of it.

Hope that doesn't happen to you, so good luck!

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Most all traffic tickets are misdemeanors.

Your post doesn't mention if you took care of the citation after you received it, did you? If you didn't, that is most likely why it's showing up.

It may not be a bad idea to double check and see if your drivers license is suspended as well.

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What happened after it got flagged? Did you still get in?

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First of all to meanmaryjean talking about me killing myself while driving I was stopped at a light and looked down at my phone, so it definitely was nonsense. Yes I took care of it otherwise I would have a warrant, and yes I got in and am doing well.

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Ok thank you so much for responding. I have had traffic tickets in the past that I’ve taken care of but I was worried that I wouldn’t get in because of it. Nice to hear you got in and are doing well.

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On 6/5/2019 at 6:47 AM, futrnursenickii said:

First of all to meanmaryjean talking about me killing myself while driving I was stopped at a light and looked down at my phone, so it definitely was nonsense. Yes I took care of it otherwise I would have a warrant, and yes I got in and am doing well.

The longer you live, the more you learn that if a cop has grounds to stop you, they don't bother to discriminate between stopped at a red light while texting and actively driving while texting.

I was once in Drug Court with a woman who had epilepsy and needed her medication to remain seizure free. She was going through a divorce and lost her insurance. Her friend was prescribed the same medication for Bipolar, not seizures. She didn't take the medication and she encouraged the woman who had lost her insurance to take the prescription to the pharmacy and fill it under her name and insurance, ONCE. Only the Bipolar lady didn't clarify the ONCE... So, the seizure lady did that, was grateful and seizure free. When the medication ran out, she refilled it. The Bipolar friend has a *** fit, calls the cops and the seizure lady gets arrested and thrown into Drug Court with the drug addicts.

If it fits the category of 'illegal,' they don't care.

Glad you got into your program and are doing well!

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On 11/3/2018 at 9:42 AM, futrnursenickii said:

So I went through the whole process to sign up at Chamberlain including drug test, fingerprints and background check only to find out that my background check was flagged for a misdemeanor traffic ticket! It was for talking on the phone while driving and now I'm in limbo as to whether or not they're still going to let me attend. I am completely shocked. I'm not a criminal and I'm kind of upset that I am being treated this way over a traffic ticket. Has anyone gone through having such nonsense on their record and still been able to attend ?

All I am saying is, there are real criminals out there that commit serious crimes and that someone that wants to make a difference shouldn’t be held back by such minuscule situations, the cop gave me a ticket, and I paid it. End of story. Something like that shouldn’t be held against you if you have taken care of it. But whatever it is done, and I am processing toward my degree this is my third session and I made honor roll. Nothing is getting in the way of what I want to pursue

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On 1/30/2019 at 8:26 PM, Jory said:

Most all traffic tickets are misdemeanors.

Your post doesn't mention if you took care of the citation after you received it, did you? If you didn't, that is most likely why it's showing up.

It may not be a bad idea to double check and see if your drivers license is suspended as well.

Most are likely infractions, my dad was LAPD and advised me on vehicle code frequently (when he taught me how to drive.)

Of course this was a long, long time ago. Things have become stricter.

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Specializes in Perioperative / RN Circulator.
On 6/6/2019 at 9:00 AM, Persephone Paige said:

The longer you live, the more you learn that if a cop has grounds to stop you, they don't bother to discriminate between stopped at a red light while texting and actively driving while texting.

I was once in Drug Court with a woman who had epilepsy and needed her medication to remain seizure free. She was going through a divorce and lost her insurance. Her friend was prescribed the same medication for Bipolar, not seizures. She didn't take the medication and she encouraged the woman who had lost her insurance to take the prescription to the pharmacy and fill it under her name and insurance, ONCE. Only the Bipolar lady didn't clarify the ONCE... So, the seizure lady did that, was grateful and seizure free. When the medication ran out, she refilled it. The Bipolar friend has a *** fit, calls the cops and the seizure lady gets arrested and thrown into Drug Court with the drug addicts.

If it fits the category of 'illegal,' they don't care.

Glad you got into your program and are doing well!

Where I live, and I assume other states, the texting while driving law explicitly states that the vehicle has to be in motion. That doesn't prevent a cop from writing a ticket, but it does provide a defense. (This said, I know some states are revising their statutes to prohibit all hands on phone use while operating a motor vehicle whether it's stopped or not.)

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