Chemical Engineering Graduate School with a Misdemeanor

prufrock1
Mon, 10 Jun 2013 19:21:42 +0000

A few weeks back I was charged with possessing/consuming alcohol in public. I am of age, and was not drunk/causing any problems (making the violation essentially an open container violation, but still a misdemeanor). I was not aware of open container laws as I only recently turned 21. After talking to an attorney, he feels the best course of action is to just take the misdemeanor charge on my record and pay a fine. I am wondering how having this on my record would affect my prospects of being admitted into graduate school/getting a research job after graduate school. Are questions about misdemeanors even asked on these applications (I am looking at UC Berkeley, Stanford, Minnesota, MIT, Princeton, UT Austin, Cal Tech, UC Santa Barbara, Cornell, Georgia Tech, etc.)? Will explaining the circumstances (first offense, no other criminal record, not aware of the law, not causing any problems etc.) make the offense look any better in an admissions committee’s eyes? All of my other credentials are good, I have a 3.97 GPA with plenty of research experience.