<p>A 17-year old who has a violation for driving teenagers in violation of curfew/restricted driver’s license, plus a citation for underage drinking, plus a record of shoplifting is emphatically not the type of person that your reach, match or even safety schools wish to accept. It is exactly the type of applicant they do NOT want.</p>
<p>Whether they will know of these issues is not within my area of expertise. If your “voice” comes through in your applications in the same way it comes through here; if your guidance and teacher recs reflect the person we see here, I don’t expect stellar results for your application season.</p>
<p>We constantly advise students who come here to let themselves shine through in their applications. It appears to me that you will have to hide your true self. Not a winning strategy.</p>
<p>If you wish to succeed in applications to the type of schools you’ve listed, you have a bit of time to focus on cleaning up your act. Which would be a more worthwhile activity than focusing on how to hide your act.</p>
<p>Just my opinion.</p>