Could this affect my chances of getting into law school? Forum

[Nena_a]

I feel weird divulging something very personal and scary that happened to me last April to strangers on the internet. But its been in the back of my head ever since I decided that law school is undoubtedly the path I want to take. To make the long story short, I was on some anti depressants last year because I went through a really stressful period in my life that physically debilitated me. I couldnt eat. no joke. anyway, one night, as I lay in bed, i asked my mom to bring me my pills. i placed them on my nighstand next to me, hiding them from view of my two year old daughter. The reason why I asked her to bring them to me was because i wanted to take them right before knocking out, because they made me ridiculously drowsy. anyway, point is that while i was on my lappy, my daughter who i thought was playing with her dolls, (literally right next to me) sneakily took the pills without my knowing. all i remember is me turning to my right and seeing her next to me on the bed, with the whole child proof cap bottle very open and pills in her mouth and hands. i FREAKED. i called pcc and rushed her to the er. 2 days of seizures and vomiting ensued. she suffered from tachycardia. she was flown to another hospital elsewhere. i wanted to die. thankfully she recovered. ok now to the point. before we left the hospital, her pedi told me, "dont take this personally, but we have to call cps. we do it to everyone. if you daughter was 17 we still have to call. dont freak out about it." i was like. "um okay.." i had no idea really what they would do, so i wasnt really worried until they showed up to my house a couple of days later. the worker was nice. he knew it was an accident. after 30 days i got a letter saying i was found guilty of neglect. it would show up on background checks if i were to ever apply for a job that deals with kids. i appealed it, of course. i was told that i HAD to be found guilty due to the TECHNICALITY that i left the pills within her reach. im really ashamed of what happened. the caseworker even hinted at me that if anything similar happened again, it would pretty much prove im an unfit mother. i feel horrible about it. would something like this come up on the background checks law schools perform? What about the background checks the Bar does? Does it make me look like i have bad moral character? of course it does! What do you all think? Also when i graduate from ug i will have gone to 5 different schools. I have my reasons. they werent exactly my choice, except one. Sorry for the long post.

[Columbia Law]

If we knew, we'd be working for an admissions committee.

[pleasepickme]

I feel weird divulging something very personal and scary that happened to me last April to strangers on the internet. But its been in the back of my head ever since I decided that law school is undoubtedly the path I want to take. To make the long story short, I was on some anti depressants last year because I went through a really stressful period in my life that physically debilitated me. I couldnt eat. no joke. anyway, one night, as I lay in bed, i asked my mom to bring me my pills. i placed them on my nighstand next to me, hiding them from view of my two year old daughter. The reason why I asked her to bring them to me was because i wanted to take them right before knocking out, because they made me ridiculously drowsy. anyway, point is that while i was on my lappy, my daughter who i thought was playing with her dolls, (literally right next to me) sneakily took the pills without my knowing. all i remember is me turning to my right and seeing her next to me on the bed, with the whole child proof cap bottle very open and pills in her mouth and hands. i FREAKED. i called pcc and rushed her to the er. 2 days of seizures and vomiting ensued. she suffered from tachycardia. she was flown to another hospital elsewhere. i wanted to die. thankfully she recovered. ok now to the point. before we left the hospital, her pedi told me, "dont take this personally, but we have to call cps. we do it to everyone. if you daughter was 17 we still have to call. dont freak out about it." i was like. "um okay.." i had no idea really what they would do, so i wasnt really worried until they showed up to my house a couple of days later. the worker was nice. he knew it was an accident. after 30 days i got a letter saying i was found guilty of neglect. it would show up on background checks if i were to ever apply for a job that deals with kids. i appealed it, of course. i was told that i HAD to be found guilty due to the TECHNICALITY that i left the pills within her reach. im really ashamed of what happened. the caseworker even hinted at me that if anything similar happened again, it would pretty much prove im an unfit mother. i feel horrible about it. would something like this come up on the background checks law schools perform? What about the background checks the Bar does? Does it make me look like i have bad moral character? of course it does! What do you all think? Also when i graduate from ug i will have gone to 5 different schools. I have my reasons. they werent exactly my choice, except one. Sorry for the long post.

This is definitely something you want to disclose in an addendum. If they make us disclose speeding tickets, then this definitely needs to come out. Simply explain the situation and hope for the best. Might want to do the same thing with the whole 5 undergrads thing.

[vexion]

I would say, if handled correctly, it's not likely to affect your cycle. At any rate, it's far less likely than academic honor code violations and other transgressions. "Unfit mother" isn't the typical reason for a law school ding.

Now as to handling it correctly, the same form letter advice applies to anything and everything you might've done before applying: disclose, disclose, disclose. You need to describe the incident and the ensuing charges in a short, direct addendum that doesn't ramble on with excuses, but says "I've learned my lesson, won't happen again, etc."

[lostjake]

This actually happened to someone in my family and I think its fairly common, kids think they're candy. As long as you do well in disclosing I don't think it will affect you as much as the 5 different schools, which a good LSAT and GPA clear up no problem.

[Nena_a]

I tried to find out myself. The worst thing I found were DUI's. Apparently as long as you disclose them, and promise it wont happen again, it seems as if you will be ok. Dont you get arrested for DUI's? Isnt getting arrested worse than getting found guilty on a CPS case? This never entered the courts; i have NEVER gotten into any kind of legal trouble EVER. I got my first speeding ticket in january which the prosecutor told me wouldnt show up on my driving record. because it was my first offense. This was the closest thing. another thing that sucks is my credit, which i started cleaning up this year because I know the Bar checks that.