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So I have had a few minor (at least I think so) legal and college disciplinary issues in my past as follows:
Disciplinary issues
1) Peeing outside
2) written up for underage drinking
3) written up for drinking

Legal issues
1) public intoxication arrest.

2) Suspended license issue

I was wondering 1) whether I need to disclose them (I'm fairly certain I need to disclose) 2) whether any of them are going to seriously hurt my chances of acceptance and perhaps? Thanks for any thoughts in advance.

1) You are correct. You should disclose.

2) Your record is perhaps a little more..."robust" than some, but none of these things are that serious, and none of them really reflect on your integrity or honesty, so I'd be surprised if they hindered your chances at all.

Swimp wrote:1) You are correct. You should disclose.

2) Your record is perhaps a little more..."robust" than some, but none of these things are that serious, and none of them really reflect on your integrity or honesty, so I'd be surprised if they hindered your chances at all.

1) Completely agree.

2) The pattern suggests problems with alcohol, which is what the law schools will think when they read it. That's not an automatic problem for admission, just make sure you address it (by playing up that alcohol course you took).

bp shinners wrote:

Swimp wrote:1) You are correct. You should disclose.

2) Your record is perhaps a little more..."robust" than some, but none of these things are that serious, and none of them really reflect on your integrity or honesty, so I'd be surprised if they hindered your chances at all.

1) Completely agree.

2) The pattern suggests problems with alcohol, which is what the law schools will think when they read it. That's not an automatic problem for admission, just make sure you address it (by playing up that alcohol course you took).

Where exactly should I address it? Unfortunately I have multiple addenda to write and I feel like if in all of them I keep pointing out how I had an alcohol problem and now I dont it will get repetitive real quick, not to mention it might sound phony after seeing that clearly I didnt learn my lesson after the first few incidents. Maybe mention it in my personal statement?

vinnnyvincenzo wrote:Maybe mention it in my personal statement?

Unless that's the topic of your personal statement (which isn't advisable), don't mention it there. This is an addendum topic. If you can't get it into an addendum, then there's really no place to put it. If you have so many things in your history that you need enough addenda that it becomes a problem, you just gotta roll with it. Try to consolidate as much as possible.

Eh, all lawyers are alcoholics anyway. I'm sure they won't be too harsh on you.

Swimp wrote:1) You are correct. You should disclose.

Nothing the others have said is incorrect, but because I've read a few other threads on this topic and thought I would jump in to put a bit finer of a point on this for others that might read the thread.

You MUST disclose, not should. This isn't an option or a decision for you to consider. While every law school's character and fitness questions are different, chances are that everything you listed requires disclosure.

From what you've said, you would probably be fine with one longer addenda about your past troubles with alcohol all together. Assuming it impacted your grades and other things, you would just also include the offenses, with the closing part about how you've overcome those troubles, etc. applying to everything that happened during that period in your life. If you wanted (or if explicitly required by a school), you could do a single page at the end with "just the facts" on the offenses (i.e. date, location, charge, result).

Dean Perez