Timing of Disclosure Forum

[Anonymous User]

The question is not whether to disclose, but when to disclose.

In 2005 I was caught smoking marijuana by the campus police. This was not an actual "arrest" in the legal sense, I attended a drug class and wrote a paper and nothing else came of it. I did not disclose it on my applications- I really did forget about the incident, and when I called the registrar's office they said that there were no records of it. After further research of C&F I grew concerned, I called another office at the school and found that, with some digging, there actually was a record of it. I should add that I have no disciplinary or criminal record other than this incident.

My concern is that I do not want to be dishonest with the schools and I would like to disclose. However I am unsure of when to disclose. I'm nervous that my offer/scholarship may be rescinded- I applied early, and as the cycle has progressed, I've seen applicants with slightly higher numbers being rejected. It has been mentioned that there may be an opportunity to disclose during orientation. Should I wait to disclose this? When should I disclose? I'm also nervous because one of my schools is conservative and takes these things verrry seriously. What should I do about a school to which I am waitlisted?

Edit: Also, will schools actually believe that I forgot about this incident. Though I cannot elaborate, the time when this occurred was a period of intense stress/serious family issue. Is that sufficient for my (truthful) claim that I forgot, or will they think that I'm not even being forthright with my disclosure. Is it better to say that I initially thought it didnt need to be disclosed and changed my mind?

[Anonymous User]

Bump. I've got an issue like that. Help please!

[lawschoolgiant]

The question is not whether to disclose, but when to disclose.

In 2005 I was caught smoking marijuana by the campus police. This was not an actual "arrest" in the legal sense, I attended a drug class and wrote a paper and nothing else came of it. I did not disclose it on my applications- I really did forget about the incident, and when I called the registrar's office they said that there were no records of it. After further research of C&F I grew concerned, I called another office at the school and found that, with some digging, there actually was a record of it. I should add that I have no disciplinary or criminal record other than this incident.

My concern is that I do not want to be dishonest with the schools and I would like to disclose. However I am unsure of when to disclose. I'm nervous that my offer/scholarship may be rescinded- I applied early, and as the cycle has progressed, I've seen applicants with slightly higher numbers being rejected. It has been mentioned that there may be an opportunity to disclose during orientation. Should I wait to disclose this? When should I disclose? I'm also nervous because one of my schools is conservative and takes these things verrry seriously. What should I do about a school to which I am waitlisted?

Edit: Also, will schools actually believe that I forgot about this incident. Though I cannot elaborate, the time when this occurred was a period of intense stress/serious family issue. Is that sufficient for my (truthful) claim that I forgot, or will they think that I'm not even being forthright with my disclosure. Is it better to say that I initially thought it didnt need to be disclosed and changed my mind?

CALL AN ADMISSIONS OFFICE ANON....otherwise disclose now. I would be pissed if I was a school who admitted you and then this...

[Anonymous User]

Is there a legitimate possibility that the offer will be rescinded or this will prevent me from getting off of a waitlist, if I otherwise would? What should I say?

[lawschoolgiant]

Is there a legitimate possibility that the offer will be rescinded? What should I say?

I dont know, and the truth.

[sophie316]

Our school made a point at orientation of saying that if anyone had something they had not disclosed on their application they should go and speak to them asap. I think this kinda thing happens a lot, and schools will have policies in place to deal with it. Call and ask.

[vanwinkle]

Our school made a point at orientation of saying that if anyone had something they had not disclosed on their application they should go and speak to them asap. I think this kinda thing happens a lot, and schools will have policies in place to deal with it. Call and ask.

This. Ask. The school will tell you.

[Action Jackson]

Is there a legitimate possibility that the offer will be rescinded or this will prevent me from getting off of a waitlist, if I otherwise would? What should I say?

You seem to be operating under the assumption that once you're admitted the school is powerless to kick you out for LYING on your application. Make no mistake, just like in employment, getting caught lying on your application/resume gives the institution absolute discretion in keeping or dumping you. If you wait until orientation, they can just kick you out then. Then if you ever want to apply to other law schools you'll have to check that box that asks "Have you ever been expelled..." or equivalent.

You're playing with fire. Just admit what happened, take responsibility, beg for forgiveness, and hope for the best. Whatever the consequences, they're better than what can happen to you if you're caught.

[GordonBombay]

Just disclose it. Shit happens. People screw up, but it's not going away

I left out a traffic ticket but later realized I should've included it because it was originally a reckless driving. Anyway, I now have had to contact admissions offices and send an amendment. Hasn;t been a big deal as thats something relatively minor and certainly not drug related, but it was killing me anyway and even that sucked. You dont want that hanging over your head for 3 years, and then when you apply for the bar. It happened, and dealing with it is better than trying to skirt the rules

[kswiss]

Doing it right now shows far more good faith on your part than doing it during orientation. Right now, you are risking scholarship + acceptance plus epic fail of your cycle, but the school will know this, and will probably just add it to your file and call it done.

If you wait until Orientation, the stakes will be higher for both you and the school. They could kick you out and you would still be fucked until next year + you'd have an irregularities notice on your LSAC report (eternafucked). Or they could keep you in and everything could be fine. Like another poster said, you are playing with fire. At least if you do it right now, you might lose out, but you'd still have something to fall back on. Its probably unlikely that every school you've been accepted to would take any action (I personally think its doubtful that any would.)

Also, if you wait, you run the risk of chickening out and just letting it ride, hoping it doesn't come up in C&F. That would obviously be a bad decision for a host of reasons.

[Action Jackson]

Just to add more weight to the "disclose" option: isn't it likely that if you wait until orientation your school will revoke your scholarship? They would have grounds to, and there's pretty much nothing you can do at that point. At least if you disclose now, the school will most likely still want you and keep the scholarship in place. They have no incentive to keep giving you money once they discover you've lied to them.

[kswiss]

Doing it right now shows far more good faith on your part than doing it during orientation. Right now, you are risking scholarship + acceptance plus epic fail of your cycle, but the school will know this, and will probably just add it to your file and call it done.

If you wait until Orientation, the stakes will be higher for both you and the school. They could kick you out and you would still be fucked until next year + you'd have an irregularities notice on your LSAC report (eternafucked). Or they could keep you in and everything could be fine. Like another poster said, you are playing with fire. At least if you do it right now, you might lose out, but you'd still have something to fall back on. Its probably unlikely that every school you've been accepted to would take any action (I personally think its doubtful that any would.)

Also, if you wait, you run the risk of chickening out and just letting it ride, hoping it doesn't come up in C&F. That would obviously be a bad decision for a host of reasons.

Redundancy fail on my part.

[Anonymous User]

Thank you for the responses. It's best to get this in the open now; I am going to take the appropriate actions next week, and I really hope I'm not going to lose my scholarships/acceptances over this. If anyone is interested, I'll update with the result.

[vanwinkle]

Thank you for the responses. It's best to get this in the open now; I am going to take the appropriate actions next week, and I really hope I'm not going to lose my scholarships/acceptances over this. If anyone is interested, I'll update with the result.

Please let us know how it goes.