University alcohol violation my freshman year

[uncertainty17]

Hey friends! I just wanted to come to y'all for help because I'm (very) distressed about something.

My freshman year of undergrad, I was caught by an RA for drinking at a party. Naturally, I had to go to a conduct meeting, and only received (it was an honest, first-year student mistake) meetings with a counselor and attending a one-time session. There is nothing on my transcript or permanent record, but there is something on my conduct record if someone (like a graduate school) asks. I assumed that the disciplinary sanctions section on the applications were for large things like probation, suspension (I have never been on any of these and have never been accused of academic integrity) and so I did not think it was necessary to put these on the discipline sections. Is this going to come back to bite me? I understand that graduate schools (I'm applying to Chem) can ask for your school records, and if they did ask me after checking, I would be up front and honest. I have definitely grown from the experience, serving both as an RA and a University Ambassador.

I'd love some (very honest) input! I've lost sleep over this

[uncertainty17]

P.S. I have already turned in all of my applications and have been admitted to a program. I was not intentionally attempting to not disclose--with the wording of the question, I had assumed that it was only reserved for very serious things, and this is not on my transcript (though it is on my University conduct record).

[GingerDwight]

Even if they were to find out, I'm sure you'd be fine. Everyone drinks in uni, some people get caught and others don't. They aren't going to hold something like that against you!

[Sigaba]

On 12/18/2020 at 5:07 AM, uncertainty17 said:

Is this going to come back to bite me? I understand that graduate schools (I'm applying to Chem) can ask for your school records, and if they did ask me after checking, I would be up front and honest. I have definitely grown from the experience, serving both as an RA and a University Ambassador.

It might. If you get asked about it, I recommend that you be up front and honest. Be prepared to answer the question "Why didn't you disclose this event when you applied?"

3 minutes ago, GingerDwight said:

Even if they were to find out, I'm sure you'd be fine. Everyone drinks in uni, some people get caught and others don't. They aren't going to hold something like that against you!

A program/department that had recent experiences with faculty, staff, and graduate students with chemical dependency issues may decide that it doesn't want to go down that path if it can be helped.