Graduate Assistantship Offer With Criminal Record

[HCreek]

Hi All,

I was recently accepted into a few graduate programs and offered assistantships.  As my major is chemistry, pretty much all doctoral programs offer a full tuition remission and stipend of about $30,000/year as a teaching or research assistant.

I have 3 charges from a VERY long time ago.  Possession of marijuana from 2000, dui from 2001, and a 2nd dui from 2004.  All are misdemeanors.  

Most of the applications I filled out did not ask the question about criminal records on the application, but because I have an assistantship I will be asked after I accept an offer, and will have to undergo a background check.  In the 12 years since I was arrested for the second dui, I stopped drinking, went back to school, and have been teaching as an adjunct for 5 years now.  All of my references are stellar, and my academic/criminal/employement history for the past 12 years is great.

I was curious if anyone here had any experience with passing/going through a background check for an assistantship that was in a similar situation.  I just want to get a general idea of how likely it is that I will pass the background check, and what it entails.  My guy tells me that it won't be a huge issue both due to the amount of time since the charges, that they are relatively minor (compared to felonies/assaults/robbery, etc.), and what I have done since the last one.  However I know it will take a long time to find out for sure because I'm not even sure how long the background check will be given after accepting the offer, and I have to give notice to my jobs about whether I can work in the Summer/Fall within a week or two.  

If I do accept it and then DON'T pass the background check 3 months from now, I'll be stuck without that position AND without the job I am working now or any way to get my job back until January of next year.

Again, I'm just curious if anyone has been through a similar situation and how it went.  Thanks in advance.

[sjoh197]

Now that you have been accepted into some programs... It might be a good time to go talk to someone about this. (Im not sure who "your guy" is) If you know that the background check is inevitable... It's not like you will be keeping it a secret anyways.

Better to be told the possibilities now than later. I hope someone else here can help you.... And good luck.

[rising_star]

Honestly, I didn't have to do a background check for at least one of my graduate assistantships. Before contacting anyone, I would verify that they will indeed do a background check on you. Many schools don't because of the sheer number of incoming funded graduate students and the cost (it costs the employer anywhere from $20 to $100 per person, depending on the extent of the check) of doing them.

[sjoh197]

^^good suggestion about making sure they will actually do it. Although, you sounded as though you had maybe already been told tho was the case.

[ZeChocMoose]

At my university - they now require everyone to do a background check for assistantships (RA, TA, and GA), but each individual faculty/staff member decides whether they want to hire you based on what they find on your background check.  So Lab X could pass on you due to your DUIs and marijuana possession charges - but Lab Y could not care.  It's hard to know.

Edited February 13, 2016 by ZeChocMoose

[Sweetpea739703]

You could also get your record expunged. It would not only help for this situation but also for any future jobs that might do a background check. There are costs associated with getting it done but you could call your local court house to find out. After fees are paid, it takes about 4-6 weeks, but that could depend on the workload of each court house.