Applying to uni with spent reprimand

[LindyHopp]

One of my stepdaughters (now 24) got in with some not-so-great friends when she was 15. One night, she was a passenger in a car which, to teach him a lesson, the drivers father reported as stolen. She received a reprimand which was spent 3 years ago. She is now applying to train as a nurse. She has been in no trouble since and has a good academic and work record. She’s been honest about the reprimand on her UCAS application but is concerned that this will spoil her chances. Has anyone any experience or knowledge of anything similar? It’s worrying me that her hopes might be dashed.

I've just started a social work degree and we've had a long lecture around this type of thing. From what I've taken away from the lecture, I doubt this would hold her back, as long as she is honest and upfront all the way. What they don't like is if you don't tell them and then they find out through the DBS checks. They told us that if we were to go out and get drunk at the weekend and arrested for getting caught up in some trouble, as long as we told them it would probably not affect our course.

Thank you. That’s exactly what I was hoping. She has been honest and has ticked the box on her application and so far only one uni has asked for more details.

I think there was other people on my course with minor cautions which they have declared and obviously still got accepted (RG uni). Something else which has cropped up, that I found interesting, is that it also applies to people that live in your household. So a course mate has a partner with a very "colourful" past (I don't know details) and she was told to contact the uni as it may affect things.

How would you necessarily know if someone in your household had a colourful past? Even your own parents might not admit that they had a conviction for shoplifting when they were 20 (and I can't see how it is remotely relevant, it's a fishing expedition).

Nurse academic/teacher here

To reassure you I've accepted students into our nursing programmes with far worse records than the sort of reprimand you describe.

We aren't concerned with the records of anybody else but you. The reprimand is however not 'spent' in terms of whether it'll show up on the DBS check - it's an enhanced check so shows everything that's on record.

The main thing is to always be honest and upfront about what might show up on the DBS check. The worst thing is to try and hide something and the university finds out once the check comes back - we take a very dim view of that! So what you're doing so far is exactly the right thing

Thank you. This is very reassuring