Teenager has university place withdrawn due to spent conviction

[melpomene]

Story here

I feel sorry for him. He must have been 15 or 16 when he committed the offence and it sounds as if it was an insolated offence and he got himself back on track.

WendyWeber, I believe you, but find that depressing.

I was working at 15. A real job that I went out and found myself. In that same year I rented a place to live. I had to plan ahead and budget without outside help.

If 15 year old boys now are giggling infants then perhaps they shouldn't be allowed out without their mummies to watch what they get up to.

that's interesting, hulababy. poor lad, he could just have phoned the UCAS call centre and had some nitwit advise him, and it's all gone tits-up from there. i'd instinctively have thought that where uni apps are concerned, they'd want you to be upfront.

WW - particularly int he case of such a degree I would definitely have advised eclaring all convictions and then supporting his application accordingly, simply as doctors are exempt, AFAIK, from the disclosure act bit so it would come up eventually. always think it is better to be upfront on such matters. And we do have people readily accepted onto all manner of courses with universities, so it can work to be upfront first.

Ahem. Smallwhitecat, I've just re-read your original post and I can see that I jumped the gun somewhat. Sorry!!

Hula - - was that a typo, or did you mean to say his effort SHOULD be ignored?!

More info here

Sorry - shoudl read no - it shouldn't be ignored. Bad place for a typo for sure!

If you were working at 15 you must be quite old then, Grey (ROSLA to 16 came in in 1972) and life was different then - people had to grow up faster, like Aitch's grandma working at 12 (?) and my mum at 14.

Teenagers weren't invented until the 50s/60s, were they? Before that you were a child, then you were a grown-up and went out to work (unless you were rich).

You were unlikely to get stabbed by your peers then of course....life has changed. I don't think giggling idiots is fair.

and I do agree with Hula et al about his not declaring it - he really should have done so at the outset.

soapbox- you can still practice with a caution or spent conviction

Phew! I was beginning to think you had no heart, hula!

The way it worked is that he 'failed' his CRB check - which is an enhanced one. It's the 'go large' of CRB checks. For people who work with children and vulnerable adults.

There doesn't seem to be a point in doing CRB checks for applicants for medical school, only ones who have been offered places.

You have to keep in mind that each enhanced check costs £36.00 each. (I work with children, so know)

He then had an interview at Imperial College as they have a certain amount of discretion. In this case, they decided not to excerise it and his conditional offer was withdrawn.

Interesting Guardian article, Hab. I'd like to see the Daily Mail's take on it - I'm sure they'd be very understanding!!

Agree with Hula.

Thanks for update link. Yes it would appear that he was badly advised in the first place. This will have hampered his chances for the interview - which is what he failed - I would have thought. It would also seem, from the link, that his place was not secur in the first place - he had an offer but knew he had to do a "fitness to practise" interview first before it was a secure offer. It is this which he failed, even after appeal.

I suspect there may be more to this story on both sides that is not fully reported here also.

There is more on the PM link I posted, but there's no transcript - you have to listen.

MrsThierryHenry - Believe me, to do my job I do have to possess some compassion and empathy. Not always easy with some of my clients at times I have to admit!

He was rejected from Manchester uni too. All medical students are CRB checked once they have been offered a place. Why should a good medical school accept someone with a criminal record when places are so sort after? Medical students are recruited by universities on behalf of the NHS, it's their rule, not the uni's.

interesting article habs. wtf did he do to fail that interview? it seems so unlikely that they'd knock him back if he presented himself like that, especially in the current pc-tastic climate. i really think there's something else going on tbh.

and i really, really think he should sue the arse off UCAS as the failure to give the correct advice was theirs.

Hula, I can imagine! I once sang in a concert for a group of Class A prisoners...they were really sweet (to us) but at the same time, terrifying!

Well it's the basic law of supply and demand in operation isn't it? There are lots and lots of straight A students nowadays all applying for a small number of university places. If I were selecting, I wouldn't select someone with previous. Who would?

Shouldn't he try dentistry instead? Everyone else in my year who didn't get into medical school did that ....

he should have known he'd be CRB checked.

MrsThierryHenry - yes, it is strange. Some of my clients have done some truely awful things and are very high risk, restriced, priosners. But even then, when I do my one to ones with them they can come across as being very pleasant young men. Just that in itself can be terryfying at times.

A convicted burglar for a GP.

I don't think so.

From Hab's Guardian link: