All offers of acceptance to the M.D. Program of the School of Medicine and Health Sciences of The George Washington University (GW) are contingent upon satisfactory completion of a criminal background check (CBC). This includes all applicants accepted through special programs (i.e., Early Selection, BA/MD, and PBUG Linkages).
The CBC will be performed by the CBC vendor engaged by the Association of American Medical Colleges. Upon completion of a CBC, the results will be forwarded by the vendor to the applicant for review and, upon authorization by the applicant, to the M.D. program. Matriculation into the M.D. Program is conditional pending the results of the criminal background check.
CBC results reported to GW will include information on all convictions and conviction-equivalent adjudications for both felonies and misdemeanors. In addition, this will include military service discharge information. The following will not be considered: closed or not-guilty cases.
All applicants are also required to self-report felony convictions, misdemeanor convictions, and military discharge information on the AMCAS and the GW Secondary Application. Upon receipt of the CBC results for an applicant, a preliminary review will be conducted. Any CBC results that include an incident not previously disclosed by the applicant in either the AMCAS or the GW Secondary Application, or new self-reported charges or convictions, will be forwarded to the Admissions Background Check Review Committee for further review.
Each case will be considered individually and a decision will be made as to whether to: proceed with the offer of acceptance; impose additional conditions on the offer of acceptance; require further documentation, defer acceptance; or rescind the offer of acceptance. The Committee will review whether the offense would indicate possible future jeopardy to patient care. A decision will be based upon careful review of the following factors, to include, but not limited to: the nature and seriousness of the offense; the age of the person when the offense was committed; whether the offense was an isolated event or part of a pattern of similar offenses; the length of time since the offense was committed; past history of academic or non-academic misconduct at prior institutions; and the forthrightness of the information provided by the applicant in opportunities provided for self-report on application-related forms.
For current students, please contact Certiphi's applicant services team directly at 1-800-803-9582 for support with obtaining the report.
Approved May 2013