Some things do not change
and a few of them are...
(firetender has certain pet soapboxes)
persistence pays
if you're clear on who you are, everyone else will be as well
people need to SEE who you are
You (Universal) screwed the pooch. What an Idjit! Now you realize you're going to have to spend the rest of your life explaining to people with POWER over your future how your irresponsible past is NOT an indication of WHO you will be in their service!
Their job is to make it harder for you than anyone else to get through their doorways. First thing they do is pummel you with paperwork. Do you understand the game that's happening? They're betting that you really won't make the effort to comply, let alone push them to just LOOK AT YOU. After all, you're a Dope Fiend!
So DON'T be a Dope Fiend, first and foremost.
If you're going to present yourself as having gone through your childish ways then BE THAT. Don't do A PRE-TEST FLUSH to get by. That one has nothing to do with them. It has to do with you being able to live within your own skin. Some people call it integrity.
.
Second, do whatever you have to do to make sure your face gets to see their faces. Become visible. Become real to them. Dope Fiends hide in darkness and behind paperwork; when you face them, they crumble.
This, too, is about persistence. I'm trusting you REALLY want to be a medic. Now I'm challenging you to make that happen regardless of the Idjit you once were.
The paperwork you present (just like Forum diatribes like this!) is easily misinterpreted. But you making the (sometimes maximum) effort to be seen really DOES make a difference. I know of what I speak.
When I was 22 I spent a year of my life in the NYC Correctional System for Felony conviction of "attempted sale of a dangerous drug in the 4th degree." It was pot, but of course you had to look deep into the record to find it, and, really, who would bother? To make things worse, at the time (1970's) Draconian laws were coming into NY and in order to avoid doing 8 - 15 years, I had to get into a Drug Rehabilitation Program, of whom 90% were heroin addicts!
Do you have any idea how BAD that looks on a resume? Especially when asking to be part of a brand new program where kids are acting like Doctors.
I never once denied or hid my conviction. Through hard experience which largely amounted to re-defending myself at every new juncture of my EMS career (from Vollie in NYC, to being hired as EMT in FL, to being accepted in paramedic school, to transferring certs over to California for starters) I found that if I was who I said I was and helped them to see it, I could get in to whatever I wanted to; the only barriers were those I created.
The cost is you're going to have to really WANT what you're going for. The degree to which you're NOT committed to being the person you want to be in the field of your choice will determine how easy it is for THEM to slam the door in your face.
When that happens, as it will, you don't start slamming your fists into the door screaming, "Let me in, I BELONG here!!!" You step back and look for another door opening nearby.
But that's a whole different subject.
