Should he wait a year before applying? (SAT, state school, best)

[2peaches2oranges]

My son lives in Georgia with his father.
He is 17 years old and a senior in high school with a 3.86 GPA weighted and is ranked 17 out of 258 in his graduating class.
His SAT scores are 1600 and ACT 26. He just retook the SAT earlier this month.
His activities include ROTC and Cross-Country team and yearbook.
He wants to go to college for business administration.
He is looking at in-state schools and out of state schools closer to me in California.
He was arrested for smoking pot in a public park one night in his neighborhood earlier this year
He was charged with a misdemeanor. He went to court and he is on a one year probation, with drug tests, and has community service until next August and if all goes well, his record will be expunged.
He is aware that he broke the law, has no valid excuses as to why he did this, and I am hopeful he will make better choices in the future.

Question:

Should he delay applying for colleges until his record is expunged?
Could this prevent him from being accepted to a college?
Should he apply to colleges for the 2014 term as a freshman, prior to his probation ending, and just answer truthfully when asked if he has been arrested or has a misdemeanor?
Should he apply for out of state colleges, knowing that he can attend school after his probation ends?
If and when he applies, should he mention this experience as a life lesson in his college admission essay?

[joe from dayton]

The purpose of probation is not to prevent kids from going to college out of state, so it shouldn't be an issue.

I would not draw attention to the charge in an essay.

By itself, the charge is not a sufficient reason to delay applying. Marijuana is cheap and readily available on campus so you need to address why he uses and how often he uses. The campus should also have a substance abuse education center that he can use.

[citylove101]

I believe that many college apps, including the Common Ap, have a question of whether the student has been convicted (not just arrested) for a felony or misdemeanor. So the question is whether or not this arrest is technically considered an actual conviction. I don't know the law on that matter. But if it isn't--and you should check with the court or a lawyer for this--then he is home free in tems of answering any such question "No."

But if the question is about arrest or if this is considered a conviction, I would go ahead and apply and explain what the student learned from the incident. (And please, nothing along the lines of "I learned to be more careful and not get caught when I'm smoking weed.") Dont' dwell on the arrest, but have him briefly talk about the life lessons learned, as you said, and have him spend the vast majority of his essay on something that describes who he is and allow him to puts his best foor forward. College want to see what isn't readily apparent in the rest of his application. That is the whole point of the essay.

I spoke to a lawyer once who told me that these types of incidents are commonly viewed as "youthful indiscretions" and are not major black marks against the kid. That sounds right to me. If he were applying to super-selective colleges like Harvard or Stanford or something, yes, it might be a factor. But it doesn't sound like this boy has anything like that in his plans. It also sounds like he's a good kid who made one dumb mistake. If he only occassionally has a joint and no serious drug/alcohol problem I'd think this is just a bump in the road.

But above all, whatever the application asks, whether it is about arrest or conviction, DON"T LIE. Any acceptance can be rescinded if the school finds out the kid lied on his application about anything.

If he waits a year until applying, will he have all the requisite things in place, such as teacher and guidance recommendations? And what will he be able to say he's been doing in that year and why he waited? If he can take care of the first, and have a plan for his "gap" year, I see no reason why he couldn't wait and apply in fall 2014. Moreover, a year of extra time to grow up, working some low-level job, could be a good thing in allowing him to mature a bit, and take college seriously, unlike some kids who just want to party and get away from home.