Can a supervisor threaten to tell medical schools to not accept me?

[dridk]

I recently quit my job after working there for a few months due to personal reasons and honestly bad management. Before I quit the supervisor pulled me aside to try and convince me to stay. I told her the reasons I was quitting and she told me that she would fire me and then she told me I’ll never be able to go to medical school. She also said that she would contact the medical schools in the area to tell them not to accept me (I haven’t submitted any applications yet). I feel stressed out about this. Will medical schools listen to her if she does this?

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[Mr.Smile12]

No

 

[Goro]

I recently quit my job after working there for a few months due to personal reasons and honestly bad management. Before I quit the supervisor pulled me aside to try and convince me to stay. I told her the reasons I was quitting and she told me that she would fire me and then she told me I’ll never be able to go to medical school. She also said that she would contact the medical schools in the area to tell them not to accept me (I haven’t submitted any applications yet). I feel stressed out about this. Will medical schools listen to her if she does this?

Empty threats from disgruntled bosses are ALWAYS ignored.

 

[SooConfused]

Why on earth would any med school outsource its decision making to random people with agendas reaching out to them?

Why not tell this person that any reports that anyone was ever contacted about your application, without your express consent, will result in a call to an attorney and a potential lawsuit alleging a spiteful attempt to interfere with your future economic prospects?

In fact, if it makes you feel better and you REALLY want to make a point, why not reach out to the owner or the supervisor's boss, right now, and tell them about the threat. I PROMISE you that anyone who knows what they are doing at that place is not going to care about someone who is ultimately going to be going to grad school anyway leaving early, and will be very unhappy that anyone representing them would make a threat like that.

Unless that supervisor is just the tip of the iceberg, you will create a problem for them. And if they are all that bad, then getting out ASAP is exactly the right move, and you could actually sue if they ever actually tried to mess with your future like that.

 

[Obnoxious Dad]

I recently quit my job after working there for a few months due to personal reasons and honestly bad management. Before I quit the supervisor pulled me aside to try and convince me to stay. I told her the reasons I was quitting and she told me that she would fire me and then she told me I’ll never be able to go to medical school. She also said that she would contact the medical schools in the area to tell them not to accept me (I haven’t submitted any applications yet). I feel stressed out about this. Will medical schools listen to her if she does this?

Get a lawyer to send this witch a letter explaining: 1) the law of defamation; and 2) the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution which prohibits slavery.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

A cease and desist on some fancy letterhead wouldn't hurt.

 

[wholeheartedly]

Agree with above, med schools won’t listen.

A lawyer may be overkill and expensive. Though if the rest of the place is decent, reporting that behavior and her threats to her superiors or HR wouldn’t be a bad idea. This should raise concerns for any company with half a brain because these days most places will only release dates of employment and whether or not a former employee is eligible for rehire. That’s because a lot of companies have been successfully sued for people retaliating against or trying to badmouth or blackball former employees.

over the years I’ve learned that it’s better to minimize info shared with employers to need to know, espelly short term employers. if things ever go south then they’ve got a lot less ammunition to use against you.

 

[aldol16]

Nobody would lend credence to that. They would either have to randomly email or call the admissions office and they do not have the time for that. Unless it was from a credible source with verifiable information, I would just chalk it up to a crazy person talking crazy talk.

That also sounds incredibly vindictive of that person. Seems like they need a shrink.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

It really sounds like empty threats to bully a young employee. If it were me, I would laugh it off and move on.

 

[wook]

.... Though if the rest of the place is decent, reporting that behavior and her threats to her superiors or HR wouldn’t be a bad idea. This should raise concerns for any company with half a brain because these days most places will only release dates of employment and whether or not a former employee is eligible for rehire. That’s because a lot of companies have been successfully sued for people retaliating against or trying to badmouth or blackball former employees.

over the years I’ve learned that it’s better to minimize info shared with employers to need to know, espelly short term employers. if things ever go south then they’ve got a lot less ammunition to use against you.

Her statements are a potential HR nightmare. Additionally, if she does take any action, that becomes a potential very big headache and nightmare for the company.

 

[wysdoc]

@dridk you can also leave this brief job off your med school application resume.
Although applicants are required to list every class they ever took and every college they ever attended, they are not required to list every job or extracurricular they ever did.

 

[deleted1139416]

@dridk you can also leave this brief job off your med school application resume.
Although applicants are required to list every class they ever took and every college they ever attended, they are not required to list every job or extracurricular they ever did.

But that’s unfair because it takes what is potentially a valuable EC off of OP’s application

 

[wysdoc]

But that’s unfair because it takes what is potentially a valuable EC off of OP’s application

It would be more unwise to include it because it could lead to a derogatory reference

 

[Moko]

But that’s unfair because it takes what is potentially a valuable EC off of OP’s application

If the OP otherwise has a lot of clinical experience, a few extra hundred clinical hours may not make a huge difference. E.g. 1500 hours (9 months of full-time work) vs 1800 hours.

If the OP wants to list this experience, e.g. if it accounts for a significant portion of their clinical experience, one alternative is to list another person as the contact. Applicants are not required to list their direct supervisors. The OP could potentially list someone from HR (if the clinic is part of a larger healthcare system), a physician/PA/NP/RN who the OP works closely with, etc. Just anyone who can attest that the OP worked there at the clinic. I suspect that this same supervisor has rubbed other people the wrong way. As long as the OP doesn't upsell this activity and keeps it low key, I think that he/she should most likely be okay.

Just my thoughts.

 

[deleted1139416]

If the OP otherwise has a lot of clinical experience, a few extra hundred clinical hours may not make a huge difference. E.g. 1500 hours (9 months of full-time work) vs 1800 hours.

If the OP wants to list this experience, e.g. if it accounts for a significant portion of their clinical experience, one alternative is to list another person as the contact. Applicants are not required to list their direct supervisors. The OP could potentially list someone from HR (if the clinic is part of a larger healthcare system), a physician/PA/NP/RN who the OP works closely with, etc. Just anyone who can attest that the OP worked there at the clinic. I suspect that this same supervisor has rubbed other people the wrong way. As long as the OP doesn't upsell this activity and keeps it low key, I think that he/she should most likely be okay.

Realistically, the overall impact of this short clinical experience is unlikely to positively affect any decision. Just my thoughts.

Thank you very much for this! I really appreciate it because I’ll be applying to residency next year and will be having the same issue because I want to list experiences during my gap years in my residency application but with one experience in particular, I had an issue with my supervisor. Problem is that the experience is related to the specialty I’m applying to.