Got terminated from my job as a respiratory therapist. How should I go about applying to medical school after this?

[Yogafire69]

Context: I worked in the NICU as an RT. As a black male in a unit mostly comprised of Caucasian females, I know to always be on my best behavior. After 2 years of being professional, compassionate, and respectful to every person I interacted with, I eventually gave them a reason to fire me. HR launched an investigation due to a nurse filing a complaint about me. It was related to a conversation that we had almost a month ago to this date. It was during a time when I was in a rough patch w my gf and I was seeking relationship advice. I asked her if she was still seeing this one guy and she said no. She asked me about my gf and I began confiding in her. I told her that we were going through a rough patch and that I'd been dealing with sexual frustration. Mistake #1: there are things that shouldn't be talked about within the workplace. During our conversation, she didn't cue/hint that she was uncomfortable. She even gave me advice as to what I should do. I didn't think I creeped her out or anything of the sort. The reason why I think she went to HR was that after that night, she would disrespect my time/intellect as an RT. I never confronted her about it but I did distance myself from her. After a month from that conversation, I was called by my supervisor and told that I was being placed on suspension WITH pay. She explicitly told me not to contact any coworkers about the investigation. Mistake #2: I contacted two nurses who I thought I could trust (bad move). One was a friend and the other was a "friend" who I was suspicious of. The uncertainty got the best of me. I was called on a Friday and was thinking all sorts of things over the weekend. Looking back now, If I had nothing to hide, I shouldn't have any reason to be anxious.

Long story short, I was terminated not because of the findings from the investigation, but the fact that I reached out to others when told not to and it was seen as retaliation against the investigation. My supervisor and I have had animosity for a while that stemmed from me being strict with my availability due to school. She wanted me gone. The older charge nurses have wanted me gone since I first started. Despite my kindness, there were reports written about me (like small mistakes) by them as a newly graduated RT. No coaching or teaching, just reports. I'm sure when HR asked them about me, they had nothing nice to say.

What I'm taking away from this is: personal life and work life should stay separated, sex shouldn't even be whispered in the workplace, and dealing with HR is like a court case.

I've completed all the prereqs for medical school and I have the MCAT scheduled for July 15th. I asked a neonatologist about a LOR a month ago before I got fired. Upon getting fired, I emailed him and was completely transparent with how I got fired and that I would still love a LOR from him. My entire med school application centered around being a NICU RT. I'm taking time off to ace my MCAT before I pick up a travel contract. I'm extremely worried bc my GPA isn't the best and the corporation that owns the hospital also owns the ONLY medical school I'm applying to. I'm applying to one school instead of all simply bc I only want this school (its also the only school that doesn't require OCHEM 2. I don't mind taking it, it's just really close to my application/MCAT and I'm definitely not taking it after losing my job). Before all this, I had a sliver of hope that I could get in. Now, I'm not too sure if anyone is able to separate the honorable person who's worked there for two years from the "pervert" who just got fired. I want to remain hopeful that my application isn't completely screwed. What do yall think?

EDIT: After reading other posts, I think my best bet is to apply the next cycle. Due to my only 2 years of clinical experience being in a place where I got fired, I think it's best that I travel and gain clinical experience/LOR from other places. I can also retake some classes (along w O-Chem 2) and raise my GPA in the meantime. Before I was fired, I was basing my application on hope. After getting fired, I understand that hope may just not be enough. I think it's wise to strengthen my first application attempt versus becoming a reapplicant. This route brings ease to my mind, what do you all think?

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[theoceanman]

Before we discuss the details and circumstances surrounding your tragic situation, if you’re only applying to one medical school, then your viewpoint is extremely narrow and you should do further research on what the medical school process is like. I would argue medical schools are a mixed bag of luck, fantastic writing, experiences, and a dozen of other factors that all combine into a single mission-fit of an individual to fit a specific subset of medical schools. Applying to one school is completely irresponsible and your cycle is almost guaranteed to turn out unfavorably if you do so. People usually apply anywhere from 20-30 schools, perhaps more depending on their mission-fit although that is quite rare.

You will need to take OChem 2 for your medical school application and perhaps other pre-requisites, such as humanities and English courses if you have not done so previously, in order to check off requirements at many medical schools. In addition, I would argue OChem 2 is important for the MCAT as well, but then again, you could self-study it to some extent. In addition, if your GPA is not the best, albeit I’m unsure what is your GPA is unless you want to disclose it, it may only qualify you for DO schools and perhaps a few MD schools if it is that low. If you’re a perfectionist and believe a 3.6/3.7 sGPA is bad (which it isn’t), then you’re on track for MD schools, depending on your MCAT. Hopefully you have community service experiences (150+ hours), good shadowing (50+ hour in primary care and maybe a bit more in other specialties), and solid EC’s to help your overall application.

I don’t have experiences regarding this sort of misconduct-related situation specifically so I’ll let chilly_md, Mr.Smile12, and a few other experts on this forum take over here. Regardless, I believe you will have hurdles to overcome potentially due to this unfortunate situation, and I’m sorry that this happened to you.

 

[Just D.O. it]

Unless there was some sort of legal action taken against you, the internal politics of why you were let go are not relevant or accessible to medical school admission committees.

This is by no means an app killer unless you vent about these details on your application of your own accord. If it is pressed in an interview, say something simple and non-controversial about how your schedule and obligations at the time were not compatible with the availability they were expecting and leave it at that (but again that is highly unlikely). Just let this go and move on.

With regards to your actual application, like @aquafied said if you think you will be able to get away with not taking OCHEM II and only applying to one school, you are sorely mistaken about how this process works.

I highly recommend this guide by @Goro :

Goro's guide to the app process (2019 ed.)

So application season is upon us once again. I have some tips for you. Grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair. What do we Adcoms look for? People who will make good doctors and will be good students. But to be the former, you have to be the latter. Evidence for doing well in med school is...

forums.studentdoctor.net

of note:

*15 is the average number of applications

With a 40% overall acceptance rate, all applicants must assume they will be rejected

Meaning that the average person applies to 15 schools and gets NO acceptances to show for it. Making the idea of only applying to one school look appropriately ridiculous in context.

 

[GoSpursGo]

First of all, I think we need to be completely clear--it is not OK to talk about sex in the workplace. Full stop. It doesn't matter who you are or who you are working with, if you broach that topic you are opening yourself up to a sexual harassment accusation. This isn't college, and this isn't you hanging out with your friends in a bar--this is a hospital where you are a professional surrounded by other professionals taking care of sick people. Furthermore, your intent doesn't matter, only the perception of the person that you're talking to, and while you seemingly thought that she didn't seem "uncomfortable," she may have had a very different experience. I know you recognize these mistakes above, but then you also mention a number of other details that seem to minimize your fault or imply that people had it out for you. I am sure that your prior interpersonal interactions did not help, but this was absolutely a fireable offense, and you perhaps even forced their hand when you did exactly what you were told NOT to do. You certainly should not share any more of the details of what happened on your application than you need to, but personally you need to own these mistakes and not repeat them in the future. If you were a medical student and did something like this you could easily have been expelled.

Whether or not this will hurt your application depends. Most likely if someone were to verify your employment at the hospital, HR would just confirm the dates you worked and your job title without revealing that you were terminated or the circumstances surrounding it. So for most medical schools this probably doesn't come up at all. However, for the specific medical school that is affiliated with this hospital I think it depends just how closely the two are intertwined. If it's actually an affiliated hospital and the docs are faculty at the medical school, there is nothing stopping the adcom from calling up some of the physicians or your supervisor and trying to get a more personalized reference. Maybe they won't take the time, but if they do that would poison your app to this school. To me this just highlights that you need to apply to multiple schools.

Finally, all of this sort of skirts over the other aspects of your application. You mention your GPA is kind of low. I always caution people to not think that they can overcome low stats by having very high amounts of clinical experience, so if you fundamentally do not have a GPA that fits with getting into medical school that likely is something that you need to address.

Good luck.

 

[Yogafire69]

I thank you all for your wise words. I've done a lot of reflecting and have analyzed every mistake I've made during this interaction w HR. I was really naive, this has matured me. Your words are mending my metal into armor. This definitely won't happen again. I will take the next few years to add research to my portfolio, increase my GPA, and apply to every school in the country. This is the way.

 

[theoceanman]

I thank you all for your wise words. I've done a lot of reflecting and have analyzed every mistake I've made during this interaction w HR. I was really naive, this has matured me. Your words are mending my metal into armor. This definitely won't happen again. I will take the next few years to add research to my portfolio, increase my GPA, and apply to every school in the country. This is the way.

Not every school. As a URM, you should seek mentors in your community or organizations at universities!

 

[theoceanman]

I am also thinking, is this hospital affiliated with the medical school you hope to apply to? If you do get accepted, I am not sure how this would go down when you start rotations. I would avoid applying to the school affiliated with this hospital completely.

I completely agree with this part, since affiliations could cause issues later on when the OP may become a medical student there and become a part of that former environment where he was involved in.

Regardless, OP seems to have genuinely reflected on this situation, and I would advise seeking mentors and advisors to help you overcome this situation if it is needed to be addressed anywhere, such as the questions posed above by the other posters. Best of luck, cheers!

 

[gyngyn]

I will take the next few years to add research to my portfolio, increase my GPA, and apply to every school in the country.

Apply to a sufficient number of schools that are a match for your stats and mission.
There is no way that every school is a match for anyone.

I actually met a applicant that applied to 101 MD schools.
He got into exactly none.

 

[IlDestriero]

Optimize your application, fix your deficits, apply broadly, and never mention being fired, sexual harassment allegations, etc. ever again. You left to study for the MCAT, take more time for school, make higher Locums income, bad long term fit, etc.

 

[deomnibusdubitandum]

You will need to take OChem 2 for your medical school application

This isn't necessarily true. A lot more medical schools will accept biochem in lieu of Ochem 2 than you'd expect. Plus the stuff that shows up on the MCAT is relatively easy to self-study for.

 

[theoceanman]

This isn't necessarily true. A lot more medical schools will accept biochem in lieu of Ochem 2 than you'd expect. Plus the stuff that shows up on the MCAT is relatively easy to self-study for.

Most schools, at least in my state and many other state public schools, require you to take organic chemistry 2 as a pre-requisite course for biochemistry, unless you're somehow able to work around that by taking it at a community college. Some places imply that they highly recommend a set number of specific courses such as organic chemistry, biochemistry, genetics, anatomy/physiology, and humanities courses, which you should take to make your application more appealing academically. Regardless, skipping over a course that prepares you biochemistry and checks off the pre-requisities at many other medical schools that the OP could apply to in the future, especially given a weak sGPA, is not something I could wholeheartedly recommend.

The OP sounds like they need a GPA reinvention and this is one of the many few courses that is a requirement at quite a number of medical schools as well as give a solid boost to the sGPA given that they ace the course, along with the following biochemistry course as well. It's not like I can recommend the OP to take immunology or some relatively high level science course to boost their GPA which may end up hurting them more due to their difficulty, and organic chemistry 2 is relatively easier than these higher level science courses in my opinion. Self-studying for the MCAT varies person-to-person with their studying techniques, so I regardless recommend people take the courses for the topics covered on the MCAT just to give them a solid enough background so that they aren't starting a complete blank slate 3 months out before the MCAT. I found success on MCAT by having decent recall cues of formerly learned materials and I don't think I would've been able to manage studying for the MCAT without having taken these courses ahead of time during my second and early third-year.

 

[eigen]

Most schools, at least in my state and many other state public schools, require you to take organic chemistry 2 as a pre-requisite course for biochemistry, unless you're somehow able to work around that by taking it at a community college.

This depends a lot on school. It's traditionally been the case, but many schools have adjusted curricula to make OChem 1 the pre-req for biochem, which is a lot more appropriate. All you have to do is move carbonyl chemistry to the first semester and you have 90% of the organic chemistry you need to do well in biochemistry.

Some places imply that they highly recommend a set number of specific courses such as organic chemistry, biochemistry, genetics, anatomy/physiology, and humanities courses, which you should take to make your application more appealing academically.

I generally don't encourage using "recommended" courses as a list of implied requirements, and I notice no difference in application success between students who have taken the bare minimum required coursework and those that have taken all the recommended courses.

In fact, I think it's often more useful to differentiate yourself as an applicant by taking something you're passionate and interested about that isn't common. I also tend to not recommend students take courses they're going to immediately repeat with more depth in medical school, because they will be a more well rounded physician by differentiating their knowledge base rather than taking the same courses twice at different levels.