Question regarding work experience

[braincandy]

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A bit about my situation:

I am applying to medical school a year after graduation. I applied in my Junior year, but had no health care experience and did not get in. Knowing that I am otherwise a strong candidate, I have spent the past few months working for a company which contracts with hospitals--very relevant work, directly in surgery. However, if my current employer found out that I was applying to med school, I would certainly be fired. As such, I was considering putting a "Please do not contact current employer" line in my extra curricular description.

This presents several problems. First, my sole item of health care experience will be unverifiable--will this seriously hurt my chances of getting in? Second, there is a very real risk that the line would be ignored or overlooked, leading to me losing my current job. How likely do people think this is? Does the addcomm really even goto the trouble to look up and contact previous employers?

Any advice or suggestions would be welcome--thanks!

 

[dmexs]

Could I ask why your current employer would care?

 

[braincandy]

I have a very petty boss who would take my departure as some sort of personal insult.

 

[AnotherDork]

A bit about my situation:
...However, if my current employer found out that I was applying to med school, I would certainly be fired. As such, I was considering putting a "Please do not contact current employer" line in my extra curricular description.

Don't put this line in your application, as it's more likely to raise a red flag than the likelihood of them actually contacting your employer. Adcoms have tens of thousands of applications to look through and I can't imagine them going through the trouble of contacting someone. That's what the LoR's are for.

If you write "Please do not contact current employer" and you get some interviews, you'll probably have to explain it in the interviews and it's probably a question you'd rather avoid, as it's unlikely to be positive. I say this as an ex-student interviewer who used to sit in on some adcom meetings. Feel free to PM with any questions. Good luck!