Saying no to contacting an emplyer on the VMCAS?

[Riotgrl91]

So out of all my jobs and experiences, I only have one employer that I wouldn't want anyone to speak to. There is a wealth of reasons it didn't work out, but I don't trust these people not to try and ruin my life if they are contacted about my application. Honestly, I never allow them to be contacted on any application I've had since that job (it was years ago) but still...

has anyone even selected no to an employer being contacted and still gotten in?

p.s. its a vet experience, about 6 months worth.

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[katashark]

So out of all my jobs and experiences, I only have one employer that I wouldn't want anyone to speak to. There is a wealth of reasons it didn't work out, but I don't trust these people not to try and ruin my life if they are contacted about my application. Honestly, I never allow them to be contacted on any application I've had since that job (it was years ago) but still...

has anyone even selected no to an employer being contacted and still gotten in?

p.s. its a vet experience, about 6 months worth.

I have selected no and still got in.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

So out of all my jobs and experiences, I only have one employer that I wouldn't want anyone to speak to. There is a wealth of reasons it didn't work out, but I don't trust these people not to try and ruin my life if they are contacted about my application. Honestly, I never allow them to be contacted on any application I've had since that job (it was years ago) but still...

has anyone even selected no to an employer being contacted and still gotten in?

p.s. its a vet experience, about 6 months worth.

What schools are you thinking of applying to? In the end it will be your decision and I can't tell you out right one way or another of what is right for you. I will give some general advice though. *Generally most* (there are only a handful I can think of that break this general rule) schools won't end up contacting experiences due to a variety of factors including sheer volume they would have to contact and admissions committees don't have time for that. Unless the stuff on your app raises red flags i.e. exuberant amount of hours, etc. most schools won't, however, there are a few that I have heard of contacting experiences (Auburn or Tuskegee I think is one?)

I will say I think that if you have all these experiences and mark only 1 no I think it would throw a red flag as to why? Without knowing the situation I think I would go ahead and say yes. In the event they do contact them and they get a completely different picture compared to your lors and other experiences I would think it would throw a red flag up for the committee.

Someone else feel free to chime in.

 

[SkiOtter]

there are a few that I have heard of contacting experiences (Auburn or Tuskegee I think is one?)

University of Georgia also contacts some experiences for each (afaik) applicant

 

[JustPaws]

So out of all my jobs and experiences, I only have one employer that I wouldn't want anyone to speak to. There is a wealth of reasons it didn't work out, but I don't trust these people not to try and ruin my life if they are contacted about my application. Honestly, I never allow them to be contacted on any application I've had since that job (it was years ago) but still...

has anyone even selected no to an employer being contacted and still gotten in?

p.s. its a vet experience, about 6 months worth.

I believe I said no contact to my current position and another in the past and I got in. I did say yes to 9 years worth of other employment though

 

[MixedAnimals77]

University of Georgia also contacts some experiences for each (afaik) applicant

Ah yes I think that's who I was thinking of

 

[deleted676737]

I have selected no and still got in.

Same here, although it was for a different reason than the OP's. It was a very old experience in a different country and I hadn't gathered any contact information as I was not anticipating applying to vet school at the time.

Obviously, if you put down to not contact multiple employers/organizations/whatever, then, yes, that may rightfully raise some eyebrows. If it's just the one, then I wouldn't fret too much over it, personally.

 

[pp9]

So out of all my jobs and experiences, I only have one employer that I wouldn't want anyone to speak to. There is a wealth of reasons it didn't work out, but I don't trust these people not to try and ruin my life if they are contacted about my application. Honestly, I never allow them to be contacted on any application I've had since that job (it was years ago) but still...

has anyone even selected no to an employer being contacted and still gotten in?

p.s. its a vet experience, about 6 months worth.

I said no for one and got in. The 'no' wasn't because I had burned bridges/a bad experience, it was simply because of some company policy that management could not legally speak about employees/recommend/etc (or something like that) even though it wasn't for another job. I could get LORs from the vets there (not technically management), but my actual 'boss' couldn't do anything for me despite wanting to.

Saying 'no' doesn't have to automatically indicate that there's some past/present drama going on, although that is the general assumption unfortunately. Also, there are always the people that just don't want to be contacted to take the 5 minutes to say 'yes, he/she worked here for x amount of time.'

 

[EngrSC]

University of Georgia also contacts some experiences for each (afaik) applicant

I thought they contact one of your LOR writers, not blindly reach out to one of your experiences? I could be wrong though

 

[SkiOtter]

I thought they contact one of your LOR writers, not blindly reach out to one of your experiences? I could be wrong though

Could be, I don’t know. I just know someone is contacted *shrugs*

 

[clairebear210]

I thought they contact one of your LOR writers, not blindly reach out to one of your experiences? I could be wrong though

I got into UGA this year, and they contacted at least one of my experiences that didn't write me a letter. It was a non-animal job I've had for about five years. They also contacted at least three of my letter writers.

 

[BestinShowBarbie]

I selected no for multiple previous jobs because the person that employed me was no longer employed there so it would be a waste of the school's time to call. I still got into 3 schools.

 

[youngkal]

I said no to a job that i was let go from and i had ask the admissions person in my office if it was better to not include it or to just put no. She told me to include it because it was still important Vet hours and that they really don’t contact experiences unless they do not feel that the experience was legitimate or some other red flag. They are more likely to contact an LOR than an experience. I was admitted to the school i asked about this. And it was a Vet close to the school.

 

[that redhead]

I will say I think that if you have all these experiences and mark only 1 no I think it would throw a red flag as to why? Without knowing the situation I think I would go ahead and say yes. In the event they do contact them and they get a completely different picture compared to your lors and other experiences I would think it would throw a red flag up for the committee.

I disagree. I think the opposite is true - if you have a bunch of experiences and check "no don't contact them", that would be more suspicious to me. I think checking "no" would be far less damaging than checking "yes" and having someone speak poorly about you. Sure, the admissions committee might see the rest of your references saying good things but why risk it? Just my $0.02.

 

[MixedAnimals77]

I disagree. I think the opposite is true - if you have a bunch of experiences and check "no don't contact them", that would be more suspicious to me. I think checking "no" would be far less damaging than checking "yes" and having someone speak poorly about you. Sure, the admissions committee might see the rest of your references saying good things but why risk it? Just my $0.02.

I can see this too. That's why I asked for others to chime in because I didn't have any personal experience. Just one side of the coin I could see happening among other possibilities.

 

[vethopeful_2]

I can see this too. That's why I asked for others to chime in because I didn't have any personal experience. Just one side of the coin I could see happening among other possibilities.

This could be a super irresponsible answer, but I think if it were me, if the experience isn't REALLY significant and doesn't contain a lot of relevant vet hours or is crucial to a part in your personal statement, etc., then I think I may leave the experience out as a whole...... there is one job that I'm leaving out completely because I quit without a two weeks notice (was like 16 yrs old and stupid) and I don't really want them called.


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