Should I list this experience?

[blueeyes6210]

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I apologize in advance for the lengthy post, but I'm wondering if I should list this experience on the VMCAS. It's kind of a strange situation....

Right after I graduated college, I found a job as a receptionist at a mixed animal clinic. It was awesome because I didn't have much large animal experience and the owner went on farm calls a lot. There were lots of problems though. The office manager (who had been there for like 10 years) was going on medical leave, and she had no documentation or anything for how ANYTHING was done. So when she was training me and another receptionist, she would tell us once and expect us to know how to do it. And if we did it wrong, we would get yelled at either by the veterinarian who owned the practice, or the younger, EXTREMELY short-tempered veterinarian. After being there for 3 weeks, they put me in charge of inventory (which I had no idea how to do) and my first duty was to go through a huge stack of invoices from months and months previously that the office manager didn't put in the computer. So, of course, I entered it wrong in the computer. And I got my a** handed to me by the younger vet. We're talking slamming stuff around, muttering obscenities under his breath, etc. It was so bad I had to go to the bathroom and cry (and I don't cry often). After that lovely ordeal, the practice owner made us stay late to figure it out (like until literally 11 at night) and all that got accomplished was some complaining between the two doctors about how their computer system sucks. Oh, and the best part was that there was a dog that came in earlier that day in heart failure, and it ended up dying because they neglected to care for it while they were "sorting out" the issues with the computer. And then when that happened, the owner went on another rant about how he shouldn't have to clean up our messes, blah blah blah. Keep in mind me and this other girl had been there less than 6 weeks. Then, because they were so short-staffed, I was working like 50 hours a week (with no time to study for the GRE, do my applications, etc.). So I politely asked him if I could have some time off do get that stuff done. He proceeded to essentially verbally abuse me, saying that once I’m in vet school and working as a vet, I won’t have time for anything, so I better just get used to it now and start using my time more efficiently. Unless I wanted to become one of those “bottom-feeder” veterinarians that worked at Petsmart and did my job for a few hours and went home. Yes, that is what he said. I told him at that point that I wanted to go into lab animal medicine, and he said, “Well, I guess somebody’s got to do it.” Needless to say, I didn’t go back after that.
Anyways, my question is, should I list that experience on the VMCAS? I did get some good experience out of all of it, including large animal (which I don’t have much of), but if the committees at the school happen to call to find out about it, I probably will not receive a good evaluation from the doctor. Should I put it without a phone number so they can’t call? It just sucks because if I don’t put it, that entire month of working will have been for nothing, even though it’s my own fault for leaving like that.
Sorry for the long-winded thread. Any advice would be awesome! Thanks! 🙂

 

[that redhead]

List the hours and your duties on the VMCAS. These are not the same as your letters of recommendation so they will not be asked for a reference. I listed some animal experience hours with a person that I'd had somewhat of a falling out with and included her phone number - no problems.

 

[blueeyes6210]

Awesome. So, as far as you know, they didn't call to check it out?

 

[Bismarck]

Generally, professional courtesy dictates that a person calling may ask:

A). Did this person (you) work at this location for the dates indicated and

B). Were they responsible for the duties listed.

Anything else asked goes beyond simple verification and as indicated previously, you didn't list this practice as one or more of your evaluators. I think you're fine, and not listing a number would probably call more attention/scrutiny anyways.

/ my $.02

 

[that redhead]

Awesome. So, as far as you know, they didn't call to check it out?

As far as I know, no. Think about it: do they have enough time/people to call every single experience listed for every applicant? No, it just isn't feasible.

 

[pooter]

Like the other posters said, just list your hours and duties and if you get asked why you left the practice just say it was to focus on GRE prep/diversity of experience/whatever. It shouldn't be a problem unless you really want to go to Cornell (IIRC, they want a recommendation from every experience you claim but no other school requires this). If you get asked about it in interviews be diplomatic.

 

[twelvetigers]

UGA is the only school I know of that actually calls and talks to these people you've listed.

 

[blueeyes6210]

Crap, I'm applying to UGA. 🙁 I emailed Laura Leigh Crowe about the situation, but she never replied to that email. Hmm.

Bismarck, that's true.

I'll take my chances and if UGA calls, hopefully they won't ask too many questions...

 

[twelvetigers]

I only remember it because LVT2DVM would tell us that her people (the contacts) had told her that they had been called so they must be going through the apps, etc...

Anyway, I dunno. I hope it all works out.

 

[Psorophoraferox]

My first paid employment in a veterinary hospital was similar.

It was a satellite clinic owned by two vets who spent the majority of the time at their main hospitals. My training consisted of two days of four hour shifts each, and then I was on my own. Literally, I was the only person in the building most of the time. I answered the phones, I took appointments, I did all the baths/grooming, I cleaned and walked and fed and medicated the boarding animals, I did inventory, I cleaned the building, processed payments, etc. Everything. Alone. It's not a situation I would EVER agree to now, but I was desperate to get my foot in the door and get vet experience.

Likewise, one of the vets was extremely verbally abusive (but the other one was super nice, thankfully). I also cried daily -- having someone yell obscenities at you because your two days of training didn't adequately prepare you to manage an entire clinic by yourself sucks.

I made it two months.

Looking back, I'm both proud of making it that long and appalled that I ever agreed to put myself in that situation. But, I was desperate for ANY vet job, and because I had no other vet jobs to compare it to I didn't fully comprehend how terrible and ridiculous the whole scenario was. It's also given me a lot of insight into how NOT to treat employees/run a clinic...

I happily included it in my VMCAS vet experience. I kept my description a neutral list of my duties. A paragraph that says I basically ran a hospital by myself as my first vet job, even if I only lasted two months, is hopefully at least a tiny bit impressive. 😉

 

[that redhead]

I'll take my chances and if UGA calls, hopefully they won't ask too many questions...

Be prepared for those questions. I wouldn't address it like you have in this post but would formulate a more diplomatic response to the question that might be posed, such as "why did you leave X practice?"

 

[blueeyes6210]

Yeah, I mean if I list it and it comes up in an interview, I definitely won't mind telling the committees what happened (in a professional way). The only concern I have is that UGA doesn't do interviews, so they won't be able to hear my side of the story before making a decision.