I'm a student that's now been accepted to a couple of excellent doctoral programs (STEM). However, an incident during the previous year has made me concerned if I'll be able to go to school anywhere.
Last year, I had been applying to medical schools, and had gotten a couple of offers. However, after getting accepted, I had a bout of depression, and made a post on a blog of mine that I had a history of anxiety/depression, and I wasn't sure if I could control myself completely. I also mentioned that I was seeing a therapist.
A couple of months later, someone who knew about my blog and knew where I was planning on going had sent the blog post to the med school I was planning on attending, and I got my offer rescinded for "unprofessionalism" and "violation of technical standards" (namely: "Candidates must possess the emotional health required for the full use of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients."). I think a part of it was that my remarks could be interpreted as suggesting that I was at some risk of harming myself or others. The med school figured out who I was based on matching information I provided on my blog about myself with my application materials.
I decided that I was no longer going to pursue medicine, as I had a budding interest in research and the incident was proof that mental illness is still heavily stigmatized in medicine.
I am not in that place psychologically now, but my fear is that someone could figure out who I was (I made a few posts on a different website re: grad school admissions but mentioned the incident, under a different username), and although I'm not telling anywhere where I'm going exactly, they could spam all the schools in the field that I'm applying for hoping that one of them had offered me admission, and rescind the offer. While my original post was of course deleted, that person may still have screenshots or archives.
Do grad schools rescind offers for what they see as "inappropriate" social media usage? Is what I posted grounds for rescinding an acceptance in a grad school context?
Question
seacloud
I'm a student that's now been accepted to a couple of excellent doctoral programs (STEM). However, an incident during the previous year has made me concerned if I'll be able to go to school anywhere.
Last year, I had been applying to medical schools, and had gotten a couple of offers. However, after getting accepted, I had a bout of depression, and made a post on a blog of mine that I had a history of anxiety/depression, and I wasn't sure if I could control myself completely. I also mentioned that I was seeing a therapist.
A couple of months later, someone who knew about my blog and knew where I was planning on going had sent the blog post to the med school I was planning on attending, and I got my offer rescinded for "unprofessionalism" and "violation of technical standards" (namely: "Candidates must possess the emotional health required for the full use of their intellectual abilities, the exercise of good judgment, the prompt completion of all responsibilities attendant to the diagnosis and care of patients, and the development of mature, sensitive and effective relationships with patients."). I think a part of it was that my remarks could be interpreted as suggesting that I was at some risk of harming myself or others. The med school figured out who I was based on matching information I provided on my blog about myself with my application materials.
I decided that I was no longer going to pursue medicine, as I had a budding interest in research and the incident was proof that mental illness is still heavily stigmatized in medicine.
I am not in that place psychologically now, but my fear is that someone could figure out who I was (I made a few posts on a different website re: grad school admissions but mentioned the incident, under a different username), and although I'm not telling anywhere where I'm going exactly, they could spam all the schools in the field that I'm applying for hoping that one of them had offered me admission, and rescind the offer. While my original post was of course deleted, that person may still have screenshots or archives.
Do grad schools rescind offers for what they see as "inappropriate" social media usage? Is what I posted grounds for rescinding an acceptance in a grad school context?
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