Northwestern School of Medicine E-mail Scandal

Here are three emails (in chronological order) that were sent out to applicants who had interviewed with the office of admissions. Apparently, Med. School admissions in a multi-step process and if you are selected to interview it is a big deal.

Dear [Name Redacted],

Thank you for interviewing with us---however, we decided that you are not worthy to be a Feinberg School of Medicine student. Please do not contact us, and realize that sleeping with the head of the department will not assist you to be acceptance.

However, if you perceive yourself in the future as [Name Redacted], MD, I suggest one of our finer international schools.

Best,

Pamela Meadows

____________________________________________

Pamela A. Meadows , M.Ed.

Special Projects Coordinator, Admissions
p-meadows@northwestern.edu

Northwestern University
Feinberg School of Medicine
303 East Chicago Avenue
Chicago, IL 60611-3008
P: (312) 503-8206 F: (312) 503-0550
www.medschool.northwestern.edu
*Note: My last day of employment is Friday, November 30. Please contact the Admissions Front Desk at (312) 503-8206 for any questions.

Then the admissions office sent out the following e-mail:

Good evening Feinberg applicants,



On Tuesday November 27, 2007 at 5:33pm, it came to my attention that an email in my name has been sent to interviewed applicants about a decision written in a most inappropriate and offense nature. This email is erroneous. The email sent is completely and utterly false. It disturbs me professionally and personally that this occurred prior to my departure to the Feinberg School of Medicine.



Please disregard any email message sent regarding your status as a Feinberg medical applicant. Your OFFICIAL status is obtained only through an official hard-copy letter mailed to your current residency by the Dean of Admissions. All other updates occur through the secure applicant website on the Feinberg School of Medicine webpage.



Pamela Meadows

Finally, one of the Deans sent an e-mail to the applicants

Dear Applicant:



I am writing to explain that you may have received unauthorized emails yesterday from the admissions office at the Feinberg School of Medicine. An employee sent an email with false information presented in a grossly unprofessional and offensive manner. A second email was sent to another group of our interviewed applicants asking that the first be disregarded. Hence you may have received one or two unauthorized emails.



I wish to personally apologize for these mailings and to assure you of the following:



1. No action has yet been taken on your application by our admissions committee. All current information regarding your application status is available on our secure website.



2. The responsible individual is no longer with Northwestern University and does not have access to any university property including personal information such as your email address, AMCAS number, etc.



3. Our Information Technology department has assured me that all applicant information is secure.



Again, I apologize for this event and the distress it has caused. Please contact me if you have any questions.



Sincerely,



Warren H. Wallace, MD

Associate Dean for Admissions

I find it interesting that the first "prank" e-mail was sent out three days before Meadows' last day on the job. If I were pissed off at my employer and wanted to go out with a boom, I would sent out a crass e-mail and claim that my e-mail had been "hacked"