dismissal

[teamrocketjessie]

has anyone been able to successfully appeal a dismissal from med school? A very abusive relationship just ended and it robbed a friend of mine of her M1 academic performance. we tried to get her to file reports but she was too ashamed due to cultural pressures. She’s doing better now but wished she made her school aware of this before it got to a point where her dream is now gone. She’s appealing on the basis of redoing her M1 year because she felt she wasn’t in the best state physically and mentally due to the abuse.

any advice is appreciated.

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[pierty]

I'm sorry your friend has gone through that experience, no one deserves to.

Do you have an office of academic support or something similar? I would reach out to them ASAP and discuss the impact of the abuse on her life in direct terms and options for moving forward (offices like this will usually keep most things confidential, but they might need to provide some details to the academic deans or office of medical education for appeals like this).

Best of luck - I hope the process is smooth and things get better in her life.

 

[teamrocketjessie]

I'm sorry your friend has gone through that experience, no one deserves to.

Do you have an office of academic support or something similar? I would reach out to them ASAP and discuss the impact of the abuse on her life in direct terms and options for moving forward (offices like this will usually keep most things confidential, but they might need to provide some details to the academic deans or office of medical education for appeals like this).

Best of luck - I hope the process is smooth and things get better in her life.

Yes she will me meeting with our academic dean this week as she prepares her appeal to the dean of the school of medicine. Her goal is to lay out a solid plan of how she will go about doing better if she is allowed to come back and re do the year. Abuse is such a difficult topic to talk about because there's a level of shame attached to it. After speaking to her extensively about this over the past week, I realized how terrified and embarrassed she must have felt (like many people in similar situations) that she could not reach out for help even from her friends. I truly hope they reconsider and allow her to prove her capability now that the situation itself has improved (she is now single and working through repairing her sense of worth).

 

[Goro]

has anyone been able to successfully appeal a dismissal from med school? A very abusive relationship just ended and it robbed a friend of mine of her M1 academic performance. we tried to get her to file reports but she was too ashamed due to cultural pressures. She’s doing better now but wished she made her school aware of this before it got to a point where her dream is now gone. She’s appealing on the basis of redoing her M1 year because she felt she wasn’t in the best state physically and mentally due to the abuse.

any advice is appreciated.

Very rare, but it has happened, and if anyone has a chance at success, it's your friend.

 

[GoSpursGo]

This is truly a tragic story and I wish your friend all the best. As you correctly identified, the most important part of this appeal is that she must lay out how she will attain a different outcome if given a second chance. I think removing an abusive relationship is going to count for a lot. Come up with 2-3 more concrete plans (ie forming a study group, doing a set number of board style questions each day, going to anatomy tutoring if that is a thing, etc)… basically if she can articulate a plan beyond just a lack of negative stressors, I would be hopeful.

One other point—if she hasn’t already, she should read the student handbook section on dismissals and appeals inside and out

 

[teamrocketjessie]

thank you all for your advice! She's been speaking to administrators familiar with the process and they echoed the sentiments shared above! Will update this when she gets a final decision for her appeal

 

[operaman]

I think her chances are good actually, depending on the details. If she can make a case that the next time will be different and she has a good plan for success, I think most faculties would allow another try.

I’ve helped a handful of students here craft appeals over the years and most all were successful. The sad caveat is that a number of them still ended up failing and getting dismissed again later. I think admins are sensitive on this front, so the more concrete plan the better. It’s not enough to say that the abusive relationship is gone and now everything is fine. She needs to articulate plans for managing mental health, use of academic success resources, and what other support systems she will put in place.

 

[deleted1139416]

@Goro @GoSpursGo @operaman If OP's friend were to file a police report NOW, would that help their case at all?

 

[GoSpursGo]

@Goro @GoSpursGo @operaman If OP's friend were to file a police report NOW, would that help their case at all?

My initial thought is no because I think most schools would believe such a claim in its face, and so I think the decision to go to the police should be independent of the appeal. But I am not sure.

Also to be clear, I don’t know the details of what happened, so I’m NOT saying she shouldn’t go to the police. But that’s outside the scope I think of the question here

 

[operaman]

@Goro @GoSpursGo @operaman If OP's friend were to file a police report NOW, would that help their case at all?

Yeah outside the scope of the issue at hand. I don’t think it makes one iota of difference for the dismissal process.

The issue isn’t that admin doesn’t believe her story. They probably believe it completely as it’s not something people typically lie about. What they’re concerned about is her chances of failing again, which are fairly high. People go back to abusive partners, and they may have other mental health issues to deal with as a result that are equally likely to impact academic work.

Personally, if I were on the committee for this student, I would probably recommend a year long LOA followed by restarting M1 again. I think jumping right back in after such a terrible time is a recipe for disaster. Take a year, get help, build a support system, and come back refreshed and ready to succeed. If I were advising her with the limited info available, that’s probably what I’d advise she say in her appeal. A solid plan for a year LOA - maybe doing some research or something - while getting help and processing the terrible things is a nice start, and followed by a solid plan to use all the resources available when she rematriculates.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Yeah outside the scope of the issue at hand. I don’t think it makes one iota of difference for the dismissal process.

The issue isn’t that admin doesn’t believe her story. They probably believe it completely as it’s not something people typically lie about. What they’re concerned about is her chances of failing again, which are fairly high. People go back to abusive partners, and they may have other mental health issues to deal with as a result that are equally likely to impact academic work.

Personally, if I were on the committee for this student, I would probably recommend a year long LOA followed by restarting M1 again. I think jumping right back in after such a terrible time is a recipe for disaster. Take a year, get help, build a support system, and come back refreshed and ready to succeed. If I were advising her with the limited info available, that’s probably what I’d advise she say in her appeal. A solid plan for a year LOA - maybe doing some research or something - while getting help and processing the terrible things is a nice start, and followed by a solid plan to use all the resources available when she rematriculates.

While theoretically a good idea, this is probably not going to play well to the committee because most (all?) US MD programs require that you graduate within 6 years of matriculation unless you complete an additional degree. Since she is already repeating a year, if she were to take an additional one year LOA prior to restarting in 2024 she would have no additional wiggle room for, say, an unexpected medical issue that comes up, or any other reason why she may need a future LOA. While I think most admins would be sympathetic to the student's situation, I think it would be risky to ask for an additional LOA.

 

[Goro]

My initial thought is no because I think most schools would believe such a claim in its face, and so I think the decision to go to the police should be independent of the appeal. But I am not sure.

Also to be clear, I don’t know the details of what happened, so I’m NOT saying she shouldn’t go to the police. But that’s outside the scope I think of the question here

Ditto

 

[NotAProgDirector]

One skill that schools / programs are looking for is for people to be able to recognize when their performance is impaired and be able to ask for help. Addressing how this experience will help her do that in the future (and specific strategies to do so) might be of help.

 

[teamrocketjessie]

One skill that schools / programs are looking for is for people to be able to recognize when their performance is impaired and be able to ask for help. Addressing how this experience will help her do that in the future (and specific strategies to do so) might be of help.

I agree

The letter was formatted in this manner (obviously she went into more detail but I wanted to give a quick run down)

1. why she wanted to be a doctor/ why she chose the school specifically

2. What happened (the abusive relationship ship) and how that affected her courseload

3. the other mistakes made with approaches to the courses on her end

4. plans for moving forward if reinstated
- already in counseling and will continue (no longer in the relationship)

- monthly check-in with the academic office, weekly/biweekly office hours with professors, weekly tutoring to review content gaps, subject-focused study groups with classmates

- practice questions following each subject/lecture (we do NMBE-style exams)

- using better resources plus not using too many resources because it gets overwhelming and repetitive (there is such a thing as resource overload tbh)


- seek testing accommodations (this will depend on the results of the test of course )

5. wrapped it up by reiterating that she knows she did not initially meet the expectations set before her and apologized. However, with this plan, she knows this institution will be proud to calm her one of its own at the end of her time here.


The appeal process in our school is just the dean and student (meeting after appeal letter is submitted) because it allows for the student to elaborate and the dean will ask questions on things that might have not been clear. From what we've heard, our dean is pretty understanding if this is your first time going through the curriculum. Repeats and overturned dismissals are almost always allowed with extenuating circumstances and showing ways you can be better if given another chance.



I do agree (so did she) about the LOA issue because 2 years of her 6-year eligibility to complete the MD will be gone. If she was to restart in 2024 then her record must be flawless (she had to graduate by 2028). We left that one up to her and hopefully, she makes the best choice for her


Thank you all for your help. It's greatly appreciated and refreshing to see how kind strangers can be online in the Med community.

 

[teamrocketjessie]

UPDATE!!!


APPEAL WON! DISMISSAL OVERTURNED! Thank you all for your help!

 

[deleted1139416]

UPDATE!!!


APPEAL WON! DISMISSAL OVERTURNED! Thank you all for your help!

WOOO HOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This makes me so happy! I was really hoping it turned out well for her. A lot of women in my extended family (including my grandmother) have had to deal with domestic violence, so I have a soft spot in my heart for women in abusive relationships.

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

I agree

The letter was formatted in this manner (obviously she went into more detail but I wanted to give a quick run down)

1. why she wanted to be a doctor/ why she chose the school specifically

2. What happened (the abusive relationship ship) and how that affected her courseload

3. the other mistakes made with approaches to the courses on her end

4. plans for moving forward if reinstated
- already in counseling and will continue (no longer in the relationship)

- monthly check-in with the academic office, weekly/biweekly office hours with professors, weekly tutoring to review content gaps, subject-focused study groups with classmates

- practice questions following each subject/lecture (we do NMBE-style exams)

- using better resources plus not using too many resources because it gets overwhelming and repetitive (there is such a thing as resource overload tbh)


- seek testing accommodations (this will depend on the results of the test of course )

5. wrapped it up by reiterating that she knows she did not initially meet the expectations set before her and apologized. However, with this plan, she knows this institution will be proud to calm her one of its own at the end of her time here.


The appeal process in our school is just the dean and student (meeting after appeal letter is submitted) because it allows for the student to elaborate and the dean will ask questions on things that might have not been clear. From what we've heard, our dean is pretty understanding if this is your first time going through the curriculum. Repeats and overturned dismissals are almost always allowed with extenuating circumstances and showing ways you can be better if given another chance.



I do agree (so did she) about the LOA issue because 2 years of her 6-year eligibility to complete the MD will be gone. If she was to restart in 2024 then her record must be flawless (she had to graduate by 2028). We left that one up to her and hopefully, she makes the best choice for her


Thank you all for your help. It's greatly appreciated and refreshing to see how kind strangers can be online in the Med community.

this is a nice example of an appeal letter structure that i think will be a useful reference for future students in similar positions - I'm glad to hear it was successful! best of luck to your friend.