should i talk about academic dismissal in personal statment?

[JabsterL]

I had an academic dismissal from a U.S. school in MSII and am now applying after completing the last couple years at a Carib school. There's a section in the ERAS application under "miscellaneous" where ERAS asks if there were any gaps in education, and I was going to explain the situation there. Do you all think I should also devote a little space in my 1-page personal statement to this situation as well? When I do address it, I was thinking I should use a sentence or 2 to "explain why," but mostly not want to make excuses and just say what I learned from the situation. Any suggestions/feedback for how to handle this? I'm sure I'll have to explain at interviews as well. I did get a good step 1, clinical grades, and LORs at least, so I hope I won't be looked upon too harshly even though I'm an IMG and have this red flag on my application.

Thanks so much for your time and help!

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[bcat85]

Wow thats a tough situation. You would almost be obliged to address it, because otherwise it comes off as if you're trying to hide it. Not that you would be, but it may seem that way to a PD. Good luck

 

[NotAProgDirector]

I'm a bit surprised that this subject isn't the major focus of your personal statement. It's the thing that any PD will want to know about you -- your reasons for going into medicine, etc, seem minor compared to this. Have you considered writing a personal statement that starts with: "I failed out of medical school."? I am being totally serious here -- seems like the best way to address this is head on. Agree with the above, focus not upon laying blame (unless you plan to lay that upon yourself) but upon what you've learned, how you've grown. Make me want to meet you.