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None that I know of, but I do know of one girl who got into med school at age 19 and afterwards the higher ups tried to push her to do an MD/PhD because they were concerned about her maturity level.
 
HowAreYaNow said:
None that I know of, but I do know of one girl who got into med school at age 19 and afterwards the higher ups tried to push her to do an MD/PhD because they were concerned about her maturity level.
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Is it because she was 19 or because she demonstrated immaturity? I don't think a PhD is the appropriate corrective action for maturity. People in other parts of the world start younger routinely. We had a 19 year old in our class as well, and she was near the top of our class and matched into a competitive specialty.

lol @ higher-ups
 
There were about 120 of us.

There was one who was gone after 2 weeks. Probably decided it was too much.

There was at least who failed step 1 at least twice.

There was one who was dismissed near the end of second year because I think he just stopped coming.

That’s all I knew about. That should have been it though because that’s not something that happens without everyone noticing.
 
Dismissed students are uncommon. Usually a handful first year, then the occasional student after 2nd yr. Most first year disasters are allowed to remediate the class or repeat 1st yr if they have multiple failures. At some schools multiple course failures will buy you a dismissal with no chance to repeat or remediate. Very school dependent. Due to high admission standards, established schools dont dismiss many students for academic reasons. Most of their dismissals/withdrawals are from capable students who find medicine is not for them. My school is seeing a slight uptick in the number of struggling students. I think this is a result of so many new schools opening.
 
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A decent number of students in my class dropped down to the class below us after failing 1+ classes. But none of them were dismissed. There was one student who was dismissed for saying something really inappropriate after a lecture that got picked up by the audio recorder.
 
7331poas said:
Also tons of substandard students are being admitted recently based on holistic admissions. I would be very curious if there is correlation between dismissal/repeating a year and GPA/MCAT score.
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That information is held closely by our administration. I have been trying to find out the answer and have been stonewalled.
 
I recall somewhere around 5-7 left due to poor academic performance another 3ish were dismissed outright and 2 repeated a year all of this occurred in the preclinical years in a class of 150+ but that was over 10 years ago, seemed like it was pretty standard during my tenure at the school for each class
 
7331poas said:
Also tons of substandard students are being admitted recently based on holistic admissions. I would be very curious if there is correlation between dismissal/repeating a year and GPA/MCAT score.
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Our former associate dean of admissions went over data he’s collected on that stuff for our school. Apparently at our school, the likelihood of passing boards and completing med school isn’t significantly different once you get over 500. So there is some correlation but only at sub 50th %ile.
 
The percent of people who graduate in 6 years is 95% so attrition rate at MD schools is roughly <=5%.
We have had roughly 10% decelerate and drop down to the class below, mostly due to step 1 issues and a handful of people who were not cut out for medicine / insane.
 
libertyyne said:
The percent of people who graduate in 6 years is 95% so attrition rate at MD schools is roughly <=5%.
We have had roughly 10% decelerate and drop down to the class below, mostly due to step 1 issues and a handful of people who were not cut out for medicine / insane.
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Insane????
Do elaborate!!!
 
Goro said:
Insane????
Do elaborate!!!
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Hmm, lets just say criminal activities were involved and that there were some online threats made. We have a big class, sometimes some people slip through that should have never slipped through.
The second was a lady that was well intentioned but had no idea what she was getting herself into, suggesting people tutor during M1 to make more money etc. She failed three classes first year and decided to withdraw afterwards.
 
This was literally a google search away.
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Out of ~150 students at my school, 15 had to repeat a year or take time off for whatever reason (mostly after 1st , but some after second)
 
sharkbyte said:
A decent number of students in my class dropped down to the class below us after failing 1+ classes. But none of them were dismissed. There was one student who was dismissed for saying something really inappropriate after a lecture that got picked up by the audio recorder.
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So what'd they say?
 
This is all to say, schools for the most part are highly invested in your success. Being held back for academic reasons is not a punishment but in the student’s best interest.

There have been a handful of posts like these lately and all you accepted pre-meds just need to take a collective breath. I’m sure this is a mix of anxiety or imposter syndrome, but you are all going to be fine.
 
CherryRedDracul said:
Is it because she was 19 or because she demonstrated immaturity? I don't think a PhD is the appropriate corrective action for maturity. People in other parts of the world start younger routinely. We had a 19 year old in our class as well, and she was near the top of our class and matched into a competitive specialty.

lol @ higher-ups
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Sometimes, immaturity isn't linked to age but experience. My guess is the 19-year-old was likely no more immature than the 22-year-old who grew up with no responsibilities and never held a job. I could be wrong.

In terms of dismissals, speaking as someone who was dismissed from med school for academic reasons (and who got back in), dismissals are rare and usually happen MS-1 if they're for academics. Leaves of absence are generally due to illness and can lead to withdrawal. As you progress through the years, I think the most common reason for dismissals becomes professionalism.

Most allopathic schools offer generous remediation (and some osteopathic institutions could learn something from that) so most people who genuinely want to be physicians make it through, even if they have to remediate or repeat a year.
 
My top 20 ranked school had one kid quit after about 2 weeks. Never seemed to want to be there, made no friends, etc. I’m not even sure if he took the first round of exams. 2 got kicked out for cheating later in the first year. I think one was supporting the other and I think they were dating. A couple more (that I knew of) failed a class and had to take a summer remediation somewhere but continued on. One had to repeat the 1st year, but went on to graduate. One left in 4th year to pursue a business venture.
So only 2 kicked out for cheating. I’m not aware of anyone failing the USMLE and not advancing.
 
IlDestriero said:
My top 20 ranked school had one kid quit after about 2 weeks. Never seemed to want to be there, made no friends, etc. I’m not even sure if he took the first round of exams. 2 got kicked out for cheating later in the first year. I think one was supporting the other and I think they were dating. A couple more (that I knew of) failed a class and had to take a summer remediation somewhere but continued on. One had to repeat the 1st year, but went on to graduate. One left in 4th year to pursue a business venture.
So only 2 kicked out for cheating. I’m not aware of anyone failing the USMLE and not advancing.
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Interesting. Were they helping each other during exams or something?
 
We had one in our class. Sadly, as you may have guessed, it had more to do with untreated mental illness than “professionalism” per say. It’s a shame, but after multiple issues and i’m sure a whole lot of meetings, nothing was improving and the student got the boot. Last I heard the student started an MPH with a goal to reapply, but who knows what ended up happening.

A few others left my class, but of their own accord. My school definitely goes above and beyond to help people succeed.
 
We have 1 who is gone, I don't know the full story. I always feel ghoulish asking because I did not know him well.
 
Matthew9Thirtyfive said:
Our former associate dean of admissions went over data he’s collected on that stuff for our school. Apparently at our school, the likelihood of passing boards and completing med school isn’t significantly different once you get over 500. So there is some correlation but only at sub 50th %ile.
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Yeah our data is like that too.
 
I would say most make it through with some with bumps on the road. usually US MD- DO schools, I would guess is 5% wont make it or repeat a year. Thats what it was in our school. I remember few of the people who i did not expect to fail to have had difficulty with courses. Its more common than you think. Everyone in med school is very prideful, if they had difficulty most people keep it to themselves.
 
For my current class:
Dismissed for professionalism 1
Dismissed for failing repeated year 3 (they were in the class above me)
Repeating a year ~7
Withdrawal ~3
LOA 1

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libertyyne said:

This is an interesting read about attrition in osteopathic schools, because the graphs and charts are confusing and dont match up to the first chart, and I end up questioning if they are actually being honest in their reporting
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The attrition at DO schools is higher than people want to think. My school rarely kicks anyone out, I think we had 2 leave because of academics, but they will remediate people forever. There are multiple people in my class, and the class below, who should have already graduated by now but were repeatedly held back because the school didn't think they'd pass COMLEX or they kept failing classes.

It wouldn't surprise me if new DO schools had an attrition that was very close to 15-20%, although the ones that actually get kicked out would be much smaller, probably around 5%.
 
AnatomyGrey12 said:
It wouldn't surprise me if new DO schools had an attrition that was very close to 15-20%, although the ones that actually get kicked out would be much smaller, probably around 5%.
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Pretty much spot on hypothesis, based upon what I've seen.

Besides academics or mental health issues, also add to reasons for repeating a year:
physical illness
pregnancy
 
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