Administrative Obstacles after disclosing Sobriety

[4MySisDoc]

....

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[Goro]

Where's the wise @WingedOx when you need him????

 

[DokterMom]

I see two main possibilities here --

• One is that your interpretation of the circumstances, actions and motivations is correct and multiple professors are going to extraordinary lengths to keep you from having the grades to gain acceptance into medical school. If this is the case, I suggest you sincerely try to understand why this would be as most of the time, professors genuinely want to see their students succeed, and overcoming a substance abuse problem would be considered part of that success.
• A second interpretation is that you are not interpreting things correctly and are being paranoid. I had a hard time following all of the who-did-whats and history of withdrawals, but it sounds like a bit of a reactionary mess.

In either case, it does sound like another career path would be advisable.

 

[4MySisDoc]

I see two main possibilities here --

• One is that your interpretation of the circumstances, actions and motivations is correct and multiple professors are going to extraordinary lengths to keep you from having the grades to gain acceptance into medical school. If this is the case, I suggest you sincerely try to understand why this would be as most of the time, professors genuinely want to see their students succeed, and overcoming a substance abuse problem would be considered part of that success.
• A second interpretation is that you are not interpreting things correctly and are being paranoid. I had a hard time following all of the who-did-whats and history of withdrawals, but it sounds like a bit of a reactionary mess.

In either case, it does sound like another career path would be advisable.

Thank you DokterMom.
I have letters of recommendation from all other professors. Once the disclosure is made the discrimination comes. Just part of it and makes it all worth it in the end.

 

[futuredoc19950001]

Morning everyone.
I am in need of help. Below is my journey in an email I'd recently written to a close friend and I need strategic assistance. I've changed the names of the schools but all input and advice is appreciated! My dream is to take courses and not have to worry about administrative obstacles!


Dear Doctor James.

My sobriety date is 10/21/2011, my senior year [in Undergrad college] after driving under the influence. My degree is in Psychology and after graduation I worked for a fortune 100 company. During the last year my younger sister, who has autism spectrum and asperger’s, went to the hospital 5 times in 6 months for major depression and suicide after trying a new psychiatry drug..

I resigned to volunteer in a lab on female suicide genetics and to start at a post bac to get into medical school with her as my motivation. I received a 3.74 in my post bac with strong letters of recommendation from my professors. [My medical school of choice] recommended the [Local graduate] program and I had met with the director to share my story 3 times before applying in the fall. After I disclosed the misdeanor before submission I was rejected from the program, but other reasons were given, although I was told before these wouldn’t be an issue..

I was accepted at [Another institution] (they didn’t ask about misdeamnors) and tried to defer for Spring admission since I didn’t have the funds or connections and decided to give [the local community college] another 6 month chance to reapply. I enrolled in graduate courses since this was the path recommended..

I’ve run into obstacles since disclosing the misdemeanor – my psychology teacher mentioned alcoholism a few times in the first few classes and was discouraging to me when I met in private with her. I am nailing her exams but noticed the inflations aren’t being given to mine as the other students, whom she is averaging 95-100 scores with and mine she is making C’s. My other psychology teacher (I worked on Alzheimers genes all summer in the lab) also was discouraging. After getting almost all questions right on his multiple choice exams, he was taking off 6-7 points on my essays to take it down a letter grade and was only averaging taking off 1-2 points for every other student in class. I had an A on all tests but after the points deducted it was a B. I took the evidence to both professors and they became angry and accused me of having Asperger’s, ADHD, and anxiety in response. I am under impression that they were on the small graduate admissions committee that reviewed my application and didn’t want me to be accepted so are altering my grades on the qualitative portions of their exams to prevent me from having an A..

I presented the evidence and the discrimination to the psychology program director and requested a refund after I was told I had aspergers. I also stated I would withdraw and go to [the other institution I was accepted] since I knew the same thing could happen again in future courses that had qualitative components if I stayed. The director said he would review it but two days later he said he didn’t feel the evidence was strong enough. I withdrew after our conversation in antipation of getting away from the discrimination, but the director had met with the professors already. Both professors relatiated, giving an F (My grade was an 84% after I feel the evidence shows it was a 93%), and the other professor gave an F (my grade was a 70%, but I Feel evidence shows it should’ve been an 88%)..

I had withdrawn twice prior throughout the semester after each exam (we’ve had two so far) because I knew I was not missing many or any questions and I knew what they were doing. I received an expungement authorization the first time from the graduate department after the first withdrawal but the associate registrar wouldn’t honor it since she felt I had withdrawn past the deadline and it was for not being in class (This obviously is not the case but I had used this as a negotiation strategy to get her to make an exceptioon. I also didn’t mention the discrimination to her in response since I feel she would discriminate herself once she knew I had a misdemeanor).

I need procedural and strategic help. Both professors retaliated after I withdrew giving F’s. .

I am needing to know the proper strategy. I have been discriminated before for being in recovery but this is the first time in a community graduate academic setting. This time the object of discrimination that is being targeted is my GPA – all I have for medical school – and it's being purposefully altered..

Can I ask what you think I should do? I know what's important and I have the energy and drive, but I need to know where to put it..

I will do everything I can!.

Yours sincerely,.

4MySisDoc.

Just so I'm clear, youre saying these professors purposely sabotaged you just because you revealed you had a DUI?

 

[leonardoson]

I don't even know where to start. I would not suggest going to med school if everytime you get points taken off you think it's unfair. Have you tried talking to the professors and ask WHY you lost points? Professors appreciate coming from a place of learning and growth instead of entitlement. Maybe other people aren't getting inflations, but are producing more quality work than you are. It was most likely not a you vs. them situation, but you turned it into that.

 

[Robin-jay]

OP could be correct in his assessment, or he could be wrong. We'll never know. The question is what to do now, and I honestly don't have a good answer for that. Having a DUI could be a problem, but be fortunate its a misdemeanor in your case and not a felony. Something about you seems to indicate paranoia. Although, again, you could be correct in your assessments.

2011 was a long time ago, and most programs, including medical schools, may even look past a misdemeanor DUI with a perfect conduct record since. I'm not sure though.

Seems like you need to be less on the offense when you are talking to these professors and the dean. Try to come across as an individual that genuinely wants to know if your record has had any impacts on their grading styles. Act considerate and they should be more understanding.

Maybe take a couple steps back, calm down, reapply to a new place, and start the trek again.

 

[Goro]

I don't even know where to start. I would not suggest going to med school if everytime you get points taken off you think it's unfair. Have you tried talking to the professors and ask WHY you lost points? Professors appreciate coming from a place of learning and growth instead of entitlement. Maybe other people aren't getting inflations, but are producing more quality work than you are. It was most likely not a you vs. them situation, but you turned it into that.

Why do think I called Winged Ox for a consult?

 

[ak-aka-dak]

OP, did you see EVERYONE elses’s tests and read their answers? That statement leads me to think you are being paranoid about the situation. In all likelihood, your instructors have no idea about your DUI and instead, your answers were not thorough/correct enough to receive more points. Your logic that your instructors were on the admissions committee and are purposefully giving you low scores due to something that happened in your life 7 years makes no sense because they could have just rejected your application if the DUI bothered them that much.

I commend you for staying sober and going back to school. I hope you can find peace with your grades and perhaps get the F grades changed to WP’s if you play your cards right, which would involve being humble, accepting your grades at face value, and having a valid life reason for the withdrawals.