Advice Needed - Failed Course

[M1medhr]

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Hi everyone, I'm new here and I am hoping I could get some advice.


Basically I screwed up in Cells and Tissues (although I will hopefully pass Gross) and I am going to fail. I have the option of taking a year end exam to remediate, but the failure will go on my transcript. I know why I failed and I've taken steps to ensure this will not happen again. But now I'm faced with a choice. I could fail the course and go on to second year through the cumulative year end exam, but I have some telling me that the failure on my record will kill any chance I have of getting a good residency, even if I do well in everything else. I have others telling me things aren't quite that bad. I need someone who knows (a resident, 4th year, attending, someone) to basically give it to me straight... what are my chances of a good residency?

I have the option to drop the course before I fail and split my M1 year into 2 years, so I would be graduating in 5 years. This way a failure will never go on my record and I can finish my M1 year at a slower pace. I really don't want to do this, but if I don't have a good shot at a good residency otherwise, then what choice do I have?

 

[TexasPhysician]

By good residency....what do you mean? Are you trying to match in ortho surg or a good program in peds?

 

[cpants]

Take the test and pull out a pass. Saving one mark on your transcript isn't worth redoing a whole year. All that time, all that money. Just do better in the future, and you'll be fine for residency.

 

[GreenShirt]

I'm only an MSII but I think that taking two years to complete your first year of medical school would look worse than having failed one course to a residency director. You'd have to explain to them why you took 5yrs to complete medical school and the issue of your near failure would come up. The extra tuition you would have to pay is not worth it unless you really need to spread out your courses over two years to keep up.

 

[njbmd]

Hi everyone, I'm new here and I am hoping I could get some advice.


Basically I screwed up in Cells and Tissues (although I will hopefully pass Gross) and I am going to fail. I have the option of taking a year end exam to remediate, but the failure will go on my transcript. I know why I failed and I've taken steps to ensure this will not happen again. But now I'm faced with a choice. I could fail the course and go on to second year through the cumulative year end exam, but I have some telling me that the failure on my record will kill any chance I have of getting a good residency, even if I do well in everything else. I have others telling me things aren't quite that bad. I need someone who knows (a resident, 4th year, attending, someone) to basically give it to me straight... what are my chances of a good residency?

I have the option to drop the course before I fail and split my M1 year into 2 years, so I would be graduating in 5 years. This way a failure will never go on my record and I can finish my M1 year at a slower pace. I really don't want to do this, but if I don't have a good shot at a good residency otherwise, then what choice do I have?

You still have more medical school in front of you than behind you. That being said, you can resolve to remediate anything that you need to remediate, have a strong second year and then do well on Step I. In terms of residency, if you have a very strong second year coupled with an excellent Step I score, you head into year three with a good record behind you.

Do well in year 3 and you could still have a shot at a very good residency especially in something like medicine, peds, psychiatry or path. You could still match into a more competitive specialty (especially if your Step I is strong) such as surgery, anesthesia, EM or even rads. I would say that Derm and Orth might be a stretch (you might need a department chair to do some calls for you) but I have seen folks match into Ortho that had a rough start first year.

In short, work hard from here on out and put this behind you. Your first year grades are pretty low in terms of what residency program directors emphasize. Also realize that you may find that with a strong performance in what is left of medical school, you are in better shape than many of your classmates. Good luck!

 

[upairman]

I would definately try to pass the cumulative exam, and not repeat the whole year. Repeating first year won't help out your board scores that much, and in reality, cell structure and function has a lot of information but is not nearly as important as other classes you will be taking. I'm sorry to hear that you are in this situation, but realize that it happens to a lot of people, and they all go on to become physicians. Most people will end up having some bump in the road for their residency application, and just try to keep doing well in everything else and you will be fine. Don't stress on getting into a certain residency right now, it won't help your situation. If you have low stats for something that you want, there are always ways to boost your app if you are willing to work for it. Good luck!

 

[M1medhr]

I'm interested in EM or Gen Surg, or maybe a some IM specialty, but I'm not sure. I am interested in some of the bigger, some would say more competitive, hospital systems in Chicago and New York, so I really don't know. I just can't believe that 1 remediated course can screw me over this much...

 

[njbmd]

I'm interested in EM or Gen Surg, or maybe a some IM specialty, but I'm not sure. I am interested in some of the bigger, some would say more competitive, hospital systems in Chicago and New York, so I really don't know. I just can't believe that 1 remediated course can screw me over this much...

Third-year problems = big problems
First-year problems = adjustment problems (much less of a problem)

The impact of remediating this class largely depends on what you do after this point. If you continue to struggle, then this remediation looms larger. If you correct your problems, do excellent and keep moving forward, especially with a very strong Step I, you will be fine.

There are many medical students/physicians out there who had some struggles early on in medical school. They solved their problems and kept moving forward. A failure in first year is hardly fatal. Just don't have any more.

 

[GoLakers310]

keep your head up! Try not to fail again