Clekship Grade Appeal

[bluejay99]

Hey guys, has anyone ever appealed a rotation grade? Just wondering if anyone has some advice on "do's and dont's" of the process. Thanks!

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[DrSnips]

Hey guys, has anyone ever appealed a clerkship grade? Just wondering if anyone has some advice on "do's and dont's" of the process. Thanks!

I have not appealed a grade, however our school has talked to us about appealing grades, so I'll just summarize what we were told. It is possible your school works differently, so grain of salt as always. There are only a few reasons to appeal the subjective portion of the clerkship grade (which is what I assume you are talking about). The most important thing is bringing the problem to the clerkship director well in advance of when the clerkship ends (otherwise it looks like you are just complaining about receiving a bad grade). Appeals along the lines of "I thought I did a good job but my attending didn't like me" will usually fail. If there was a perceived problem during the clerkship, you need to have taken some action on it prior to grade distribution.

What specifically are you appealing about your grade?

 

[VenusinFurs]

Thanks. This is a 4th year grade so it is entirely subjective. Basically I feel that several of my strengths in the rotation (ex. thorough notes, always being prepared for rounds, good fund of knowledge, etc...) had gone unnoticed. On the other hand, the mistakes I had made (ex. once I forgot to do a minor task) were exaggerated and used to form the basis of my evaluation. I had areas to improve which I discussed with the attending. I made an active effort to respond to the feedback and followed up with the attending who said I indeed made progress. Nonetheless, I received a poor eval in my specialty of choice which I am very passionate about and commited to. I did not have any professionalism issues and this grade is inconsistent with my performance on previous rotations in the same specialty or in the rest of 3rd year.

How bad are we talking?

And how competitive is the specialty?

If you're talking about like a B instead of an A on a relatively less competitive specialty it's not going to make much difference.

 

[cbrons]

I hear the grades they give in 3rd and 4th year are extremely objective.