Dismissed from my school

[dstroy]

I was recently dismissed from my medical school for academic reasons. I appealed the decision but it was upheld. I had finished most of my rotations for the third year but due to failing one rotation, previously repeating the second year, and taking two attempts to pass Step 1, the committee decided to dismiss me.

I don't know where to go from here. One idea is to try to enroll at a Caribbean medical school to finish my clinical rotations. However, if this is even possible, I understand that my chances of matching into a residency are seriously damaged by my dismissal.

Another idea would be to try to enter a PA program. These are also quite competitive and I don't know what my chances would be given this academic situation.

I would like to hear any thoughts on my situation and advice about what might be the better option.

Thanks.

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[NonTradJp]

Hi Dstroy. Sorry I don't have any advice since I'm still a pre-med. But I just want to lend you a virtual ear and a shoulder.

 

[deleted480308]

I don't have any advice, but just wanted to say I'm sorry you are going through this

 

[zeppelinpage4]

So sorry dstroy, I can't imagine how tough it must be to need to walk away from something you worked so hard for.

Only thing I can suggest is that, if you haven't already...I'd do some soul searching to try and figure out why you had difficulties in med school and how to address them, so the same problems don't hurt you in the next path you pursue.

Sorry I don't have much more advice than that, but hopefully with some more details another forum member can help.

 

[WinslowPringle]

1. I'm very sorry you are going through this. It is difficult and I wish you the best.
2. Please don't go Caribbean. You (probably) already have a decent amount of debt; going Caribbean will only increase that and you won't be able to get a residency in the US - not after a Step 1 failure, repeating second year, and a failed clerkship leading to dismissal from a US school. Please don't even think about Caribbean.
3. Get support - this is a mentally/emotionally taxing time. Make sure you have some sort of support - family/friends/mental health counselor/psychiatrist/whatever - to provide a healthy perspective and help you cope well.
4. Deal with the why. Were there major family issues? Undiagnosed depression/ADHD/PTSD/etc? Did you not study enough/were your methods not right? Figuring out why (and why now and not in undergrad) may help you plan your future course.
5. Decide where you want to go from here. Is medicine the only thing you can imagine yourself doing? In that case, I would personally get a paying job in a fairly entry level position (CNA, phlebotomist, scribe) to better asses my goals and help with the finances; nursing may be an option for a degree program that you could complete in a good time frame. PA school, as you mentioned, is competitive. I don't know what your chances would be now. But it might be wise to assess careers outside medicine - what about teaching, pharmaceutical sales, research? What about rad tech? MBA? Epidemiology? There are other options out there for you. Good luck!

 

[PikminOC]

I was recently dismissed from my medical school for academic reasons. I appealed the decision but it was upheld. I had finished most of my rotations for the third year but due to failing one rotation, previously repeating the second year, and taking two attempts to pass Step 1, the committee decided to dismiss me.

I don't know where to go from here. One idea is to try to enroll at a Caribbean medical school to finish my clinical rotations. However, if this is even possible, I understand that my chances of matching into a residency are seriously damaged by my dismissal.

Another idea would be to try to enter a PA program. These are also quite competitive and I don't know what my chances would be given this academic situation.

I would like to hear any thoughts on my situation and advice about what might be the better option.

Thanks.

Are you sure there wasn't another reason? You were really far into it...

 

[tiedyeddog]

With multiple Step failures, a repeated year, and now a dismissal even if you get into a carrib school you won't match by the end. Sorry about the position you are now in OP.

I think your first priority should be to decide if you want a career in a medical field or not. If you do, nursing is a viable option with possibly getting an NP down the road. I would think PA, Dental, Pharm are all out the window due to the previous dismissal from a professional program. You might be able to find a PA school that would take you, I don't know.

 

[BW15]

Sorry to hear about the situation you are in, it is a very difficult situation to be in.

The very first thing you should do is contact your medical school and ask to speak with several different counselors to see if they can help you in any way. You should ask them if they will help you transfer your credits to their own nursing program, PA program, dental hygienist program, etc. Then you should contact the nursing, PA, etc, programs at your institution to see if they can help you any further. Your medical school should help offer some advice as to what students in this situation typically do.

Sometimes something just isn't meant to be, no matter how hard you try, it doesn't work out. It may be a blessing in disguise, but its still a very difficult situation. Consider other fields like Social work, Masters in health administration, etc.

Do not go to the Caribbean, because as others have said, it will be very difficult to get a residency position.

 

[operaman]

I was recently dismissed from my medical school for academic reasons. I appealed the decision but it was upheld. I had finished most of my rotations for the third year but due to failing one rotation, previously repeating the second year, and taking two attempts to pass Step 1, the committee decided to dismiss me.

I don't know where to go from here. One idea is to try to enroll at a Caribbean medical school to finish my clinical rotations. However, if this is even possible, I understand that my chances of matching into a residency are seriously damaged by my dismissal.

Another idea would be to try to enter a PA program. These are also quite competitive and I don't know what my chances would be given this academic situation.

I would like to hear any thoughts on my situation and advice about what might be the better option.

Thanks.

Progress committees take the decision to dismiss someone very seriously because they understand the gravity of what it means. It's rare to dismiss someone so close to the finish line, and given what a cakewalk 4th year is, you were basically standing next to the goal line. My spidey sense says there is a little more to this story. I know some schools have policies about how long you have to finish the degree -- usually 6 years unless you're doing a PhD or other advanced degree. I can't make your story add up to more than 6 years, so I doubt that's what happened here.

Your best bet is to convince your school to give you another chance to remediate the failed rotation and complete your degree. I know this sounds impossible, but everything is negotiable. Your best move would be to fix the underlying issues that led to your failure and begin to quietly develop relationships with faculty who will advocate for you. You've had a rough time through school, but if you had any really strong faculty relationships, now is the time to see who might step up to bat for you.

They key in appealing at this point is to put together a plan that takes responsibility for what happened and has concrete, measurable steps you can take to fix it. That combined with some faculty support may just give you a shot.

Beyond that, I think your chances at other health professions are slim. Do everything you can possibly do to work things out with your school and fix whatever keeps going wrong.

 

[KHE]

Maybe medicine just isn't the right field for this person. That doesn't mean that they are a bad person or a stupid person or a failure or anything like that. Maybe they're just a bit of a square peg in a round hole here. There's no shame in saying "I gave it my best shot and it just didn't work out" and moving on.

 

[PikminOC]

Op has a lawyer to help with this process?

 

[Donald Juan]

I just want to confirm the sentiment already stated above: do not go Caribbean. With your track record you almost assuredly will never match. If you can't get your school to appeal the decision, I think you will sadly have to forget about the doctor dreams and move on with your life. I'm sure you're a reasonably intelligent person to have made it this far, with some resolve you should be able to find a successful and rewarding career somewhere else, in another medical aspect or even outside of medicine. Best of luck to you!

 

[W19]

Try PA or pharmacy. I personally think that your best shot will be pharmacy... If that does not work, do an accelerated BSN and then NP. Your situation is one the worst situation that someone could be in as student. I certainly wish you find a way out of this... As many already said above, don't go carib since you might have a hard time finding residency.