Does a "W" on your medschool transcript look bad?

[Sheral]

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Hi,


I'm taking path 2 which I think I might have to drop. Does it look really bad if there's a "W" on my medical school transcript to the admission directors?

Thanks

 

[criminallyinane]

Hi,


I'm taking path 2 which I think I might have to drop. Does it look really bad if there's a "W" on my medical school transcript to the admission directors?

Thanks

Do you mean your college transcript? If not, what admissions directors are you worried about if you are in medical school?

 

[thehomez66]

Hi,


I'm taking path 2 which I think I might have to drop. Does it look really bad if there's a "W" on my medical school transcript to the admission directors?

Thanks

The head of our Biology Department at my school told us that it was ok to have up to 2 "W's" on our transcripts, as long as you have a fairly decent reason as to why you withdrew from the class.

I had 1 on my application and recently picked up another but I still got in and the W came up on one of my interviews but wasn't that big of a deal.

So basically I wouldn't worry about it.

 

[Sheral]

I'm talking about dropping a class in medical school.....will that look bad to the hospital admission directors when applying for residency?

 

[tupac_don]

I'm talking about dropping a class in medical school.....will that look bad to the hospital admission directors when applying for residency?

Yep you are pretty much out of running for derm, plastcis, opht or radiology. Get ready to be an FP or IM doc.



































































p.s. I am just kidding, I don't know how it will affect you, probably will have some effect but if you have really good grades overall, unlikely to affect u, also depends what type of residency u are applying for.

 

[lotanna]

I'm talking about dropping a class in medical school.....will that look bad to the hospital admission directors when applying for residency?

It depends, I know many people who failed a class/es, had to drop/retake classes, and ended up doing residencies in stuff like general surgery, radiology and stuff. Guaranteed it might affect hard to get programs like urology or neurodurgery, but dont forget your step I scores, and clinical rotations matter a whole lot. We all struggle at some point, in some fashion, if we didnt, then this wouldnt be a challenging field.

 

[PathOne]

Failing or withdrawing from med sch classes isn't the norm, so while it's not going to ruin your entire future, it will probably be good to have some offsetting outperformance somewhere, if applying for a competitive residency. If you're applying for a noncompetitive residency, I can't see it'll make much of a difference (providing you get a good grade when retaking the class, and doesn't have any other academic issues).

 

[phoenixsupra]

Hi,


I'm taking path 2 which I think I might have to drop. Does it look really bad if there's a "W" on my medical school transcript to the admission directors?

Thanks

Wait. What do you mean you "might" have to drop. The summester's only half way through. How bad did you flunk the first test? What do you need on the final to pass? Is your class curved. You're better off scraping a pass than repeating the class. What are you using to study? Have you spoken to the deans/course director about what you can to. There's a lot of running left in the race if you still want to pass. 🙂

 

[Sheral]

Wait. What do you mean you "might" have to drop. The summester's only half way through. How bad did you flunk the first test? What do you need on the final to pass? Is your class curved. You're better off scraping a pass than repeating the class. What are you using to study? Have you spoken to the deans/course director about what you can to. There's a lot of running left in the race if you still want to pass. 🙂

Ok, I just typed up a response and it accidentally got deleted so I'm mad but let me try this again.....

My test scores haven't been that great, let's just say test 1 and test 2 were in the 60's. I basially have to score 80's on the next 2 exams. Now here's the tricky part-up till now I didn't think the final was cumulative, but my proff "just informed us" that the final is going to be cum! It doesn't say it in the course syllobus, they just decided that it was going to be that way. I'm also taking pharm, genetics, and a pt doc class.....

I'm studing using Goljan and my path lecture notes.....do you think it's possible to know liver, head and neck path, a little derm, and esophagus, and stomach path in a week? It's over 500 slides with tons pictures for the exam. I need help...

Any opinions? Should i just drop now and get it over with? The drop period is in 1 week. Thanks

 

[2TIM4:7]

Ok, I just typed up a response and it accidentally got deleted so I'm mad but let me try this again.....

My test scores haven't been that great, let's just say test 1 and test 2 were in the 60's. I basially have to score 80's on the next 2 exams. Now here's the tricky part-up till now I didn't think the final was cumulative, but my proff "just informed us" that the final is going to be cum! It doesn't say it in the course syllobus, they just decided that it was going to be that way. I'm also taking pharm, genetics, and a pt doc class.....

I'm studing using Goljan and my path lecture notes.....do you think it's possible to know liver, head and neck path, a little derm, and esophagus, and stomach path in a week? It's over 500 slides with tons pictures for the exam. I need help...

Any opinions? Should i just drop now and get it over with? The drop period is in 1 week. Thanks

How much have you studied in the past? and if you have studied a lot in the past and still achieved 60s, then unfortunately the trend will continue.

if you have studied with the concepts of gross, histological, risk factors, disease associations, prognosis, etc (the major themes of path) in the past, then again the trend of 60s will continue. unless, you change the way you study or the time put into it, you cannot expect the outcome to be drastically different.

best of luck with your decision. (your last couple of sentences in the above statement says volumes on your lack of motivation and confidence in yourself. there is a big hint of self defeatism already in your tone. i don't believe you believe in yourself.)

 

[phoenixsupra]

Ok, I just typed up a response and it accidentally got deleted so I'm mad but let me try this again.....

My test scores haven't been that great, let's just say test 1 and test 2 were in the 60's. I basially have to score 80's on the next 2 exams. Now here's the tricky part-up till now I didn't think the final was cumulative, but my proff "just informed us" that the final is going to be cum! It doesn't say it in the course syllobus, they just decided that it was going to be that way. I'm also taking pharm, genetics, and a pt doc class.....

I'm studing using Goljan and my path lecture notes.....do you think it's possible to know liver, head and neck path, a little derm, and esophagus, and stomach path in a week? It's over 500 slides with tons pictures for the exam. I need help...

Any opinions? Should i just drop now and get it over with? The drop period is in 1 week. Thanks

No don't drop. 80 is doable in path if you work your tail off. But you need to change your approach drastically. At my school they don't let you keep the exams so there are no past papers available and the format is a big mystery. Is that the same where you are?

Fortunately the path cource is exactly the same everywhere and is the stuff you need for the boards with some added detail. Get as many multi-choice questions as you can and practice a whole lot. The notes you get in path are totally verbose and are difficult to get through. Basically for each disease you only need to know about six buzzwords or so and reading through paragraphs for each disease is a waste of time. Get BRS path if you don't have it already. It has every thing you need. Use that as a text and write in any extra factoids from your notes. There wont be many.

My school scared the crap out of us too, telling us the final was cumulative. Turned out that it was only slightly cumulative and the stuff from the first half was major stuff in much less detail.

Forget about the actual glass slides they're a waste of time. But if they give out a small 'sample' exam slide box, spend some time on that.

And for the slide show part where you identify histo samples on an overhead screen. Use whatever computer sample library you are offered, and go over them again and again and again and again. Use that as a break from studying for the written part. Alternate between the two. Use each as a break from the other.

And spend basically all your damn time doing this. You'll be glad when it's time for step 1 (which is mostly path). Really immerse yourself in that crap and train yourself like a dog. I bet you'll do way better than 80. Good luck. 🙂

 

[Sheral]

No don't drop. 80 is doable in path if you work your tail off. But you need to change your approach drastically. At my school they don't let you keep the exams so there are no past papers available and the format is a big mystery. Is that the same where you are?

Fortunately the path cource is exactly the same everywhere and is the stuff you need for the boards with some added detail. Get as many multi-choice questions as you can and practice a whole lot. The notes you get in path are totally verbose and are difficult to get through. Basically for each disease you only need to know about six buzzwords or so and reading through paragraphs for each disease is a waste of time. Get BRS path if you don't have it already. It has every thing you need. Use that as a text and write in any extra factoids from your notes. There wont be many.

My school scared the crap out of us too, telling us the final was cumulative. Turned out that it was only slightly cumulative and the stuff from the first half was major stuff in much less detail.

Forget about the actual glass slides they're a waste of time. But if they give out a small 'sample' exam slide box, spend some time on that.

And for the slide show part where you identify histo samples on an overhead screen. Use whatever computer sample library you are offered, and go over them again and again and again and again. Use that as a break from studying for the written part. Alternate between the two. Use each as a break from the other.

And spend basically all your damn time doing this. You'll be glad when it's time for step 1 (which is mostly path). Really immerse yourself in that crap and train yourself like a dog. I bet you'll do way better than 80. Good luck. 🙂

Thanks so much for all your responses, I'll keep you all up to date on what happens 🙂 Some of you hit right on target, I have been slacking a bit lately, so I needed that extra push. Thanks again for the advice.