General Does High School Matter?

[Question]

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Hi! I recently was interviewed for an MD-PhD program. One of my interviewers said that he had concerns about me because I withdrew from a class when I was in high school. This was a dual enrollment course from when I was a high school junior. I withdrew when I didn't think I could do well. However, I was still able to earn two associates degrees (including one in science) by the time I finished high school. I later took the course again in my first year of college and earned an A. I was surprised by the interviewer bringing this up because I didn't think grad schools cared about high school. The rest of the interview went very well and the interviewer said he was excited to see where I'd go in terms of career/life. My other interviews went very well. I was just rejected though. Did high school really matter?

— Experts please respond to this post —

 

[Mr.Smile12]

We don't usually care about what you did in high school, but anything on a transcript is fair game. We are more interested how you respond. We cannot control what an individual interviewer asks, but if that was enough to get you rejected from that program, it stinks to be at that MSTP program. 🙁

 

[GoSpursGo]

Suspect they were just asking about a W without realizing it was a dual enrollment course from HS.

Unlikely this is the reason you haven't yet been accepted