Exactly how big a deal is failing a course?

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wellbutrin.girlfriend

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Welp, in case you couldn't guess from the title, I just failed a course. I'll be able to retake it over the summer which will "fix" my GPA, but the F will stay on my transcript. I always hear that, unless you want derm or something extra competitive, GPA doesn't matter when applying to residency. What about Fs on a transcript? Is it true that residency programs will filter out applicants who have failed a course? If so, how common is this practice?

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Unless you have many failed classes. 1 failure that is remediated is not going to be a big deal.
 
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Depends on the course, somewhat.
Might cost you an interview or two. Might get you some hard questions on interviews. But isn’t the end of your application.
 
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Depends on the course, somewhat.
Might cost you an interview or two. Might get you some hard questions on interviews. But isn’t the end of your application.
Interesting, thanks for your answer. Can you elaborate a little bit more? In my case, it's just a 2.5 unit immuno course. Would it matter more if it was, say, neuro or like path or pharm next year? Or greater units? Or related to the specialty I'm interested in?

Also, if it is brought up in interviews, would you say it will be easier to address as long as I stay on the straight and narrow for the rest of didactics?
 
I didn't even know it was possible to have many failed classes before getting the boot!
I know someone who managed to fail our basic science course every semester for the first 2 years, but always managed to remediate those failures successfully. They passed COMLEX level 1 and 2 on their first try though, no Step exams, and they matched IM at a decent comuniversity program that they auditioned at. They were also a very friendly and sociable person.
 
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Welp, in case you couldn't guess from the title, I just failed a course. I'll be able to retake it over the summer which will "fix" my GPA, but the F will stay on my transcript. I always hear that, unless you want derm or something extra competitive, GPA doesn't matter when applying to residency. What about Fs on a transcript? Is it true that residency programs will filter out applicants who have failed a course? If so, how common is this practice?
While I don't think it will crush an application or prevent you from matching, but I also would not qualify a failing as "GPA doesn't matter when applying to residency." Residency matching is becoming more and more competitive as a whole, so, do not fail another course, especially if you later decide that you want to apply to something competitive.
 
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I know someone who managed to fail our basic science course every semester for the first 2 years, but always managed to remediate those failures successfully. They passed COMLEX level 1 and 2 on their first try though, no Step exams, and they matched IM at a decent comuniversity program that they auditioned at. They were also a very friendly and sociable person.
How does someone fail a "basic science course" every semester for 2 years....and manage to match?
 
It’s fine as long as you’re not going for derm/surgical subs. You might get screened out of some academic places in other specialties. But in general, med school’s hard AF. People fail stuff when they’re still trying to figure it out. The people interviewing you in a couple years know this.
 
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Interesting, thanks for your answer. Can you elaborate a little bit more? In my case, it's just a 2.5 unit immuno course. Would it matter more if it was, say, neuro or like path or pharm next year? Or greater units? Or related to the specialty I'm interested in?

Also, if it is brought up in interviews, would you say it will be easier to address as long as I stay on the straight and narrow for the rest of didactics?

Not sure how credits work at your school but yes, I’d think a small credit course would matter less than something “major” like 10 credits of anatomy or neuro or something.

Some programs that can afford to have an “absolutely no failures” policy might screen you out, but I doubt that’s common except among the higher tiers.

The above is all speculation.

In terms of interviews- just be able to explain why it happened and how you improved to make it not happen again.
 
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How does someone fail a "basic science course" every semester for 2 years....and manage to match?
It involves a lot of luck, and being a very likable person. Also not failing their boards.
 
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While I don't think it will crush an application or prevent you from matching, but I also would not qualify a failing as "GPA doesn't matter when applying to residency." Residency matching is becoming more and more competitive as a whole, so, do not fail another course, especially if you later decide that you want to apply to something competitive.
Thanks for your reply. Just to clarify-- I did not mean to qualify a failing with GPA doesn't matter in my initial question. The subtext here is that I have been told that I shouldn't worry about getting a C because that doesn't matter, but that an F is an entirely different beast and I wasn't sure how much of a liability that is.

That said, with what you're saying about residency becoming more competitive, do you think GPA will matter more outside of competitive specialities?
 
Thanks for your reply. Just to clarify-- I did not mean to qualify a failing with GPA doesn't matter in my initial question. The subtext here is that I have been told that I shouldn't worry about getting a C because that doesn't matter, but that an F is an entirely different beast and I wasn't sure how much of a liability that is.

That said, with what you're saying about residency becoming more competitive, do you think GPA will matter more outside of competitive specialities?
I don't know if each school is different, but usually they don't put F as your grade if you pass your remediation. My school marks it as an X, which is equivalent to a C, to mean that the course was remediated successfully. Either way like I said before one failure is not gonna be the end of the world.
 
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Thanks for your reply. Just to clarify-- I did not mean to qualify a failing with GPA doesn't matter in my initial question. The subtext here is that I have been told that I shouldn't worry about getting a C because that doesn't matter, but that an F is an entirely different beast and I wasn't sure how much of a liability that is.

That said, with what you're saying about residency becoming more competitive, do you think GPA will matter more outside of competitive specialities?
The most important thing for you to do now is put the failure behind you and make sure you work your butt off and not have any more failures.

Study hard for your steps (Yes, you need to take them as a DO if you want to be competitive). Kill your rotations, make sure you secure mentors and strong letters via well-known people in the field you want to go into, research if necessary, etc. Do all of that and your failure will likely be a small bump in the road.

Best of luck.
 
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It is a big deal. There are residencies that won't look at your app. There are others that will not rank you. Then there's one that will rank you low. Quite honestly, I'd make sure to get a backup specialty if you're planning something competitive
 
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Depends on the course, somewhat.
Might cost you an interview or two. Might get you some hard questions on interviews. But isn’t the end of your application.
I agree. With an otherwise good application it is not going to hurt you that much. Do well on Step and COMLEX and put it behind you.
 
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Not a big deal at all. Failed a course year 1 (a 'big' one, Biochemistry). Remediated successfully. Average board scores on both USMLE and COMLEX. Applied to a medium-competitive specialty, got just under 30 interviews. Matched at #1. Was never once asked about it during interviews.

There is literally nothing 'special' about my application either. Anyone telling you it's a big deal have no clue what they are talking about. You'll be fine as long as you pick it up from here on out.
 
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It is a big deal and there are many opportunities (specialties and residencies) that will be closed to you. But it happened and now you have to move on. Try to max out everything going forward and I wish you the best of luck.
 
I don't know if each school is different, but usually they don't put F as your grade if you pass your remediation. My school marks it as an X, which is equivalent to a C, to mean that the course was remediated successfully. Either way like I said before one failure is not gonna be the end of the world.
Something doesn't add up, at most schools you can only remediate soo many classes before your are kicked out.. every semester? they must be the dean's kid or something...
 
As faculty, when reviewing residency applicants (and subsequently, fellowship applicants), I personally don't care if an applicant failed 1-2 pre-clinical courses. If there were more than 1-2, it raises a few questions (nothing that can't be overcome, maybe it was a transition period from undergrad to med school, maybe there was a large gap between undergrad and med school, etc). Failing Step 1 would raise a few eyebrows but again, I would focus on how the applicants did clinically (and what the LORs said, reading in between the lines, standard letter vs glowing personal letter, etc). Overall I try to get the BIG picture of the applicant. I don't want to miss an opportunity to work with an excellent clinician just because that person failed a course or two.

Big picture - no big deal. Reviewing applicants for interviews, during interviews, and during ranking, likely not an issue. Of course that's just my experience (at a mid-tier university program)
 
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As faculty, when reviewing residency applicants (and subsequently, fellowship applicants), I personally don't care if an applicant failed 1-2 pre-clinical courses. If there were more than 1-2, it raises a few questions (nothing that can't be overcome, maybe it was a transition period from undergrad to med school, maybe there was a large gap between undergrad and med school, etc). Failing Step 1 would raise a few eyebrows but again, I would focus on how the applicants did clinically (and what the LORs said, reading in between the lines, standard letter vs glowing personal letter, etc). Overall I try to get the BIG picture of the applicant. I don't want to miss an opportunity to work with an excellent clinician just because that person failed a course or two.

Big picture - no big deal. Reviewing applicants for interviews, during interviews, and during ranking, likely not an issue. Of course that's just my experience (at a mid-tier university program)
Like you said, it's fine at your program, but no way would I ever say it's "no big deal" to fail two courses. Your upper end programs are not going to look favorably on 1-2 failures, they have enough applicants with outstanding apps and zero failures....competitive fields will be even harder to match with multiple fails.
 
Like you said, it's fine at your program, but no way would I ever say it's "no big deal" to fail two courses. Your upper end programs are not going to look favorably on 1-2 failures, they have enough applicants with outstanding apps and zero failures....competitive fields will be even harder to match with multiple fails.
Yeah, but OP said they're not going for anything super competitive. Obviously if they change their mind, then it becomes a major problem. But more people stumble somewhere along the way during preclinicals than you think, as people generally aren't too eager to share that experience. Most of them don't go on to match derm or a top 4 IM program, but it is entirely possible to turn things around and match to a good program in a reasonable specialty.
 
Yeah, but OP said they're not going for anything super competitive. Obviously if they change their mind, then it becomes a major problem. But more people stumble somewhere along the way during preclinicals than you think, as people generally aren't too eager to share that experience. Most of them don't go on to match derm or a top 4 IM program, but it is entirely possible to turn things around and match to a good program in a reasonable specialty.
I agree and see that the OP is not going into a competitive speciality. Today's applicant that is going for the upper end programs and/or going for competitive specialities have really great applications with zero failures, so for any beginning med school students that read these posts, take note.....try not to fail any of your courses and don't take some of the small samples where people here say that they failed and matched, it's no big deal, etc., as being gospel. The competition grows each and every year, eventually even for the non-competitive fields.

Never should you allow yourself to accept mediocrity as being ok, always strive to be great every day!
 
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