Facing Possible Dismissal Due To A Very Unique Experience and Am In the Appeal Process. What do y'all think?

[StudyMedMan]

First, thank you to anybody who reads this and takes the time to consider my situation and give me feedback/tips about my chances for appeal.
I will start with an accurate account of what happened leading up to my situation and how I got to this point. This is the last situation I ever saw myself in as I am extremely determined and work hard.
Here is how I got to this point: starting med school in a pandemic has been rough for obvious reasons, but everyone else is dealing with this as well, so it's just something we have to get through. During my first block of school, I overall did well. I got a 3.0 GPA. I remediated one course due to a D, with no difficulty because I knew the material, I just did not prepare enough for one exam. Block 2 I failed the same class again.
I thought about what went wrong over Block 2 and prepared an extensive and detailed plan regarding how I was going to improve my time management and studying efficiency to be able to perform adequately in Block 3. I also explained my situation about running out of my ADHD meds and how my exam scores at the end of block 2 clearly reflected an improvement once I began taking the meds again. I presented this to our school's Promotion Board and they decided to allow me to remediate Pathology for my second time. I was excited and optimistic because I knew I could pass the remediation exam since I had a whole week to fine-tune my weaker spots in the subject from block 2.
However, two days into the Remediation week, I was struck down with the worst fever and illness I have ever had. Then on the 3rd day of remediation week, my girlfriend blindsided me out of nowhere and broke up with me.
So here I was, 3 days into remediation week, and I had a 102-degree fever, was shivering uncontrollably, body aching, and my girlfriend just broke up with me. And I was supposed to be studying for the most crucial exam of my career so far. Seeing as how I had never felt that bad in my entire life, I went to an emergency clinic. The nurse practitioner said I had an enlarged spleen, widespread lymph node swelling in my neck, swollen tonsils, a high fever, and every other classic symptom of mono. So, she did a mono test and it came back negative. Followed by a negative strep test. She said that sometimes it takes more than a week for the mono test to be positive and to come back in a week if symptoms didn't improve. I got her to write a note to my school asking to push back my exam date, which they did. However, they only pushed it back 5 days saying that this was the best they could do. I had already been sick for 6 days. During these 6 days, I had been able to study only 2-3 hour increments before I would become nauseous and sweaty and have to take a nap from exhaustion. These 2-3 hour shifts were not as effective as my normal studying due to the crazy fatigue, muscle aches, and chills that I had. Honestly it took conscious effort just to hold my head up. The morning of my exam, I had been sick for 13 days, had lost about 10 pounds, and was running a 102-degree fever while I took the exam. I ran out of time towards the end of the exam and had to rush through the last problems. I ended up missing one more question than allowed for a "Pass" on the remediation exam. So I was forced to have another hearing with the Promotion Board on my 14th day of fever and sickness, at which I gave a very good, 10 minute presentation.
Ultimately the board is recommending dismissal to my Dean for lacking to demonstrate academic progress. I understand there isn't a lot of "gray area" in these decisions for legal reasons, but I expected the board to take my health condition while preparing for and taking the exam into account, especially when you consider I missed passing by just one question. It should also be considered that it is just one class that I got a D in in block 1, and then failed in block 2 and the rest are fine. And the board had already previously deemed my plan for improving in block 3 to be an effective one when they allowed me to remediate. If I had gotten that one more question right, my abilities would not be getting questioned at all and I would have already started block 3 as normal. Instead, it is now the 18th day I have been sick, I have called the Physician provided to me by my school over 10 times during the last two weeks to try to get an appointment scheduled, and they have told me I can't be seen until Monday. So I still have no idea what is wrong with me, though I suspect mono, and was forced to take the first exam of block 3 just two days after my remediation exam while still sick, despite being a week behind in block 3 classes, and not even sure if I am going to be allowed to continue. Given the fact I was only given two days to prepare for the first block 3 exam, I performed well. I also did well on the first two quizzes of block 3 that I was forced to take on the same day as the exam. Ultimately, I feel like I deserve to move on into block 3 and find it ridiculous that I would be dismissed over missing 1 extra question on the remediation exam given my condition, along with the fact that I got a D and an F in just the one course. So its not even considered failing the course twice, just remediating it twice. I also find it insane that the Physician provided to me by my school has not given me an appointment in 18 days of fever and relatively bad symptoms, and that I have had to take multiple exams, and give two intense presentations to the Promotion Board in such a state. My body is suffering from it being pushed so hard the last 3 weeks and I am 10 pounds lighter and exhausted. However my health seems to be on the rise now and I am insanely determined so I am still studying as if I was already told to continue on with Block 3.
I am sending my appeal letter to my Dean soon who is very nice, and has a past record of being very fair, so I am staying optimistic. I have made a very detailed study plan to show them I can catch up in block 3 even if I start behind right now, and I have met twice with a counselor/psychologist the last week to further improve my time management techniques with an approach tailored to student's with ADHD. So far this has given me some very good techniques to begin to practice. I plan on discussing all of the above, as well as my continued efforts to adapt and improve, to my Dean in my letter. I was hoping for some outside opinions on this matter since no one in my family has any clue what this is like, and I have been forced to quarantine in self-isolation by my school for a month now. Any and all opinions are welcome and tips appreciated. I really just want to continue with block 3 and get all of this craziness behind me, but it feels like it has just been dragged out as long as possible.
Thank you so much if you took the time to read all this and if you take the time to respond. God bless everyone.

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[Lawpy]

Sorry to hear and i hope things get better

Going to tag @Goro @Angus Avagadro for advice

 

[WhereMyLiberalsAt]

I’m glad you left out some details to keep anonymity...

 

[BobbyKoch]

what a tough situation! sounds like a perfect storm of events, some outside your control and some inside, that landed on you at a terrible time. can you explore taking a medical leave and repeating the year? I know several students at my school who have had their studies interrupted by medical issues who took a leave of absence and came back strong the next year.

also, this is an excellent cautionary tale for people entering medical school who are dealing with ADHD. mid-semester in medical school is NOT the time to think about coming off of meds if they have been working for you. this isn't medical advice--it's logistical life advice. if you are transitioning between practices (peds->adult care) or moving from one state to another where it might be difficult to get your rx filled, figure this out before the semester begins. approvals, referrals, appointments, finding a new doctor...these things can take quite a bit of time. you may very well be able to come off of meds and be perfectly successful at some point, but the crucible of medical school is not a good trial period imo.

best of luck to you, OP.

 

[Hippocrates II]

Just my opinion, but a lot of the things you are saying will just be interpreted as excuses at this point. I'm sure running out of meds had a negative impact on you, but as an adult, people will expect you to stay on top of managing your meds. I'm sure your partner breaking up with you didn't help things, but again, part of life. Getting super sick is an unfortunate situation, but you were on shaky ground by that point, and people naturally become less and less lenient of these things. I think your best bet is to own up to where you've stumbled, lay out exactly how you will address your studying deficits points by point, and hope they buy it. Sorry you're going through this, good luck.

 

[Angus Avagadro]

I'm so very sorry you have experienced this. It's an awful lot to try and manage. Two things as I see it. This is not medical advice, but your health would be my primary concern if I were in your situation. These issues need to be addressed and managed. I have concerns that the tsunami of med school material may be close to overtaking you as your health is optimized. You might approach the school about a leave of absence, regroup and start fresh next year. I realize it's very expensive, but it might be the price of success if your school agrees to it. Failing by one or ten points is still failing and passing by one or ten points is still passing. That's how I think the board will look at it. You are going to have to multitask and get organized in the near future to get your health and academics on track. Again, I'm sorry you are going through this. I wish you nothing but the best. Good luck!

 

[StudyMedMan]

what a tough situation! sounds like a perfect storm of events, some outside your control and some inside, that landed on you at a terrible time. can you explore taking a medical leave and repeating the year? I know several students at my school who have had their studies interrupted by medical issues who took a leave of absence and came back strong the next year.

also, this is an excellent cautionary tale for people entering medical school who are dealing with ADHD. mid-semester in medical school is NOT the time to think about coming off of meds if they have been working for you. this isn't medical advice--it's logistical life advice. if you are transitioning between practices (peds->adult care) or moving from one state to another where it might be difficult to get your rx filled, figure this out before the semester begins. approvals, referrals, appointments, finding a new doctor...these things can take quite a bit of time. you may very well be able to come off of meds and be perfectly successful at some point, but the crucible of medical school is not a good trial period imo.

best of luck to you, OP.

I agree with you about getting everything with the meds worked out before school begins, I regret waiting until mid-block. I will definitely be talking with my dean about a possible medical LOA and restarting the year as I think this would be the best decision for me to have success going forward. Especially now that I am already behind in the next block.

 

[StudyMedMan]

I'm so very sorry you have experienced this. It's an awful lot to try and manage. Two things as I see it. This is not medical advice, but your health would be my primary concern if I were in your situation. These issues need to be addressed and managed. I have concerns that the tsunami of med school material may be close to overtaking you as your health is optimized. You might approach the school about a leave of absence, regroup and start fresh next year. I realize it's very expensive, but it might be the price of success if your school agrees to it. Failing by one or ten points is still failing and passing by one or ten points is still passing. That's how I think the board will look at it. You are going to have to multitask and get organized in the near future to get your health and academics on track. Again, I'm sorry you are going through this. I wish you nothing but the best. Good luck!

Thank you for the response. I agree that taking a medical LOA and starting fresh next year would set me up best for success. I will definitely be offering this proposal to my dean at our meeting.

 

[StudyMedMan]

Just my opinion, but a lot of the things you are saying will just be interpreted as excuses at this point. I'm sure running out of meds had a negative impact on you, but as an adult, people will expect you to stay on top of managing your meds. I'm sure your partner breaking up with you didn't help things, but again, part of life. Getting super sick is an unfortunate situation, but you were on shaky ground by that point, and people naturally become less and less lenient of these things. I think your best bet is to own up to where you've stumbled, lay out exactly how you will address your studying deficits points by point, and hope they buy it. Sorry you're going through this, good luck.

I agree that a lot of this stuff could just be taken as excuses but I made sure to present it to the board in a way that showed I accepted responsibility for being at remediation in the first place, and I did present a very detailed plan on how to improve during my first board hearing and they liked it. The second time around I really had nothing to improve because I simply got very sick. The only shaky ground I was on was one failed course. I am hoping my dean will be more likely than the board to take into account my condition while I took the remediation exam.

 

[Goro]

I'm so very sorry you have experienced this. It's an awful lot to try and manage. Two things as I see it. This is not medical advice, but your health would be my primary concern if I were in your situation. These issues need to be addressed and managed. I have concerns that the tsunami of med school material may be close to overtaking you as your health is optimized. You might approach the school about a leave of absence, regroup and start fresh next year. I realize it's very expensive, but it might be the price of success if your school agrees to it. Failing by one or ten points is still failing and passing by one or ten points is still passing. That's how I think the board will look at it. You are going to have to multitask and get organized in the near future to get your health and academics on track. Again, I'm sorry you are going through this. I wish you nothing but the best. Good luck!

10000% agree.

Go for the LOA and have a remediation plan in place to present to the Dean as part of your appeal.

Also agree with the comments voiced by Hippo. You're an adult now and keeping on top of your meds of your responsibility.

 

[StudyMedMan]

10000% agree.

Go for the LOA and have a remediation plan in place to present to the Dean as part of your appeal.

Also agree with the comments voiced by Hippo. You're an adult now and keeping on top of your meds of your responsibility.

Thank you for your response. I definitely understand that it is my responsibility to keep up with my meds, and that is why I was not even going to include that part in my presentation. However, my dean of student services told me that I should include it so I briefly mentioned it. The majority of my presentation involved me dissecting my performance and laying out a very detailed plan for improving each weakness.

By remediation plan I am not positive what you mean. Do you mean for example, suggesting that I take an online board-prep program specifically for the one class (or more?) that I failed during the few months I would wait until the next year began? I would suggest auditing classes at a nearby university but it might be too late in the semester to sign up to do that, and the course I did poorly in was pathology which is not offered at the undergrad institution. If you or anyone else has any suggestions for plans I could offer to do during the time I wait to begin again (if allowed to take a medical LOA), I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

 

[StudyMedMan]

I'm so very sorry you have experienced this. It's an awful lot to try and manage. Two things as I see it. This is not medical advice, but your health would be my primary concern if I were in your situation. These issues need to be addressed and managed. I have concerns that the tsunami of med school material may be close to overtaking you as your health is optimized. You might approach the school about a leave of absence, regroup and start fresh next year. I realize it's very expensive, but it might be the price of success if your school agrees to it. Failing by one or ten points is still failing and passing by one or ten points is still passing. That's how I think the board will look at it. You are going to have to multitask and get organized in the near future to get your health and academics on track. Again, I'm sorry you are going through this. I wish you nothing but the best. Good luck!

If you or anyone else has any suggestions for plans I could offer to do during the time I wait to begin again, (if allowed to take a medical LOA) I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

 

[StudyMedMan]

what a tough situation! sounds like a perfect storm of events, some outside your control and some inside, that landed on you at a terrible time. can you explore taking a medical leave and repeating the year? I know several students at my school who have had their studies interrupted by medical issues who took a leave of absence and came back strong the next year.

also, this is an excellent cautionary tale for people entering medical school who are dealing with ADHD. mid-semester in medical school is NOT the time to think about coming off of meds if they have been working for you. this isn't medical advice--it's logistical life advice. if you are transitioning between practices (peds->adult care) or moving from one state to another where it might be difficult to get your rx filled, figure this out before the semester begins. approvals, referrals, appointments, finding a new doctor...these things can take quite a bit of time. you may very well be able to come off of meds and be perfectly successful at some point, but the crucible of medical school is not a good trial period imo.

best of luck to you, OP.

If you or anyone else has any suggestions for plans I could offer to do during the time I wait to begin again, (if allowed to take a medical LOA) I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

 

[Goro]

Thank you for your response. I definitely understand that it is my responsibility to keep up with my meds, and that is why I was not even going to include that part in my presentation. However, my dean of student services told me that I should include it so I briefly mentioned it. The majority of my presentation involved me dissecting my performance and laying out a very detailed plan for improving each weakness.

By remediation plan I am not positive what you mean. Do you mean for example, suggesting that I take an online board-prep program specifically for the one class (or more?) that I failed during the few months I would wait until the next year began? I would suggest auditing classes at a nearby university but it might be too late in the semester to sign up to do that, and the course I did poorly in was pathology which is not offered at the undergrad institution. If you or anyone else has any suggestions for plans I could offer to do during the time I wait to begin again (if allowed to take a medical LOA), I would greatly appreciate your thoughts.

Your plan should show how you won't let this happen again

 

[NotAProgDirector]

You've gotten good advice here. As already mentioned, your story can easily be interpreted as a bunch of excuses -- sure, each fail may have been impacted by a different external event, but to an admin / outside observer it can seem more likely that the underlying problem is your performance.

I'm going to comment about one line in your description that hasn't been highlighted yet:

If I had gotten that one more question right, my abilities would not be getting questioned at all and I would have already started block 3 as normal.

The pass/fail level is set at the minimum acceptable performance. Getting one more question correct might have allowed you to continue, but would not have led to "your abilities not being questioned". If you are successful at getting an LOA and restart, you should be prepared that should you fail anything again, you might not even get additional chances to remediate.

Nt trying to put you down, just trying to be realistic as you move forward. Best of luck.

EDIT: Also, the title of the thread is also a problem with your thinking / position. It probably happens all the time that people fail multiple times, then have a series of reasons that caused each failure. It may seem unique to you, but I bet the school has seen similar stories repeatedly. Again, I point this out to help you in your discussions with your school.

 

[StudyMedMan]

You've gotten good advice here. As already mentioned, your story can easily be interpreted as a bunch of excuses -- sure, each fail may have been impacted by a different external event, but to an admin / outside observer it can seem more likely that the underlying problem is your performance.

I'm going to comment about one line in your description that hasn't been highlighted yet:



The pass/fail level is set at the minimum acceptable performance. Getting one more question correct might have allowed you to continue, but would not have led to "your abilities not being questioned". If you are successful at getting an LOA and restart, you should be prepared that should you fail anything again, you might not even get additional chances to remediate.

Nt trying to put you down, just trying to be realistic as you move forward. Best of luck.

EDIT: Also, the title of the thread is also a problem with your thinking / position. It probably happens all the time that people fail multiple times, then have a series of reasons that caused each failure. It may seem unique to you, but I bet the school has seen similar stories repeatedly. Again, I point this out to help you in your discussions with your school.

I appreciate your honest response. I know I am a very biased interpreter of my scenario which is the main reason I came to this forum. The only reason I think the one question difference even matters is because I had to take the exam under very handicapped physical conditions which I believe led to me running out of time. Therefore, I don't even consider the score an accurate measure of my knowledge on the subject. If i had missed one more question than a passing grade while feeling good and healthy, I would probably not even be arguing my position. I hope that makes sense.

 

[Mad Jack]

10000% agree.

Go for the LOA and have a remediation plan in place to present to the Dean as part of your appeal.

Also agree with the comments voiced by Hippo. You're an adult now and keeping on top of your meds of your responsibility.

Going to also agree. LoA and a clean slate would be your best move. You had a lot of rough things happen at once, true, but you need time to build the resilience to move forward in your career. Things like these can and will happen again on a long emough timescale, and you can use this as a learning opportunity to sort out how, exactly, you might do it better next time.

 

[Mr. Nightmare]

I do understand what you are saying regarding the possibility of doing better if you weren't so sick. I am sorry for what you are going through.

You could also look for a tutor to make sure that you get the help to do well.

 

[drfeelgood]

My classmate J#$## also had this happen to him. He was dismissed from WesternU/COMP because he failed BioChem even tough he was a BioChem Major from UCSD. (Also on ADHD meds) He didn't appeal that process because he must have seen the sign. I've had classmates appeal, get sent into the 5 year program, just to not match into any residency program. Now J@#$# is looking pretty good, compared to those who struggled through 4 or 5 years, since he only took out $30,000 worth of loans. Our tuition was $28,000 back in 1998.

Sometimes you have to know when to fold em…… I'm sorry this is happening to you, but it ain't going to get better for you.

 

[Mass Effect]

My classmate J#$## also had this happen to him. He was dismissed from WesternU/COMP because he failed BioChem even tough he was a BioChem Major from UCSD. (Also on ADHD meds) He didn't appeal that process because he must have seen the sign. I've had classmates appeal, get sent into the 5 year program, just to not match into any residency program. Now J@#$# is looking pretty good, compared to those who struggled through 4 or 5 years, since he only took out $30,000 worth of loans. Our tuition was $28,000 back in 1998.

Sometimes you have to know when to fold em…… I'm sorry this is happening to you, but it ain't going to get better for you.

And then there are others who appeal, get back in, match, and become attendings.

 

[StudyMedMan]

And then there are others who appeal, get back in, match, and become attendings.

I appreciate your reply. I chose to ignore Drfeelgood's response because it was pretty negative and ironically, did not make me feel good. I definitely know I have what it takes to become a physician and consider this just a bump in the road. I am curious if you are one of those who got back in and are now an attending. If so, you may be able to offer me some advice on a plan going forward to get back into medical school if I have to withdraw. Any help is always appreciated.

 

[feeling-dizzy]

Agreed with Goro plan. LOA so you can sort all these issues out, come back next year to restart Block 2 would be best bet if they allowed it. Had couple upper classmates come back to our class and finished strong. You did fail a multiple choice exam three time which is an objective measure that you did not meet expectations. Again LOA and start fresh would be best. Hope your school allow it.

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

My classmate J#$## also had this happen to him. He was dismissed from WesternU/COMP because he failed BioChem even tough he was a BioChem Major from UCSD. (Also on ADHD meds) He didn't appeal that process because he must have seen the sign. I've had classmates appeal, get sent into the 5 year program, just to not match into any residency program. Now J@#$# is looking pretty good, compared to those who struggled through 4 or 5 years, since he only took out $30,000 worth of loans. Our tuition was $28,000 back in 1998.

Sometimes you have to know when to fold em…… I'm sorry this is happening to you, but it ain't going to get better for you.

WesternU will not dismiss you for failing BioChem. I can tell you because I saw enough cases of people failing. They allow you to remediate, and when you fail remediation, they allow you to repeat the year. If you fail again, you are 50/50 on the allowing you to remediate. Your friend must have failed biochemistry a ton of times or something else went down

 

[Goro]

WesternU will not dismiss you for failing BioChem. I can tell you because I saw enough cases of people failing. They allow you to remediate, and when you fail remediation, they allow you to repeat the year. If you fail again, you are 50/50 on the allowing you to remediate. Your friend must have failed biochemistry a ton of times or something else went down

Tip of the iceberg phenomenon is very real.

 

[acstylin]

Dang. I feel for you. You worked so hard to get here and you had big dreams. People hate hearing what I’ll say next when they’re down but I’m old and I promise you it’s the truth. This needs to be a learning experience for your future. If you view it as such, you’ll look back at this experience as the time when you turned your life into something you never thought it could be. This is resilience. Life is hard and merciless. It’s not fair and it doesn’t care about your feelings. I don’t want to make this post about me or feel like I’m making a comparison so I won’t talk about my life experiences, but please understand that this is about YOU. What are YOU going to do about this now? Drop that nonsense about “one question blah blah blah.” You should have passed by 20% so accept 100% of the outcome and grow from it. If I was on the board and I was looking at a student in your shoes, I’d say “You’ll do better in the future? Take the test right now. You’ve had weeks to prepare for this meeting. Let’s see what you did with your time.” I know I’m being harsh, but this is the world. Right now, there is a non-English speaking amputee raising 2 kids on their own while providing for their elderly parents who is passing their tests on 2 hours sleep every night. I truly wish you the best of luck. You’ve gotten this far. Big things are still in your future.

 

[mwsapphire]

Dang. I feel for you. You worked so hard to get here and you had big dreams. People hate hearing what I’ll say next when they’re down but I’m old and I promise you it’s the truth. This needs to be a learning experience for your future. If you view it as such, you’ll look back at this experience as the time when you turned your life into something you never thought it could be. This is resilience. Life is hard and merciless. It’s not fair and it doesn’t care about your feelings. I don’t want to make this post about me or feel like I’m making a comparison so I won’t talk about my life experiences, but please understand that this is about YOU. What are YOU going to do about this now? Drop that nonsense about “one question blah blah blah.” You should have passed by 20% so accept 100% of the outcome and grow from it. If I was on the board and I was looking at a student in your shoes, I’d say “You’ll do better in the future? Take the test right now. You’ve had weeks to prepare for this meeting. Let’s see what you did with your time.” I know I’m being harsh, but this is the world. Right now, there is a non-English speaking amputee raising 2 kids on their own while providing for their elderly parents who is passing their tests on 2 hours sleep every night. I truly wish you the best of luck. You’ve gotten this far. Big things are still in your future.

I find extremes like this to be kind of annoying, is that really a thing? Like okay some ppl do med school with extraordinary circumstances , but that shouldn't be considered the norm. OP does need a LOA and a big come back for sure, and I really hope it works out for them.

 

[hallowmann]

WesternU will not dismiss you for failing BioChem. I can tell you because I saw enough cases of people failing. They allow you to remediate, and when you fail remediation, they allow you to repeat the year. If you fail again, you are 50/50 on the allowing you to remediate. Your friend must have failed biochemistry a ton of times or something else went down

Tip of the iceberg phenomenon is very real.

Keep in mind that poster was talking about back in 1998. I assume many things have changed in their curriculum in the last 23 yrs. Maybe failing biochem was enough back then.

 

[turtle2019]

I hope they don't dismiss you.