Fail a course year 1

[GoldenStarDoctor]

Hi, I failed a course in a DO school, and the school is making me repeat the whole year. Is this common?

Are my chances of matching into Anesthesiology or any other competitive specialty now impossible?

Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?
or
Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?

Adding;
Should I consider signing up for Army HPSP scholarship?

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[wysdoc]

Hi, I failed a course in a DO school, and the school is making me repeat the whole year. Is this common?

Are my chances of matching into Anesthesiology or any other competitive specialty now impossible?

Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?
or
Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?

School policies vary and while some schools have a way for you to remediate just one course, others don't have a long break in that summer after first year to make it possible. Were you also very close to failing in other courses? This could be a factor in the decision because they think it's important for you to master, not just pass, the course material.
You are being given a second chance here - take advantage of any study skills coaching they offer.
If you were spreading yourself thin by doing a lot of extracurriculars, make this year all about really understanding the medical concepts.

 

[Calizboosted76]

Copying and pasting from another post who had a similar question:

2) Will I still be able to match competitive specialties? Wanted Derm or Ortho

I mean this in the nicest way. Stop worrying about specialty right now. Start worrying about doing well in medical school first. Study like you are applying to the most competetive specialty and do everything you need to and when the time comes if youve done this then youll have a solid application. On the other hand if you study your hardest and fall short of what your goal was then thats just life and you gave it your all. However back to my point, stop worrying about if youll be able to match this or that and start only worrying about how to do well and pass my classes.


Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?
- This is a terrible idea.

Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?
- This idea is just as bad.

Why would you jeopardize the chance of being a physician to reapply or go to a Carib school which mind you (the fail will still show up on your record when you go to apply for residency IF you were able to complete the degree at another school. Mind you this is highly unlikely to happen since another medical school does themselves no justice by admitting someone who effectively failed medical school once).

You're not in undergrad anymore and there is alot more riding on your grades now. Stay at your current school and figure out why you failed that class. Something I like to tell medical students just starting out is to study as if you are going to apply for neurosurgery and then when the time comes youll be competitive for most other specialties if you are competitive for neurosurgery.

Good luck.

 

[Just D.O. it]

when the time comes if youve done this then youll have a solid application

I disagree with this advice. Unfortunately residencies are far too competitive to adopt the ridiculous mindset that you can pick yourself back up, work “really really hard” and still end up with a competitive app. Fact of the matter is that with any red flags on your app (such as a course failure) your chances in many specialties are quite slim going forward no matter what you do next.

Start worrying about doing well in medical school first.

This, however, is important for you to internalize. You are not in a position to be fantasizing about 4 years in the future. The fact that you failed a class means there are academic gaps that you need to fix or else you might not end up being a doctor period. You need to study like hell and make sure you pass everything going forward.

Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?
or
Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?

Disabuse yourself of these ridiculous notions. Other US schools will not accept you within open arms. Especially when they have 1000s of applicants who have never failed a class.
Going Caribbean will make your life and match chances 10000% worse than they already are.
You seem to think you can wipe this fail away and live in a fantasy land where it did not occur. Your academic record is permanent and will follow you to residency apps no matter what you do. Learn to live in the present and understand that actions have consequences.

 

[Ho0v-man]

Hi, I failed a course in a DO school, and the school is making me repeat the whole year. Is this common?

Are my chances of matching into Anesthesiology or any other competitive specialty now impossible?

Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?
or
Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?

Typically the story of “failed one class and now I have to repeat a year” is really “I failed a class and was barely treading water in every other class but still had the theoretical potential to pass them.”

You will definitely be able to find examples of people in similar or even worse circumstances than this dusting themselves off and walking on water to get their dream competitive specialty of choice.

But the reality is that this is very unlikely. DOs with red flags are typically pretty limited in what they can match into. Primary care (including IM), psych, neurology, maybe pm&r.

As far as other schools are concerned, no. Your only chance of being a doctor is to continue at your current program. US schools aren’t falling all over themselves to accept students who’ve just failed to prove that they can handle a med school curriculum. The Caribbean will happily accept your money. But if you can’t hang in a stateside DO school, you’re unlikely to succeed in a school that’s actively trying to fail you.

I tell people in your situation that they should really only continue forward if they are okay with being a primary care physician because that is your most likely outcome now. Consider saving your money and time if that’s not palatable to you. Best of luck.

 

[DrStephenStrange]

But the reality is that this is very unlikely. DOs with red flags are typically pretty limited in what they can match into. Primary care (including IM), psych, neurology, maybe pm&r.

Not so sure about these 3 specialties anymore because they have become more popular and competitive over the years. I don’t know the numbers for Psych or PM&R, but I can speak for Neurology specifically however. The match rate for DOs in Neurology has now dipped closer to the low 80s high 70s this year (it was 92% for my year). This is base on the raw NRMP data; the charting outcome coming out this year will paint a better picture. I have seen DOs with no red flags and decent boards scores go unmatched even with 10+ interviews. IMGs are having an even tougher time nowadays when in the past the specialty had at least 1/3 IMG matching. Only 1 spot was available in the SOAP this year. Going forward I feel like it will only get more popular.

 

[GoldenStarDoctor]

School policies vary and while some schools have a way for you to remediate just one course, others don't have a long break in that summer after first year to make it possible. Were you also very close to failing in other courses? This could be a factor in the decision because they think it's important for you to master, not just pass, the course material.
You are being given a second chance here - take advantage of any study skills coaching they offer.
If you were spreading yourself thin by doing a lot of extracurriculars, make this year all about really understanding the medical concepts.

The school keeps changing their policies and there are 10 - 20 people remediating each courses. About half of the students did not pass from the remediation.

Some proffesors try to make us fail as many as possible.

 

[GoldenStarDoctor]

Typically the story of “failed one class and now I have to repeat a year” is really “I failed a class and was barely treading water in every other class but still had the theoretical potential to pass them.”

You will definitely be able to find examples of people in similar or even worse circumstances than this dusting themselves off and walking on water to get their dream competitive specialty of choice.

But the reality is that this is very unlikely. DOs with red flags are typically pretty limited in what they can match into. Primary care (including IM), psych, neurology, maybe pm&r.

As far as other schools are concerned, no. Your only chance of being a doctor is to continue at your current program. US schools aren’t falling all over themselves to accept students who’ve just failed to prove that they can handle a med school curriculum. The Caribbean will happily accept your money. But if you can’t hang in a stateside DO school, you’re unlikely to succeed in a school that’s actively trying to fail you.

I tell people in your situation that they should really only continue forward if they are okay with being a primary care physician because that is your most likely outcome now. Consider saving your money and time if that’s not palatable to you. Best of luck.

As I already got a year of tuition burden and now considering ARMY HPSP.
Any thoughts?

 

[Ho0v-man]

Not so sure about these 3 specialties anymore because they have become more popular and competitive over the years. I don’t know the numbers for Psych or PM&R, but I can speak for Neurology specifically however. The match rate for DOs in Neurology has now dipped closer to the low 80s high 70s this year (it was 92% for my year). This is base on the raw NRMP data; the charting outcome coming out this year will paint a better picture. I have seen DOs with no red flags and decent boards scores go unmatched even with 10+ interviews. IMGs are having an even tougher time nowadays when in the past the specialty had at least 1/3 IMG matching. Only 1 spot was available in the SOAP this year. Going forward I feel like it will only get more popular.

Been hearing that with psych and neuro since I was a premed. But the outcomes data always seems to just indicate that match rates stay pretty stagnant. We’ll see if that holds true.

Pm&r has shown to have gotten pretty nasty though just due to the sheer number of applicants.

 

[Ho0v-man]

As I already got a year of tuition burden and now considering ARMY HPSP.
Any thoughts?

That information changes nothing I said. I would just say that the military recruiters like to push a narrative that matching with them is less competitive and that’s not necessarily true.

 

[Calizboosted76]

That information changes nothing I said. I would just say that the military recruiters like to push a narrative that matching with them is less competitive and that’s not necessarily true.

The military match will put you where they want you OP. Again, stop worrying about what youll match as, unless like HoOv says and you wouldnt be okay with PCP work, and focus on why you failed.

 

[wysdoc]

As I already got a year of tuition burden and now considering ARMY HPSP.
Any thoughts?

There are a number of things you need to do to qualify for this besides the physical fitness including committing to serve in the military, minimum scores and grades, and a bachelors degree. Not being in good academic standing at your DO school currently may disqualify you.

 

[xffan624]

As I already got a year of tuition burden and now considering ARMY HPSP.
Any thoughts?

Read the military medicine thread for myriad posts and guidance from prior HPSP doctors who say you should not do the program for the money. Even moreso in the current environment. Not to mention that if you end up failing out later with HPSP money then you will have to pay this back with money or maybe years of service. I met at least two officers during my service who were repaying their medical school time not as doctors but just Army medical service corps officers because they left medical school for various reasons. I don't remember whether they were in HPSP or USUHS but I would be clear about those possible consequences before signing on any dotted line.

 

[Roxas]

Hi, I failed a course in a DO school, and the school is making me repeat the whole year. Is this common?

Are my chances of matching into Anesthesiology or any other competitive specialty now impossible?

Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?
or
Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?

Adding;
Should I consider signing up for Army HPSP scholarship?

Just wanted to echo some of what has been said above, as someone who struggled in med school myself. There are several schools that will make you repeat the year with 1 course failure. I do think this is harsh, but I get it and it's not uncommon. They want you to know all of that material cold, and repetition helps. I failed a course in 1st year and a course in 2nd year. Thankfully my school just allowed remediation of the failures and not repeating each year.

Agree with above, you are getting way too ahead of yourself with competitive specialties. Decide first if you still want to be a physician of any kind, keeping in mind that FM/IM is a likelihood. Although fellowship may allow you to avoid just straight primary care. But that's a discussion for a later day.

Caribbean is a terrible terrible idea. Switching DO schools is almost as bad of an idea. I have no idea what happens if you get HPSP scholarship and fail out of school, but you probably don't want to find out.

I totally understand what you're going through, and it's crushing. Nobody ever envisions themselves as the one to struggle that badly with med school, but it happens. I'd encourage you to lick your wounds, refocus, and get your head into a place where your only goal is getting ready to crush your next exam. If you can do this, it does get better. Despite many hiccups in my training path I'm now about to enter my last year of fellowship for child and adolescent psychiatry and I'm incredibly happy. Even M3-M4 years were such a weight off my shoulders. Passed all COMLEXs on first try. This doesn't have to be the end of your story if you can figure out what was going wrong the first time.


Best of luck

 

[randommedstudent24]

OP, I failed a course 1st year & repeated the year. I made a post just like yours under an old name & got the same advice: head down, work hard & move forward.

I just graduated and I’m headed to my #1 pick for residency match in my chosen specialty (IM). I still have doors open for many subspecialties. My repeat year was asked about in EVERY interview, and I was honest about how I grew from the experience.

What I see in your post is you refusing to take responsibility for your grades. You may be panicking, or hurt & scared, and that’s understandable, but also you’re blaming the school policies & looking for a way to save face. It’s time to grieve your loss, pick yourself up & move forward if you still want to be a doctor.

 

[Goro]

Hi, I failed a course in a DO school, and the school is making me repeat the whole year. Is this common?

Yes, very common.

Count your lucky stars. I have heard that VCOM would dismiss you!

At my school, however, we'd allow you to remediate. Once.

Are my chances of matching into Anesthesiology or any other competitive specialty now impossible?

Master medical school before asking this type of question.

Should I transfer to a Caribbean school?

Are you joking? This would be the end of you medical career.

The school keeps changing their policies and there are 10 - 20 people remediating each courses. About half of the students did not pass from the remediation.

Some proffesors try to make us fail as many as possible.

What penal colony is this??????

Should I reapply to other schools and restart everything?

Why would they accept you?

Should I consider signing up for Army HPSP scholarship?

No

 

[LIFS7]

The school keeps changing their policies and there are 10 - 20 people remediating each courses. About half of the students did not pass from the remediation.

Some proffesors try to make us fail as many as possible.

How many people are in your class? 10-20 of 100 is very different from 10-20 of 400.

 

[GoldenStarDoctor]

How many people are in your class? 10-20 of 100 is very different from 10-20 of 400.

165 ish

 

[GoldenStarDoctor]

Doing much better in my second trial! I hope I can keep this performance and stay in the top 20%.