Failed Anatomy and OMT...Impact on Residency

[FarmerToDoctor]

Hey Everyone! The title kind of says it all...

I failed anatomy first semester by 2 percentage points. My dad had a LAD towards the end of the semester and that had more of an impact on me than I thought it would. I go to med school out of state and it was a little rough being alone and knowing what was going on back home. I talked to my professors and they were supportive. They reminded me that one of the biggest challenges of medical training is keeping that barrier between what we are doing and what is going on in our personal lives.

I failed OMT 2nd semester by 3 percentage points. There is a big gap for me between the application of OMT and the theory of OMT. I pass all of my practicals with >95% but the written exams are really challenging for me. I talked to my professors and they said that I fall into the group of trainees that they trust with a patient, but not to do amazingly well on a written exam. I'll just have to figure out how to better make those connections.

I was able to pass both remediation exams and am in good standing with my institution. I did fine in all of my system courses and have some solid ECs. I am curious to know how residency programs will view this these failures that are early on in my medical training. I want to go into IM and possibly pursue a fellowship in cardio. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

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[Angus Avagadro]

Hey Everyone! The title kind of says it all...

I failed anatomy first semester by 2 percentage points. My dad had a LAD towards the end of the semester and that had more of an impact on me than I thought it would. I go to med school out of state and it was a little rough being alone and knowing what was going on back home. I talked to my professors and they were supportive. They reminded me that one of the biggest challenges of medical training is keeping that barrier between what we are doing and what is going on in our personal lives.

I failed OMT 2nd semester by 3 percentage points. There is a big gap for me between the application of OMT and the theory of OMT. I pass all of my practicals with >95% but the written exams are really challenging for me. I talked to my professors and they said that I fall into the group of trainees that they trust with a patient, but not to do amazingly well on a written exam. I'll just have to f might look badigure out how to better make those connections.

I was able to pass both remediation exams and am in good standing with my institution. I did fine in all of my system courses and have some solid ECs. I am curious to know how residency programs will view this these failures that are early on in my medical training. I want to go into IM and possibly pursue a fellowship in cardio. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

2 course failures might look bad for Uni IM. Just concentrate on improving. Pass everything else. Do above avg on boards, and you can match IM. Uni Affiliate hospitals have some very good IM programs, plus cardiology fellowships. Your home IM program will be your best chance for their cardiology fellowship, but depending on how well you do from here on, will determine how competitive you will be. It is still early and lots of time to improve. Good luck and best wishes!

 

[AlbinoHawk DO]

It looks pretty bad. You'll be shut out of many residencies as many of them put a filter not to see applicants that failed any courses. You can likely match IM, but you will probably go to a community setting or a lower tier university at best. Cardiology can happen at your home institution, but otherwise it has become uphill battle as fellowships request your MSPE and transcripts from medical school

 

[Ho0v-man]

Your mission for the rest of med school is to prove this was a fluke.

One failure, especially first semester with a good reason is probably okay. But a second course failure isn’t great. This is particularly concerning because OMT is usually an easy A or at least a high B if you just don’t care. With that in mind, I’m guessing you’re probably struggling in the classes you passed. You may need to try to change up the way you’re studying going forward because 2nd year is usually much harder than 1st with the threat of step 1 looming.

 

[FarmerToDoctor]

Given how competitive it is to get into residency, would you say my chances of going unmatched are substantial? Or is it too early to say?

 

[Ho0v-man]

It’s still too early. Just remember every time that you want to blow something off that you’re out of free passes. The thing about being a DO student is that you start med school with something to prove. You haven’t done that yet. But there’s still time to do it.