Failed course as an M2

[jstwannagraduaaate!!!]

Hello, this is my first time posting, I hope this is the right thread. Anyways a couple days ago I found out that I did not pass a portion of a standardized patient encounter that I had last week. This class is one of those "the art of medicine" classes and is not a basic science class, but it counts for 8 credit hours. My school requires an 80 on both the encounter and the note to pass (we have 5 of these encounters). If you fail one component, then you need to remediate and the highest grade you can get in the course is a p/f on your transcript, and a 70 in the course. I have been a solid student so far (top quartile with a sprinkling of honors in some other preclerkship classes), and I am concerned how this will effect me going forward. I'm not interested in a super competitive field, but I would like to either go IM--->cards or anesthesiology----->cards specialization. Pretty concerned how this will effect me and just kind of venting too, was doing pretty well in the class until this one grade (99+) and it only dropped my grade to a 97, but since I "failed" the course my new "grade" is a 70, which will TANK my class rank all because of one bad day..... Anyone else been through something similar? (Go to a mid tier usmd school btw)

Edit: our class rank is determined by our average grades in the class all combined

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[0ncogene]

One failure probably will not matter in long run. Just don't do it again.

 

[Goro]

Did you get feedback as to why you failed the encounter?

 

[Dral]

So you remediated and now have a pass 70% on your transcript but technically no fail on your transcript?

This seems like an odd convoluted way to grade a course, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Deltasidearm]

So you failed and remediated 1/5 OSCE's and that means you failed the entire course? Sounds like a school I'm glad to not attend.

 

[GoSpursGo]

That's dumb. So sorry.

Nobody wants to be a whiny entitled student, but this may be a situation where it could be worth bringing this to the attention of your dean and seeing if there is any possibility for flexibility in grading. Because this just seems like an incredibly dramatic punishment for, as you called it, one bad day. Unlikely to work, but I think there's a way you can ask politely, and the worst that can happen is they say no.

Assuming it doesn't work, this shouldn't kill you, though it will obviously hurt your class rank. But you have plenty of other opportunities to distinguish yourself. As long as you're looking just for a "generic" good IM or anesthesia program, I think you'll be fine.

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

To clarify, does it say you failed the course on your transcript? Or just that you passed and didn’t honor?

 

[jstwannagraduaaate!!!]

Did you get feedback as to why you failed the encounter?

Yes was able to meet w a faculty advisor, missed a section in the note. Bit frustrating but still my fault

So you remediated and now have a pass 70% on your transcript but technically no fail on your transcript?

This seems like an odd convoluted way to grade a course, but maybe I'm missing something.

It will say p/f on the transcript, but a 70 is used the the calculation of my class rank

So you failed and remediated 1/5 OSCE's and that means you failed the entire course? Sounds like a school I'm glad to not attend.

My thoughts as well as I failed a portion that was ultimately worth 6% of the grade in the course (when I still have a high A in the course), meanwhile its perfectly ok to fail an exam worth 40% in a basic science course as long as you end up with a cumulative passing grade, but whatever, don't have much say in terms of rules as a med student.

That's dumb. So sorry.

Nobody wants to be a whiny entitled student, but this may be a situation where it could be worth bringing this to the attention of your dean and seeing if there is any possibility for flexibility in grading. Because this just seems like an incredibly dramatic punishment for, as you called it, one bad day. Unlikely to work, but I think there's a way you can ask politely, and the worst that can happen is they say no.

Assuming it doesn't work, this shouldn't kill you, though it will obviously hurt your class rank. But you have plenty of other opportunities to distinguish yourself. As long as you're looking just for a "generic" good IM or anesthesia program, I think you'll be fine.

Our school has a lot of odd policies and I am likely not the only student effected, Ill try to bring this to the deans attention but unlikely anything will change. Do I still have a shot at mid-upper tier IM/anesthesia programs?

To clarify, does it say you failed the course on your transcript? Or just that you passed and didn’t honor?

It would show up as p/f on the transcript

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

Yes was able to meet w a faculty advisor, missed a section in the note. Bit frustrating but still my fault

It will say p/f on the transcript, but a 70 is used the the calculation of my class rank

My thoughts as well as I failed a portion that was ultimately worth 6% of the grade in the course (when I still have a high A in the course), meanwhile its perfectly ok to fail an exam worth 40% in a basic science course as long as you end up with a cumulative passing grade, but whatever, don't have much say in terms of rules as a med student.

Our school has a lot of odd policies and I am likely not the only student effected, Ill try to bring this to the deans attention but unlikely anything will change. Do I still have a shot at mid-upper tier IM/anesthesia programs?

It would show up as p/f on the transcript

I would follow GSG’s advice. It shows up as P/F, meaning you passed after initially failing? Sorry your school feels like it’s appropriate to unnecessarily hamstring its students like that. You really have nothing to lose by appealing it.

 

[jstwannagraduaaate!!!]

I would follow GSG’s advice. It shows up as P/F, meaning you passed after initially failing? Sorry your school feels like it’s appropriate to unnecessarily hamstring its students like that. You really have nothing to lose by appealing it.

For some reason my school reports it as p/f if you have to remediate a course and pass

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

For some reason my school reports it as p/f if you have to remediate a course and pass

Yeah that’s crappy.

 

[ChymeofPassion]

For some reason my school reports it as p/f if you have to remediate a course and pass

I'm sure they presented it like this on interview day.

"We are proud to be pass fail, but if you fail and remediate, they will still know you failed! Failure!

That sucks man.

 

[jstwannagraduaaate!!!]

That's dumb. So sorry.

Nobody wants to be a whiny entitled student, but this may be a situation where it could be worth bringing this to the attention of your dean and seeing if there is any possibility for flexibility in grading. Because this just seems like an incredibly dramatic punishment for, as you called it, one bad day. Unlikely to work, but I think there's a way you can ask politely, and the worst that can happen is they say no.

Assuming it doesn't work, this shouldn't kill you, though it will obviously hurt your class rank. But you have plenty of other opportunities to distinguish yourself. As long as you're looking just for a "generic" good IM or anesthesia program, I think you'll be fine.

I would follow GSG’s advice. It shows up as P/F, meaning you passed after initially failing? Sorry your school feels like it’s appropriate to unnecessarily hamstring its students like that. You really have nothing to lose by appealing it.

To update the thread, I was able to successfully appeal the grade; partly because they saw how flawed the rule was (which they will change), the fact that I didn't act entiled/mad/etc over the matter, and that I had a solid track record up to date. I guess not being a jerk goes a long ways

 

[Matthew9Thirtyfive]

To update the thread, I was able to successfully appeal the grade; partly because they saw how flawed the rule was (which they will change), the fact that I didn't act entiled/mad/etc over the matter, and that I had a solid track record up to date. I guess not being a jerk goes a long ways

Woot. Great work. That’ll help you and plenty of others after you.

 

[GoSpursGo]

To update the thread, I was able to successfully appeal the grade; partly because they saw how flawed the rule was (which they will change), the fact that I didn't act entiled/mad/etc over the matter, and that I had a solid track record up to date. I guess not being a jerk goes a long ways

That’s awesome. And thanks for updating—hopefully this gives future med students some hope that it actually is possible to appeal a truly unjust grade As you showed, it can be done in a non confrontational way, and if you do there’s little to lose by just asking sometimes.

 

[Ganon]

To update the thread, I was able to successfully appeal the grade; partly because they saw how flawed the rule was (which they will change), the fact that I didn't act entiled/mad/etc over the matter, and that I had a solid track record up to date. I guess not being a jerk goes a long ways

That is huge! Once you graduate you should spend a little time "Name and Faming" them. We complain a lot online about programs to screw students over, I think it's important to give credit when they have student's backs, especially when it's a wonky thing like this that really favors the decision they made.

I bet you feel great!

 

[jstwannagraduaaate!!!]

That is huge! Once you graduate you should spend a little time "Name and Faming" them. We complain a lot online about programs to screw students over, I think it's important to give credit when they have student's backs, especially when it's a wonky thing like this that really favors the decision they made.

I bet you feel great!

Will do once I'm outta here. IMO my school is probably just like any other ho-hum MD school, this site just seems to breed lots of negative stuff. Just reading the anesthesia, rads, surgery, and imed boards makes it seem like medicine is a dead end retail job working 14 hours a day for $10 an hour

 

[curiousneuro]

I wonder if we went to the same school...very similar situation for me for an OSCE course when I was in 4th year. At least a 3rd of the class had to "remediate" the OSCE, and it was reported on our transcript. While it didn't affect my residency application in any way (I think), I still had to actually explain that stupid "pass with remediation" from my med school transcript to my current employer. Absolutely ridiculous in my opinion.