Failing a semester due to illness

[Ephesus]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Does a student have any chance after failing a freshmen semester due to illness? The illness struck at the very end when it was too late to withdraw. My school won't do anything about it.

 

[riceman04]

Does a student have any chance after failing a freshmen semester due to illness? The illness struck at the very end when it was too late to withdraw. My school won't do anything about it.

Of course you still have a chance! Did you fail all of your courses? If failed any science courses, it would be wise for you to repeat them (when possible).
Obviously you are going to have to demonstrate your ability to rebound from this by performing very well from here on out!

When the time comes, you should also be prepared address the illness (assuming it was not just the flu) and how it did affect you.

Take several upper level courses during the remainder of your college career and do well in ALL of them.

Good luck...Don't allow that semester to prohibit you from pursuing your dream!🙂

 

[Ephesus]

Thanks for the reply. Now, what if said student has had a history of these problems. I finished high school at 16 and started community college where I fell ill to a chronic illness. I've probably attempted 60 or so credits (only one science course) and I've completed 12 or so. No matter what I do, I really I have no chance now, right? It seems like I found peace with my illness and would like to pursue my dream. Or do I need to start thinking about PhD programs?

 

[Meatwad]

Thanks for the reply. Now, what if said student has had a history of these problems. I finished high school at 16 and started community college where I fell ill to a chronic illness. I've probably attempted 60 or so credits (only one science course) and I've completed 12 or so. No matter what I do, I really I have no chance now, right? It seems like I found peace with my illness and would like to pursue my dream. Or do I need to start thinking about PhD programs?

Are you saying you have 12 credits of grades and 48 credits of F's? Just trying to clarify, because you mentioned you attempted 60 credits but have only completed 12.

If that's the guess, than in all honesty, your GPA will never be competitive for an allo school. That doesn't mean you can't get in, though. Retake the courses you got F's in, and if you get A's, they will basically factor as C's. Continue to take courses and hopefully you can get up to a 3.0 cumulative GPA in a few years. Then, with a good MCAT score, you can get a special master's degree, and apply from there.

Also, if you don't mind DO, retaking those courses could be very beneficial. If you got an F on your first try, and an A on the second try, they only factor the A into your GPA. So if you had 48 credits of F's and retook them all and got A's, your average for an allopathic school is a 2.0; at a DO school, a 4.0. Definitely something worth looking at.

However, if I've misinterpreted your situation, and you only have like 15 credits of F's, it's much easier to bounce back. With all A's and A-'s the rest of your career, and you should be able to get around a 3.3. With that you can apply to some schools if you have a great MCAT, and if not, do an SMP. Good luck.

 

[armybound]

Schools will also look at your inability to complete courses and wonder if you'll ever be able to finish their curriculum. It's not in their best interest to have you as a student for 8 years while you fight your illness and struggle to complete courses. You'll have to demonstrate from now on that your illness won't stop you from completing school.

I don't mean to sound harsh, I can just see that as a concern for the schools.

 

[Meatwad]

Schools will also look at your inability to complete courses and wonder if you'll ever be able to finish their curriculum. It's not in their best interest to have you as a student for 8 years while you fight your illness and struggle to complete courses. You'll have to demonstrate from now on that your illness won't stop you from completing school.

I don't mean to sound harsh, I can just see that as a concern for the schools.

Very true. It's a hard road, but it can be done. There was another thread debating about this earlier this week, about what looks better to a school: getting F's and saying you were irresponsible (even if you were sick), or saying you were sick? Assuming you got 3 years or more of amazing grades (just about all A's), which excuse would give you a better shot. I'm starting to believe saying you were immature. Obviously if you can turn yourself around and get all those A's, you've turned yourself around. People don't usually relapse into slacker-hood. However, an illness can relapse. You can get sick if they let you into med school and flunk out. So it may be that medical schools would be more squeamish about admitting someone with a past of illness because they feel they are more volatile a candidate than someone who used to like to do kegstands more than study for chemistry. Not saying its fair, but it could be true.

 

[njbmd]

Does a student have any chance after failing a freshmen semester due to illness? The illness struck at the very end when it was too late to withdraw. My school won't do anything about it.

As soon as you have recovered from you illness, get back on track and post the strongest work that you can. You might also have a discussion with some of your professors during that time who could document that you were doing well ,up to the point that you developed your illness, in a letter of recommendation.

You might also petition the Dean of Students to waive the late withdrawal. If one of my students became ill at the end of a semester, I have the option of giving that student a grade of "Incomplete". They then can come back in the Fall, finish the work that they missed, and I can change that grade to whatever grade they earn.

I had a "A" student in my Biochemistry class go on bedrest because of threatened miscarriage. She kept up with her lectures, while in bed, came back in the Fall and received her A in the course. It was difficult with her problem pregnancy but she made it work out.

Yes, you can get into medical school with one semester of poor work provided the rest of your work is excellent and the rest of your AMCAS application is competitive. Do what you can administratively and if things don't work out, be prepared to do the highest quality work for the rest of your academic career. Make sure that you prepare well and do well on the MCAT. If all of this works out, you may be asked to explain your poor semester - in an interview- but otherwise, you should be fine. Don't use your personal statement to explain the semester though! Good luck!

 

[ana]

As soon as you have recovered ....

Yes, you can get into medical school with one semester of poor work provided the rest of your work is excellent and the rest of your AMCAS application is competitive. Do what you can administratively and if things don't work out, be prepared to do the highest quality work for the rest of your academic career. Make sure that you prepare well and do well on the MCAT. If all of this works out, you may be asked to explain your poor semester - in an interview- but otherwise, you should be fine. Don't use your personal statement to explain the semester though! Good luck!

Agree 100%.

Take care of your health issues and then come back swinging. The one bad semester is a mere hiccup if you implement the above plan.

Do you have other necessary additional qualifications like research, volunteer work? Also, how many semesters left do you have?

 

[BluePhoenix]

I agree with the above posters, med schools may question your ability to finish a program if you've had that much difficulty finishing courses in the past. I think it probably depends on the illness, i.e. will it present a serious problem that will hinder you working or studying.

I find 2 things odd about your situation (granted you haven't said much about it so there could be logical explainations). I don't mean to be harsh, just trying to figure out a bit more of what happened.

First, if the illness didn't occur until late in the semester, shouldn't you have had enough points to give you some sort of a grade...maybe a C? Rather than simply failing you completely?

Secondly, most schools have policies about students getting seriously ill and will either allow them to withdraw from classes, give them incompletes and extensions on the work, grade them on work completed thus far or make some other arrangement. Most schools don't WANT to fail you and try to find a solution. Did you not inform anyone of your illness until far after the fact? If not, what school was it (people prone to illness may want to avoid it)?

 

[On3H34rT]

I do understand what you are going through, because I have a chronic illness. You do have to understand though that there are many people whom make great grades and also deal with these illnesses. I am sure admissions would consider this.. however don't expect it to make everything better. You'll still need to show the upward trend like a "normal" person.

 

[Ephesus]

Hi,

Sorry I didn't clarify well...

No, I have a few semesters of W's, only one semester of F's. I plan to take a year off and spend it getting better.

In re to the odd things; I missed exams in my classes which counted for 50%. I had As at mid-term.

The problem with my illness (I have a mental illness), is adcomms aren't too forgiving about [sic] them. I've seen countless threads on here that say if you had cancer and you are a survivor, you should mention it, but if you have schizophrenia, don't dare, due to the stigma.

I have started on the 'other stuff'. I've volunteered at a clinic, and I shadow a doctor one day a week for the last year. I am starting to lose all hope; I realize I could never enter surgery, but I would like the chance to get into neurology and do research (I could never be a psychiatrist).

Thanks for your opinions; I appreciate the beacon of hope.