How bad is graduating a semester later?

[luxetvoluptas]

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[general987]

You will be fine. Plus, this is a far more interesting and captivating story for staying an extra semester than your typical applicant. Hope you recover fast!

 

[Glandzburg]

It won't matter one bit. Many people take more than 4 years to graduate without a good reason, and I'd say yours is more than legit. This is the last thing you should be worrying about right now. Best of luck in your recovery.

 

[giabirdy]

I would look into other career fields if I were you tbh, no adcom would accept a crippled applicant since you'd just be a waste of a seat

 

[Goro]

Chill. You have nothing to worry about

So my story is a bit unusual, l got sick with what seemed to be strep a while ago but I tried to push through it and overworked myself. Turns out I had severe pneumonia that turned into acute transverse myelitis that completely paralyzed me from c6 down. Four in a million odds. Lucky me. A week long stay in the ICU and another month for steroids, PLEX, and chemo later I'm being discharged and I will be going to an aggressive inpatient physical therapy for another month to regain full function of my limbs back. This has all seemed like a very bad episode of House.

Unfortunately this means I will be missing a lot of class and it will delay my graduation by a semester. I have a 4.0 from last semester and decent ECs. I will be looking into some online classes and try to arrange a higher volume of volunteer work. How badly will this be scrutinized by adcoms?

Sidenote: Please remember to take care of yourself, I overexerted myself and kept telling myself to just push through it and do too much and landed myself in neurocritical care.

 

[Garurumon]

I would look into other career fields if I were you tbh, no adcom would accept a crippled applicant since you'd just be a waste of a seat

Dang, there goes the ban hammer: quick and hard. OP, I second what everyone else has said: don't sweat it. There's no rush to get into medical school. Plan ahead and plan right, no matter the pace. If anything, this is gold material for that "talk about a challenge you had to overcome" essay. Something bad and unplanned happened, but you learn from it and hang in there. Tenacity and adaptability are qualities adcoms would like to see in a future doctor, I think. Please take it easy, keep your chin up, and I wish you all the best.

 

[Turkishking]

I would look into other career fields if I were you tbh, no adcom would accept a crippled applicant since you'd just be a waste of a seat

Troll.

 

[JustAPhD]

I would look into other career fields if I were you tbh, no adcom would accept a crippled applicant since you'd just be a waste of a seat

I honestly don't understand people.


Anyways, as everyone has stated you'll be fine OP. Plus this will be a very interesting talking point! Wish you all the best in recovering.

 

[ImmunoLove]

Ok. Breathe. You have a legit and very unfortunate reason for your delay. They will be understanding (not to mention a delay in general is not catastrophic). In the interim, take care of yourself and heal.

 

[luxetvoluptas]

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[carpediem22]

Graduated a semester late due to transferring. Did not affect my applications at all -- have gotten into many top 20 MSTP and MD programs. Literally has not even come up in conversation, but if you are unsure you could also mention it in the "other considerations" part of your app.