How common is dropping out of Med School?

[suizyme09]

Hey I got a question for you guys. Now that I've received my first acceptance I have a new thought in my head. There are threads covering this idea but they are pretty old so i thought I'd ask now. Anyone know what allopathic drop-out rates are? How many people typically fail-out of medical school a year on average? I'm positive that I'm not going to be one of them but I was just wondering.🙂

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[zpiff]

Hey I got a question for you guys. Now that I've received my first acceptance I have a new thought in my head. There are threads covering this idea but they are pretty old so i thought I'd ask now. Anyone know what allopathic drop-out rates are? How many people typically fail-out of medical school a year on average? I'm positive that I'm not going to be one of them but I was just wondering.🙂

Congrats on the acceptance! The failing rates are pretty low. Most schools have a system put in place for helping students well before they fail out. The application process does a good job of weeding out those who they think won't be able to handle the academic rigor and I think the few that leave med school usually do so for other reasons.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

to give a numerical response;
"With a 10 year attrition rate at less than four percent, medical school students are thus far less likely to leave school than the average postgraduate."
<source>

 

[suizyme09]

wow thanks, that's a pretty comprehensive source.

 

[DrMattOglesby]

yeah it essentially says, you have practically nothing to worry about! Getting in was the hard part...so CONGRATS!

 

[musicalmedicine]

From the few times I've come across it, most people that end up dropping out are doing so because of personal issues. This could be wrong but, I think if you keep your head on straight than you're going to be a MD/DO before you know it!!! CONGRATS!!!

 

[suizyme09]

I'm sure there are plenty of much harder parts coming up...but at least I know I won't likely be failing out as a result!!

 

[njbmd]

Hey I got a question for you guys. Now that I've received my first acceptance I have a new thought in my head. There are threads covering this idea but they are pretty old so i thought I'd ask now. Anyone know what allopathic drop-out rates are? How many people typically fail-out of medical school a year on average? I'm positive that I'm not going to be one of them but I was just wondering.🙂

"Drop-out" rates are pretty low, at my schools, less than 1%. In general, these occur within the first three weeks of class. Fail out rates are around 1% as most people who fail a course will do remediation during the summer and have no problems. Reasons for failure are generally time management problems and not that the students had difficulty with the material. Something (illness, family illness, homesickness, procrastination, depression) interfered with the student's ability to get the material mastered. It's not common but it does happen. As I said, most people remediate during the summer and never look back.

 

[Law2Doc]

to give a numerical response;
"With a 10 year attrition rate at less than four percent, medical school students are thus far less likely to leave school than the average postgraduate."
<source>

Yes, it's historically been less than 4-5% drop out rate, with less than about 1.5% of that being for academic reasons. Schools give folks second, third and even fourth chances once they are in, so while it's possible to fail a test, a course, or even have to repeat a year, there will be options to repeat things if you need them. Of course it costs you another $40k if you have to repeat a year, but it's hard to fail "out"; you will see a few folks from your class end up back in the first year roster when you advance to second year -- happens to one or two at most schools.

But once you are in, partly due to high student loans and partly due to the fact that you can't do much with part of a professional degree, most people stick through with it. Which is why you need to be doubly sure that this is the path for you, because there really aren't many offramps. Which is why schools insist on clinical exposure -- you absolutely need to know what you are getting yourself into because in all probability you will be on this trajectory for the rest of your life. Congrats.

 

[suizyme09]

Haha absolutely I am not expecting any off-ramps! That's why I was asking. I want to make sure there are little to no unexpected off-ramps!

 

[CCLCMer]

Haha absolutely I am not expecting any off-ramps! That's why I was asking. I want to make sure there are little to no unexpected off-ramps!

No, the odds of flunking out of med school are slim unless you decide to start blowing off school and spurn every effort the school makes to help retain you. Like other people have said, almost everyone who starts will finish unless they drop out willingly for personal reasons. Worst case scenario if you struggle a lot but don't give up is usually that you repeat some classes and you might graduate a semester or a year late. Congrats on the acceptance, and good luck with school.