I am an M1 at an MD school on a coast in the United States. Midway through this semester I was hit by a drunk driver, and I suffered a concussion and some other minor lingering injuries. However, I did not have any broken bones. As such, I notified my school immediately with proper documentation, a police report, and a call from the hospital. I requested to continue through the rest of the year. This was a bad decision on my part as I ended up failing my block of courses thereafter. My dean of students and her staff were aware of my situation and are letting me repeat the year. Does anyone know how this will affect my chances for match later on down the road? I know that I just need to take it one step at a time right now, but I would really like to know how this may affect me with regards to matching for residency. Any response is appreciated. Thanks.
Incident During M1. How Will It Affect Me Down the Road?
- Thread starter ds2593
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No, you shouldn't sit around and worry about this right now. Especially with your school fully aware of your circumstances and all 4 years of medical school ahead of you. Enjoy your time off before you start again. Life and medicine are too long to get twisted and stressed about normal, faultless bumps in the road, the result of which no one can actually predict (med students love to talk about hypothetical, impossible to predict predictions of the future).
If anyone can answer any real specifics about how it might affect your matching process, like are they going to replace your transcript completely (which is what I would expect in this situation if they agreed the problem warranted allowing you to repeat the year) or will schools 4years down the road (a long time away) be able to see some record of your first year, ect, it would be your school administrators, not random people on sdn. Still, my advice would be not to sweat the very distant, unpredictable unknowns because they damn near are never what you think they will be and there are a million of them that you can worry about needlessly.
If anyone can answer any real specifics about how it might affect your matching process, like are they going to replace your transcript completely (which is what I would expect in this situation if they agreed the problem warranted allowing you to repeat the year) or will schools 4years down the road (a long time away) be able to see some record of your first year, ect, it would be your school administrators, not random people on sdn. Still, my advice would be not to sweat the very distant, unpredictable unknowns because they damn near are never what you think they will be and there are a million of them that you can worry about needlessly.
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Assuming you pick back up, and do what you need to do (i.e., good grades and crush step 1/2), then it will likely be a non-issue. However, it won't be like the time your buddy got busted shoplifting at hot topic as a 15 year old -- it won't get erased from your record. On ERAS, and in your Dean's letter, there is a mandatory section for any discontinuity in your medical education, therefore your repeating of a year will be mentioned at least twice in your application. As long as you demonstrate that it did not leave permanent disabilities in your performance potential, and as long as your Dean's letter is defensive on your behalf, then it should not be a problem. Be thankful you got a re-do, and do as best you can.
