Just failed my first class...what does this mean for me?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

glycolysisman

New Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 27, 2009
Messages
10
Reaction score
0
Hi, first year who failed anatomy here. Not sure what to do now or what happens next. I hear there's summer remediation, but what does this mean for my prospects going forward so far as residencies/etc. go?

I ask, because I'm debating a LOA. I told myself that if my performance led to more doors being closed than left open, then I'd try something different. I never had my heart set on being a doctor, and quite honestly, I wouldn't be a good one. I can't deal with volumes of information and cannot memorize lists of terms. I can pull a nervous system out of a centimeter-long mollusk and debate you intelligently on anything subjective, but I can't remember names of nerves and innervations to save my ****ing life.

And after shadowing, at the very least I knew I didn't want to be FP/GP/IM, so staying on with just the ability to do that would definitely inspire me to quit. Since I can't remember anything anatomy-related, I can't go being a surgeon now, can I? I didn't enjoy anatomy at all, either.

What do I do now? :\
 
you are going to have a more difficult time matching to derm, rad onc, or any of the surgical subspecialties. beyond that, anything else should still be in reach - and even those ones i mentioned aren't completely off the table. enthusiasm for the way that anatomy is taught in M1 isn't indicative of whether or not you'd be a good fit for any particular field. I'm sure there are surgeons out there who failed it the first time.

i sincerely doubt you aren't capable of doing the work to pass anatomy. it sounds to me more like you just aren't motivated - and motivation is key for anatomy. you have to put your time in.

I can't tell you whether you should stay on. You have some soul searching to do. Good luck.
 
What he said. We had 1 person fail anatomy and 3 people fail the MSK module (extremities, chest, back, posterior cervical triangle, etc).
 
I feel really sad when I read post like yours, because I honestly feel that anatomy is one of the most interesting classes of M1, yet so many schools do a poor job of teaching it and motivating students that it is probably one of the most failed M1 courses. Not only that, but it turns a lot of people off medicine and/ surgery. At my school, Anatomy is extremely well taught, which is one of the reasons I chose to TA the class. People rarely fail, and even if they do they have ample means to remediate. But, don't let your poor experience with anatomy turn you off medicine , or even surgery. Anatomy is simply the language of surgery; there's so much more to the field than that. If you do decide to take a LOA, you can try to use that time to do some more shadowing to see what other fields interest you, keeping in mind that it's just a tiny insight and there's more to any field than can be picked up by just shadowing. Good luck!
 
As the poster above said, failing anatomy is not the end of the world. We had a bunch of people fail last year, so they took the course again over the summer, and now they're (mostly) doing fine.

The problem of whether or not you want to become a doctor is another story. I would strongly caution against turning your back on medicine because of one poor class experience, but that is something you should definitely take up with an academic advisor or dean. They have likely worked with many students in your situation and can offer more helpful advice.
 
I told myself that if my performance led to more doors being closed than left open, then I'd try something different. I never had my heart set on being a doctor, and quite honestly, I wouldn't be a good one. I can't deal with volumes of information and cannot memorize lists of terms. I can pull a nervous system out of a centimeter-long mollusk and debate you intelligently on anything subjective, but I can't remember names of nerves and innervations to save my ****ing life.

And after shadowing, at the very least I knew I didn't want to be FP/GP/IM, so staying on with just the ability to do that would definitely inspire me to quit.

Holy cow.

I am not sure how you made your case for going into medicine without accepting the possibility of...going into medicine. 😕
 
Many of us M1s feel as you do. We feel, "I excel at concepts, and I'm horrible at memorization."

Fact is, none of us ever had to memorize so much stuff in our lives. Given the amount of memorization in med school, anything in undergraduate probably felt more conceptual -- but only relatively speaking, that is. Was there really more conceptual learning in undergraduate than in med school, or is there just a heck a lot more memorization on top of the concepts in med school? The latter, I believe.

And it's a difficult transition, more for some than others. But if almost everyone can get pass anatomy, and if you got into medical school, you can make the transition also. Time, efficiency, and simple will-power will probably get you further than any innate ability.

What's more, if indeed you are really the conceptual type -- perhaps you will excel and enjoy the clinical years than your peers. And your time has yet to come.
 
Talk to your Dean. If your school is P/F it may not even matter. If you pass on your 'second' attempt, it may show up just as a 'pass' and you're all good. The remediation could show up on your deans letter, but you eventually get to read over it and you may be able to get that part taken out possibly.

Not the end of the world. We all have these types of things happen to us. If I may quote an episode of the Simpsons:

In Lisa's classroom…
Ms Hoover: Here are your final report cards. I have nothing left to say to any of you. So if nobody minds, let's just quietly run out the clock.
Lisa's report card is all A's apart from a B+ in Conduct.
Lisa: <gasps> I've never gotten a B before. How could this have happened? I feel so dirty.
Lisa tries to get the dirt off her arms.
Lisa: The dirt's not coming off. <breathes heavily> Ok, calm down. This must just be a little typo. <giggles crazily> Oh, Ms. Hoover!
Lisa runs up to Ms Hoover's desk.
Lisa: There appears to be a mistake on my report card. You gave me a B plus in conduct?
Ms. Hoover: Now Lisa, everyone needs a blotch on their permanent record.
Lisa: Perhaps I'm not making myself clear. <giggles> I think you should reconsider.
Lisa presses down hard on Ms. Hoover's hand.
Ms. Hoover: Lisa … you're … hurting me.


👍
 
Top