Originally posted by phar
Thanks for the responses.........After reading the posts, i seem to have more respect for my undergraduate institution where "higher learning" is preserved meaning they will kick out any student who does not maintain a certain academic grades which collerates to success.....
I believe your interpretation is incorrect.
As opposed to medical school, there is plenty of opportunity at the undergraduate level to graduate, repeat courses, and complete a Bachelors degree. If a student fails a course in college, sure he gets a big zero calculated into his GPA, but at most colleges, students can retake that course for a grade. At my undergraduate institution, New York University, the policy was to retake the course and have the second grade counted in the GPA -- not the first -- but the first would remain on the transcript. Furthermore, most colleges institute policies which allow up to eight (8) academic years to complete the Bachelors degree.
In medical school, there is little opportunity to repeat courses and to advance once a student has failed something. As others have pointed out, some medical schools require repeating the ENTIRE academic year because of a failure. You won't find that in college. In addition, I believe all LCME-accredited medical schools have a maximum of six (6) academic years to complete the MD.
There was a time in medical education where some schools accepted huge classes, almost doubling what the average med school class size is today. The standards were high, but nothing compared to the competition faced today to get into medical school. The real competition didn't begin until one got to medical school. Some schools were known to cut half their classes within a year, another half in the second-year, to finally leave them with the few who would go on to graduate. This is similar to the pyramidal programs of old in General Surgery, before the development of the beloved categorical position.
🙂
To be honest, med schools vary in how likely they are to ruin a student's career after failing. Take for example:
At one school, School A, failing a course means re-taking the final examination at the end of the academic year -- when you've forgotten everything. Failing the re-take exam requires repeating the entire academic year. Failing more than two final exams means repeating the academic year, without a chance to re-take the exams in the summer. All grades are recorded onto the transcript, as in fail then pass.
At another, School B, failing a course also means re-taking the final examination at the next suitable break period, e.g., spring break, winter break, a long weekend, etc. (which the student chooses, according to his own preferences). Failing the re-take exam requires the scheduling of a tutorial session with the course director that can be scheduled whenever the student has time, e.g., right at the beginning of the third-year or during the summer vacation period between first and second-years. This student does NOT repeat the academic year. What's even more obscene is that if the student had passed the re-take only the pass grade would be recorded onto the transcript, leaving out all mention of the failing grade.
Why is there such variation and nothing standard? I don't know. One would think the LCME has certain rules regarding this, and provided that were true, it may be up to the individual school to decide how "best" to handle a particular situation. One thing's for sure, the student who attends School B will have fewer questions regarding his academic performance than the kid who attended School A.
Wow. Methinks that was a tiny tangent.
Good luck.
) as they can kill a person(whether direct or indirect) and get away with higher insurance payments. Those stupid medical schools offering summer classes for failures after money and nothing else. 
for humanity.
