Need Advice - Leave of Absence

[testNamePlease]

---

Members don't see this ad.

Long story short, I applied to medical schools in June of 2011, however, I had to take a health leave of absence in the Fall 2011 semester due to issues - I was mainly feeling burnt out and with a lack of motivation. As a result, I have a withdrawal im three classes for the Fall 2011 semester and likewise withdrew from my medical school applications.

Eight months later, I am ready to return and re-apply to medical schools this cycle. However, I would like to ask some advice on addressing this leave of absence and what my chances are for getting into a medical school.

My grades (up until the Fall 2011) semester have been good, with a AMCAS GPA of 3.76 and a MCAT score of 38. I have been busy during my leave of absence as well, with a part-time job and volunteer work in addition to my previous extracurriculars. I just have a few questions:

1. How badly will those withdrawals hurt my application? They were due to my Heath Leave of Absence and I know they will not be calculated in for my GPA

2. How should I address the Leave of Absence? Will I include it in the section under 'institutional action'? I voluntarily enacted the procedure, not the university. Should my personal statement include reference to it?

3. Am I considered a re-applicant? I did not do the secondaries for the medical schools I applied to.

4. Any other advice or stories with regards to a similar situation of mine? I am wishing to apply to medical schools this cycle, but have not officially been cleared for return to the university and will likely not know until July or August.

Thank you for your help!

 

[testNamePlease]

Just bumping this to see if anyone has an answer.

 

[Catalystik]

Long story short, I applied to medical schools in June of 2011, however, I had to take a health leave of absence in the Fall 2011 semester due to issues - I was mainly feeling burnt out and with a lack of motivation. As a result, I have a withdrawal im three classes for the Fall 2011 semester and likewise withdrew from my medical school applications.

Eight months later, I am ready to return and re-apply to medical schools this cycle. However, I would like to ask some advice on addressing this leave of absence and what my chances are for getting into a medical school.

My grades (up until the Fall 2011) semester have been good, with a AMCAS GPA of 3.76 and a MCAT score of 38. I have been busy during my leave of absence as well, with a part-time job and volunteer work in addition to my previous extracurriculars. I just have a few questions:

1. How badly will those withdrawals hurt my application? They were due to my Heath Leave of Absence and I know they will not be calculated in for my GPA

2. How should I address the Leave of Absence? Will I include it in the section under 'institutional action'? I voluntarily enacted the procedure, not the university. Should my personal statement include reference to it?

3. Am I considered a re-applicant? I did not do the secondaries for the medical schools I applied to.

4. Any other advice or stories with regards to a similar situation of mine? I am wishing to apply to medical schools this cycle, but have not officially been cleared for return to the university and will likely not know until July or August.

Thank you for your help!

1) It depends. How were your grades for spring 2012 if you attended school elsewhere? If also excellent, then a semester of Ws is less likely to be an issue. If you did not return to school somewhere in spring 2012, I'd have concerns that you haven't "gotten back on the academic horse again" and demonstrated that your issues were temporary.

2) Due to your vagueness, I can't comment on whether you should mention it in your PS.

If one withdraws voluntarily, one is unlikely to have an IA on one's record, and can't use that essay area. If you do have an IA, that would be extremely unusual (many withdraw temporarily for finances, mono and other health issues, military duty, maternity issues, etc, and aren't penalized). Or there is something else going on that you have yet to explain, like a negociated withdrawal requiring certain actions on your part before reinstatement.

Many Secondaries will give you an opportunity to discuss A stress, An interruption in your education, A challenge and how you managed it, or similar. This is usually a better place for explanations if the IA essay is not available to you.

3) You are a reapplicant for AMCAS purposes, if you withdrew after transcript verification, but not if you withdrew before.

4) This concerns me. Taking a semester off due to stress/burnout generally doesn't result in a school refusing to let you back in. It seems to me there is more to the story you don't care to share, or your school has policies that are very unusual. If your status is in limbo, you have not attended another school, and don't know for sure that you will be able to complete graduation requirements somewhere, I suggest you not reapply to med school this coming cycle. You need to prove your academic engine is able to run at full power again.

 

[testNamePlease]

This concerns me. Taking a semester off due to stress/burnout generally doesn't result in a school refusing to let you back in. It seems to me there is more to the story you don't care to share, or your school has policies that are very unusual. If your status is in limbo, you have not attended another school, and don't know for sure that you will be able to complete graduation requirements somewhere, I suggest you not reapply to med school this coming cycle. You need to prove your academic engine is able to run at full power again.[

Sorry if I wasn't clear with the clarification, it's not that the school refuses to let me back in, it's that the decision hasn't been made yet (but will be in July).

 

[Catalystik]

Why did you not return for the January term?

 

[testNamePlease]

Why did you not return for the January term?

I took the leave in November, and it has a minimum length of one semester, so the earliest I could return would be Fall 2012.

 

[spike55]

I think taking a leave of absence isn't an issue. There is space to write about it on (almost) every secondary. My interviewers were interested in my experiences during my time off, especially the fact that I felt like it was a time of personal growth. However, I think returning to school and being successful following time off is important- especially if you leave because of burnout/lack of motivation. I think you should seriously consider applying next year after you have returned to school and can talk about how you have matured as a student.

 

[testNamePlease]

I think taking a leave of absence isn't an issue. There is space to write about it on (almost) every secondary. My interviewers were interested in my experiences during my time off, especially the fact that I felt like it was a time of personal growth. However, I think returning to school and being successful following time off is important- especially if you leave because of burnout/lack of motivation. I think you should seriously consider applying next year after you have returned to school and can talk about how you have matured as a student.

I do have plenty of experiences in my time off, doing paid and unpaid volunteer work - I wish I had taken classes at the local community college and in fact, might just look into doing that - I will ask the advisors at Cornell for more advice.

 

[LizzyM]

If I understand correctly, you were a senior in November 2011 when you withdrew from the university, took incompletes for the courses underway and took a leave of absense from November through the second term (Jan-May 2012) and are petitioning to return to school in Aug/Sept 2012 to complete your degree. I presume you need to complete "senior year".

If this wasn't an instiitutional action (you were not suspended) then that isn't the place to explain the situation. The W's will show in the grade section and the gap in classes will be obvious.

Cornell advisors write pretty detailed letters and may explain the leave of absence in the letter which gets you off the hook. Ask.

If it figures into your story, you can put it in the PS. The experience section is where you can account for your time while you were out of school (employment, volunteerism, etc).