Nursing or PA after Med School withdrawal

[medschoolapplicant101.]

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What are the chances of being accepted to PA or Nursing after failing 1 course as M1 and withdrawing from med school? When applying to these programs, should applicants mention med school attendance/withdrawals or just submit undergrad transcript/GRE?

 

[Med Ed]

What are the chances of being accepted to PA or Nursing after failing 1 course as M1 and withdrawing from med school?

Depends on how compelling your application is.

When applying to these programs, should applicants mention med school attendance/withdrawals or just submit undergrad transcript/GRE?

Depends on the instructions for applying.

 

[lockstitch]

It would depend on your application for each of those and the requirements. But more so, nursing/PA (especially the former) are not the same as being a doctor. For your own sake you should think about whether you actually want to go into them, vs "I guess I can't make it through med school, what's a little easier". There are many careers outside medicine!

Have you withdrawn from med school after failing one course? No interest in/opportunity for remediation? I wouldn't be the only one who remembers your posts about anatomy, and I'm surprised to see this situation (not blaming you, just a statement of fact).

 

[GoSpursGo]

What are the chances of being accepted to PA or Nursing after failing 1 course as M1 and withdrawing from med school? When applying to these programs, should applicants mention med school attendance/withdrawals or just submit undergrad transcript/GRE?

As others have said, it depends. But first things first--why do you want to be a PA/nurse rather than remediate your failed course?

 

[Goro]

What are the chances of being accepted to PA or Nursing after failing 1 course as M1 and withdrawing from med school? When applying to these programs, should applicants mention med school attendance/withdrawals or just submit undergrad transcript/GRE?

Having taught PA students a long time ago, I have to ask why you think you can pass PA anatomy when you failed med school anatomy???

 

[HipiMochi]

Having taught PA students a long time ago, I have to ask why you think you can pass PA anatomy when you failed med school anatomy???

Just out of curiosity, can you honestly claim that the difficulty, curve, passing score, grading scale etc are all exactly the same for PA students and Med students? At my friend’s DO school, they take the same classes as the podiatry students in the first two years. But the podiatry students get a 6% boost on their grades whilst the DO students don’t.

 

[Goro]

Just out of curiosity, can you honestly claim that the difficulty, curve, passing score, grading scale etc are all exactly the same for PA students and Med students? At my friend’s DO school, they take the same classes as the podiatry students in the first two years. But the podiatry students get a 6% boost on their grades whilst the DO students don’t.

I need the OP to answer my question. Have you taught PA students?

 

[HipiMochi]

I need the OP to answer my question. Have you taught PA students?

You asked OP why they think that they can pass anatomy if they failed it in med school. But can you honestly say that it’s the exact same thing? Can you honestly say that PA students are given the exact level of exam difficulty, grade curve, grading scale, passing threshold, etc that med students are given?

Sure, I’m not the OP. But I’m still politely asking an innocent question.

 

[GoSpursGo]

You asked OP why they think that they can pass anatomy if they failed it in med school. But can you honestly say that it’s the exact same thing? Can you honestly say that PA students are given the exact level of exam difficulty, grade curve, grading scale, passing threshold, etc that med students are given?

Sure, I’m not the OP. But I’m still politely asking an innocent question.

Fair enough on your point about grading on a curve (at my med school, we took the same anatomy classes as the PA students, but it never occurred to me that we might be graded on a different curve). However, in my mind, it's kind of beside the point because it is still the same material. Even if there is some "curve" similar to your friend, and even if the OP had a 69... they would have just scraped by with a 75. If the original score was much lower, then a curve really doesn't matter. Even if they are not the EXACT same thing, the material is similar enough that I don't think it's a slam dunk that a failed med student can be a successful PA student regardless of whether there is a curve.

Regardless... in general these programs don't want to train self-loathing PAs who settled for PA school after failing to complete med school. And the whole idea of withdrawing instead of even trying to remediate is pretty darn odd, so it feels like we are missing some key information.

 

[HipiMochi]

Fair enough on your point about grading on a curve (at my med school, we took the same anatomy classes as the PA students, but it never occurred to me that we might be graded on a different curve). However, in my mind, it's kind of beside the point because it is still the same material. Even if there is some "curve" similar to your friend, and even if the OP had a 69... they would have just scraped by with a 75. If the original score was much lower, then a curve really doesn't matter. Even if they are not the EXACT same thing, the material is similar enough that I don't think it's a slam dunk that a failed med student can be a successful PA student regardless of whether there is a curve.

Regardless... in general these programs don't want to train self-loathing PAs who settled for PA school after failing to complete med school. And the whole idea of withdrawing instead of even trying to remediate is pretty darn odd, so it feels like we are missing some key information.

There’s also the effect of having already gone through anatomy. If OP goes to a PA school then having already seen anatomy, plus being graded on a more lenient curve may just allow OP to pass anatomy at a PA school. But I do agree that there are bigger red flags here.

 

[GoSpursGo]

There’s also the effect of having already gone through anatomy. If OP goes to a PA school then having already seen anatomy, plus being graded on a more lenient curve may just allow OP to pass anatomy at a PA school. But I do agree that there are bigger red flags here.

I would think the same would apply to just taking anatomy a second time in med school. If some nominal curve is the determining factor between passing or not that probably means the class is going to be a problem regardless of context

 

[FluffyCat1212]

We took the same anatomy as the PA students at my school, and if I'm being perfectly honest, they had it WORSE than we did. I'm a little fuzzy on the details, but I feel like their grading was harsher than ours in some ways. They also had other classes going at the same time, whereas we were pretty much only doing anatomy during that time. I didn't have a great time, but they were having an even worse time.

Granted, the PA program at our school is brand new. I think they're still ironing out some kinks. But yeah, I felt awful for the PA students.

 

[ChordaEpiphany]

Regardless... in general these programs don't want to train self-loathing PAs who settled for PA school after failing to complete med school. And the whole idea of withdrawing instead of even trying to remediate is pretty darn odd, so it feels like we are missing some key information.

Whenever I see a post like this I assume the key information missing is OP's personality. On instinct, I sub in a mental image of someone who looks and acts a lot like me when reading posts, but that's rarely the reality. If we all had 5 minutes to talk to OP, I bet we'd say, "oh, this makes a lot more sense." The dropouts from my program were normal people, but generally didn't have that above-and-beyond drive of a typical med student. They just sort of got sick of the culture, which is fair enough. I think we had 2 dropouts, and I don't think they surprised anyone.

What I'm getting from OP is that they aren't being very imaginative with their career. Usually people don't go into medicine for the subject matter, and the ones who do don't withdraw without remediating. They go because it's a pathway that allows for a lot of leadership, growth, and a solid paycheck while doing something objectively good. Failed premeds go to business school, law school, or take a path in the industry of their major.

OP, you don't sound passionate about medicine. Doing the nursing or PA path sounds like the worst of both worlds. You'll still get the medicine (albeit at much lower intensity), but you'll have less upwards mobility and lower pay. Just by virtue of having gone to med school, you're probably qualified for another path, which you could shoehorn into a decent B-school acceptance or a masters in something useful. I'd strongly consider those routes vs. pursuing the PA/nursing path.

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

As others have said, it depends. But first things first--why do you want to be a PA/nurse rather than remediate your failed cours

Fair enough on your point about grading on a curve (at my med school, we took the same anatomy classes as the PA students, but it never occurred to me that we might be graded on a different curve). However, in my mind, it's kind of beside the point because it is still the same material. Even if there is some "curve" similar to your friend, and even if the OP had a 69... they would have just scraped by with a 75. If the original score was much lower, then a curve really doesn't matter. Even if they are not the EXACT same thing, the material is similar enough that I don't think it's a slam dunk that a failed med student can be a successful PA student regardless of whether there is a curve.

Regardless... in general these programs don't want to train self-loathing PAs who settled for PA school after failing to complete med school. And the whole idea of withdrawing instead of even trying to remediate is pretty darn odd, so it feels like we are missing some key

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

Well, let me start saying this first. No reason to be rude or offend anyone. Learn to be kind if you training or already a physician. This field is over saturated with people that are aggressive and not in a good way. This question came about not me personally, it’s about a friend that attends a school where a large number of student body did not perform well in their coursework. Not all med students speak up as they are not comfortable. The more I talk to my friend and read other related topics here on sdn or online, the more I see different school culture and how each school has their rules. Some are more flexible than others. Per observation, Many students are leaving med school, therefore these questions arise. Again, nothing about me personally. Gosh!!! Some of my friends classmates are considering a different path after seeing a true environment of toxicity in medicine and want a complete out, others from what am reading are making switches from becoming a physician and not wanting to spend years and years and years to a career change, this is why I am asking, if it’s even possible to make such a switch from med school to nursing or pa. That’s all!

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

PS. Some schools don’t allow remediation if you didn’t know, students are repeating a year from scratch, even if they did well the entire year and then didn’t pass one of their last blocks.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Well, let me start saying this first. No reason to be rude or offend anyone. Learn to be kind if you training or already a physician. This field is over saturated with people that are aggressive and not in a good way. This question came about not me personally, it’s about a friend that attends a school where a large number of student body did not perform well in their coursework. Not all med students speak up as they are not comfortable. The more I talk to my friend and read other related topics here on sdn or online, the more I see different school culture and how each school has their rules. Some are more flexible than others. Per observation, Many students are leaving med school, therefore these questions arise. Again, nothing about me personally. Gosh!!! Some of my friends classmates are considering a different path after seeing a true environment of toxicity in medicine and want a complete out, others from what am reading are making switches from becoming a physician and not wanting to spend years and years and years to a career change, this is why I am asking, if it’s even possible to make such a switch from med school to nursing or pa. That’s all!

PS. Some schools don’t allow remediation if you didn’t know, students are repeating a year from scratch, even if they did well the entire year and then didn’t pass one of their last blocks.

I don't think anyone was being rude to you... it is pretty atypical to react to a failure by quitting altogether without attempting to remediate/repeat a year, so understanding the reasoning for wanting to go down that route is important for us to be able to answer how possible this switch would be. If your friend(s) is/are unable or unwilling to provide additional information, then they are unlikely to get a useful response beyond "it depends."

 

[Means]

Just out of curiosity, can you honestly claim that the difficulty, curve, passing score, grading scale etc are all exactly the same for PA students and Med students? At my friend’s DO school, they take the same classes as the podiatry students in the first two years. But the podiatry students get a 6% boost on their grades whilst the DO students don’t.

I will say, at the school I went to, first year med students and the first year PA students took the exact same anatomy lecture course / tests with the same professors. I am not sure if the PA students had curves or whatnot though.

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

Since people here are talking about Atonomy. How long was this block at your med school?

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

I don't think anyone was being rude to you... it is pretty atypical to react to a failure by quitting altogether without attempting to remediate/repeat a year, so understanding the reasoning for wanting to go down that route is important for us to be able to answer how possible this switch would be. If your friend(s) is/are unable or unwilling to provide additional information, then they are unlikely to get a useful response beyond "it depends."

That is what I said as well to her. Why quit if you made it this far? Her school does not allow remediation, period. A relatively large number of students will be repeating a year. As I said, some schools have very strict rules in place. I can’t provide additional info as I don’t know these students. All she said, they are hard working, studied their tails off and unfortunately something didn’t click for them to get a passing score. I was genuinely only curious to learn of options that could possibly be open to students that choose to discontinue their med school journey. We don’t know what terms are given, how many repeat fails are “allowed” before students are dismissed completely. So can completely understand if some are looking for other options outside of med school.

 

[HipiMochi]

Well, let me start saying this first. No reason to be rude or offend anyone. Learn to be kind if you training or already a physician. This field is over saturated with people that are aggressive and not in a good way. This question came about not me personally, it’s about a friend that attends a school where a large number of student body did not perform well in their coursework. Not all med students speak up as they are not comfortable. The more I talk to my friend and read other related topics here on sdn or online, the more I see different school culture and how each school has their rules. Some are more flexible than others. Per observation, Many students are leaving med school, therefore these questions arise. Again, nothing about me personally. Gosh!!! Some of my friends classmates are considering a different path after seeing a true environment of toxicity in medicine and want a complete out, others from what am reading are making switches from becoming a physician and not wanting to spend years and years and years to a career change, this is why I am asking, if it’s even possible to make such a switch from med school to nursing or pa. That’s all!

The toxic culture of medicine is way better now than it was in the past. Besides, it’s a way of learning - nothing is a better motivator than working your butt off to make sure your attending or resident won’t roast you during rounds. Not to mention the fact that many med students these days think that having to work long hours and having to work hard is “abusive” and “toxic”.

 

[Princeton Medical Student]

That is what I said as well to her. Why quit if you made it this far? Her school does not allow remediation, period. A relatively large number of students will be repeating a year. As I said, some schools have very strict rules in place. I can’t provide additional info as I don’t know these students. All she said, they are hard working, studied their tails off and unfortunately something didn’t click for them to get a passing score. I was genuinely only curious to learn of options that could possibly be open to students that choose to discontinue their med school journey. We don’t know what terms are given, how many repeat fails are “allowed” before students are dismissed completely. So can completely understand if some are looking for other options outside of med school.

Smells like VCOM... or perhaps IMG?

 

[Med Ed]

Well, let me start saying this first. No reason to be rude or offend anyone. Learn to be kind if you training or already a physician. This field is over saturated with people that are aggressive and not in a good way. This question came about not me personally, it’s about a friend that attends a school where a large number of student body did not perform well in their coursework. Not all med students speak up as they are not comfortable. The more I talk to my friend and read other related topics here on sdn or online, the more I see different school culture and how each school has their rules. Some are more flexible than others. Per observation, Many students are leaving med school, therefore these questions arise. Again, nothing about me personally. Gosh!!! Some of my friends classmates are considering a different path after seeing a true environment of toxicity in medicine and want a complete out, others from what am reading are making switches from becoming a physician and not wanting to spend years and years and years to a career change, this is why I am asking, if it’s even possible to make such a switch from med school to nursing or pa. That’s all!

Thank you for explaining everything in post #15.

 

[LadyDustyBlue]

That is what I said as well to her. Why quit if you made it this far? Her school does not allow remediation, period. A relatively large number of students will be repeating a year. As I said, some schools have very strict rules in place. I can’t provide additional info as I don’t know these students. All she said, they are hard working, studied their tails off and unfortunately something didn’t click for them to get a passing score. I was genuinely only curious to learn of options that could possibly be open to students that choose to discontinue their med school journey. We don’t know what terms are given, how many repeat fails are “allowed” before students are dismissed completely. So can completely understand if some are looking for other options outside of med school.

Hi OP,

I read your whole thread and it seems you’re a very concerned friend, so concerned that you would post for them. However, is it at all possible that your friend & her peers can find out what those protocols are without fear of being reprimanded? I wonder which school this is & why this has to be an online anonymous question in the first place. I’m sorry that this is has happened, but maybe the next course of action should be to consider that your friend and her peers need to reflect if they’re simply basing a really HUGE DECISION TO QUIT on an isolated factor (examples — The specific medical school, an instructor, or just they all need to collectively check in with their own mental health at this point & take a LOA/ “leave of absence” and explore their options).

Truthfully, as much as you are trying to find solutions for your friend, the burden of knowing what to do does not fall on you. Ultimately, these are adult decisions that, if you are also a medical student, would really be your friend and her peer’s to directly contact their school, administration, or whomever would know the rules and protocols for handling such outcomes of failed courses.

You sound really stressed out for them, but just a reminder that ALL of these former premeds are meeting the reality of the lifestyle and the institution they chose. After all of your research online, the rest of the story, the other factors will not be dealt with or explored properly in this thread - without sufficient additional information.

And only your friend and others can individually and/or collectively find a solution.

One’s hopes and dreams should not be given up on based on 1 setback. But you also aren’t responsible for making 1 friend realize that they should continue medical school or not… it’s possible they realized they don’t want to, for whatever reason.

On SDN, we don’t know everything about your friend’s situation & I hope that it’s not involving anything personal outside of not being able to grasp the material or not wanting to continue in the field but maybe too disheartened by the thought of it to admit/accept that yet. It could literally be anything! Though I hope all else going on with that friend as an individual is A-ok otherwise.

It’s the best I can say. So be good to one another.

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

Hi OP,

I read your whole thread and it seems you’re a very concerned friend, so concerned that you would post for them. However, is it at all possible that your friend & her peers can find out what those protocols are without fear of being reprimanded? I wonder which school this is & why this has to be an online anonymous question in the first place. I’m sorry that this is has happened, but maybe the next course of action should be to consider that your friend and her peers need to reflect if they’re simply basing a really HUGE DECISION TO QUIT on an isolated factor (examples — The specific medical school, an instructor, or just they all need to collectively check in with their own mental health at this point & take a LOA/ “leave of absence” and explore their options).

Truthfully, as much as you are trying to find solutions for your friend, the burden of knowing what to do does not fall on you. Ultimately, these are adult decisions that, if you are also a medical student, would really be your friend and her peer’s to directly contact their school, administration, or whomever would know the rules and protocols for handling such outcomes of failed courses.

You sound really stressed out for them, but just a reminder that ALL of these former premeds are meeting the reality of the lifestyle and the institution they chose. After all of your research online, the rest of the story, the other factors will not be dealt with or explored properly in this thread - without sufficient additional information.

And only your friend and others can individually and/or collectively find a solution.

One’s hopes and dreams should not be given up on based on 1 setback. But you also aren’t responsible for making 1 friend realize that they should continue medical school or not… it’s possible they realized they don’t want to, for whatever reason.

On SDN, we don’t know everything about your friend’s situation & I hope that it’s not involving anything personal outside of not being able to grasp the material or not wanting to continue in the field but maybe too disheartened by the thought of it to admit/accept that yet. It could literally be anything! Though I hope all else going on with that friend as an individual is A-ok otherwise.

It’s the best I can say. So be good to one another.

Thank you for your response. Believe it or not but I did become concerned and yet curious about such situation, as realistically speaking it happens across the nation at all med schools. As mentioned previously, I don’t know these people or their actual reasons. I go by what I was told. Of course things are in their hands and how they are going to address it, their issue. It is simply curiosity that took over, what happens if?! As a friend, I am very loyal and there for her as she is for me at anytime, we know each other since we were children. Our families are friends too, so absolutely nothing wrong with being a concerned human that is there for a special person in our life. I just don’t understand the agression that lives within people where a simple question starts a fire.

 

[LadyDustyBlue]

Thank you for your response. Believe it or not but I did become concerned and yet curious about such situation, as realistically speaking it happens across the nation at all med schools. As mentioned previously, I don’t know these people or their actual reasons. I go by what I was told. Of course things are in their hands and how they are going to address it, their issue. It is simply curiosity that took over, what happens if?! As a friend, I am very loyal and there for her as she is for me at anytime, we know each other since we were children. Our families are friends too, so absolutely nothing wrong with being a concerned human that is there for a special person in our life. I just don’t understand the agression that lives within people where a simple question starts a fire.

Understood. While it happens sometimes on SDN that people who merely want to post a question to sort of advocate for a friend, who might be afraid to speak out or ask what their options are for being pre-med or however the situation is described, I just thought it was unclear at first in the initial post, which ended up confusing most people reading this over the internet.

It is all good & well to be curious and loyal. We’ve all been there at one point with existential crises on hand b/c there are some very smart, kind, and intelligent people in this forum who are and aren’t physicians. Some of them are experts in other fields, so naturally you came here.

Overall? We’re just all trying to give the best answers we possibly can, but I hope it gets all sorted. Truly, in the end, there’s always a way.

 

[medschoolapplicant101.]

Understood. While it happens sometimes on SDN that people who merely want to post a question to sort of advocate for a friend, who might be afraid to speak out or ask what their options are for being pre-med or however the situation is described, I just thought it was unclear at first in the initial post, which ended up confusing most people reading this over the internet.

It is all good & well to be curious and loyal. We’ve all been there at one point with existential crises on hand b/c there are some very smart, kind, and intelligent people in this forum who are and aren’t physicians. Some of them are experts in other fields, so naturally you came here.

Overall? We’re just all trying to give the best answers we possibly can, but I hope it gets all sorted. Truly, in the end, there’s always a way.

Thank you! Realistically, people should not be using their wild imagination and jump to conclusions just because a poster says “a friend”! If it was me God forbid, I would be living in the administration office to get answers lol although let’s admit not all act in their students interest. Also, not every med student is on SDN or even if they are,they don’t post but silently monitor. I understand and respect their decision to do so. We live in a harsh world where people are judged without understanding what this person might be experiencing and not everyone wants to put themselves out there for this or any other reason.

 

[LadyDustyBlue]

Thank you! Realistically, people should not be using their wild imagination and jump to conclusions just because a poster says “a friend”! If it was me God forbid, I would be living in the administration office to get answers lol although let’s admit not all act in their students interest. Also, not every med student is on SDN or even if they are,they don’t post but silently monitor. I understand and respect their decision to do so. We live in a harsh world where people are judged without understanding what this person might be experiencing and not everyone wants to put themselves out there for this or any other reason.

No worries, just next time in your initial post, be clear who this is about and you could save some clarifying posts in the future. That’s all.

 

[voxveritatisetlucis]

Probably pretty good. Aren’t most NP degrees online?

 

[Goro]

Thank you for your response. Believe it or not but I did become concerned and yet curious about such situation, as realistically speaking it happens across the nation at all med schools. As mentioned previously, I don’t know these people or their actual reasons. I go by what I was told. Of course things are in their hands and how they are going to address it, their issue. It is simply curiosity that took over, what happens if?! As a friend, I am very loyal and there for her as she is for me at anytime, we know each other since we were children. Our families are friends too, so absolutely nothing wrong with being a concerned human that is there for a special person in our life. I just don’t understand the agression that lives within people where a simple question starts a fire.

People come to SDN for realistic advice, not hugs and kisses. It doesn't help when the OP is very sparse in information. Kinda wastes our time.

 

[Goro]

Probably pretty good. Aren’t most NP degrees online?

One has to get through a nursing program first

 

[bngli]

I will say, at the school I went to, first year med students and the first year PA students took the exact same anatomy lecture course / tests with the same professors. I am not sure if the PA students had curves or whatnot though.

Wild how much variation there is in PA education too. So at our school, that is definitely not the case. I remediated anatomy, and the remediation was taken with the PA students. It was 100x easier. To put it simply, I was making like 40s in my med school class and I was getting high 90s on the remediated class before a curve. Obviously it was easier for me since I had already seen the material once (but at the same time, there were people in my M1 class who did SMPs who basically had anatomy before). But I am 99% positive that if I took the PA version the first time, I would pass and maybe even high pass. I even started blowing off studying for the remediation because it was so much easier as a class. The questions were hardly ever second order.

We also technically had physiology with PA students, but that was different too since they were allowed to take it at home while we had to come in (COVID). They also had different links to get to the test, and after my remediation of anatomy, I am starting to think they had a watered down version of the physiology exams too.

 

[DarkBluMage]

People come to SDN for realistic advice, not hugs and kisses. It doesn't help when the OP is very sparse in information. Kinda wastes our time.

Lol I see their point honestly. I’ve noticed that people flock to posts about OP students struggling academically, just to pile on negative responses or go off on tangents that had nothing to do with the OP’s original question rather than simply answering the question. It’s annoying to see, so I imagine it’s far more annoying to experience. They definitely have a point about toxicity on sdn. Posts on sdn for students looking for advice about preparing for residency get far less traction/responses.

 

[lockstitch]

As the person who first pointed it out, I was genuinely trying to help, not attracted by the drama. There was so little information in the original post and genuinely I felt like it would be more irresponsible to “just answer the question” when aware of the possible context of the asker. And Occam’s razor, you know?

I did not intend any “aggression” and when I have been struggling in the past I have turned to online communities and asked vague questions that really stemmed out of some underlying need, so I thought that was one possibility as to what was going on.

 

[Anistole]

I had posted this someplace else but I stumbled across this thread so I'll post it here as well:

I formerly participated in the admissions process for a relatively well regarded three year PA program (1500 apps for ~35 seats). We are a stand alone school at a moderately sized university without an affiliated medical school. We are in many ways the "flagship" graduate program for our university.

Do not lie about your academic background. When we ask for your transcripts for all of your previous coursework, we mean it and we have ways of figuring out if we are being mislead. You will have some interviewers ask you point blank about whether you have ever taken the MCAT (the PA centralized application requires this response) - again, do not lie. This continues on when our financial aid department runs your credit report to assess your eligibility for financial aid (so if you have previous school loans - that will be known). And gosh... I hope you never, ever mentioned being accepted to medical school on Facebook or Twitter...

If you do choose to apply to PA school, make sure you are able to articulate why PA. You can imagine many applicants are people who did well in school but had a poor performance on the MCAT, or mom/dad is a physician and told them to apply. The interview sniffs that out because PA programs would like kids who want to be PAs. It is awfully easy to sniff out a failed medical school applicant when their transcript includes two courses in physics, one in sociology, and one in psychology (courses not required as pre-requisites for most PA schools) and research (not really valued by PA schools). Our average successful applicant had > 2,000 hours of healthcare experience (some schools will automatically screen you out of their admissions pool with fewer) so when you apply with 500 hours.... again we can smell what you really hoped to happen with your future.

A large number of the faculty at any PA program are physicians. Vascular surgery is taught by... a vascular surgeon. Psychiatry is taught by... a psychiatrist. They also participate in the admissions interview and process. Ask yourself what they think when they see before them someone who could not cut it in medical school...

For what it's worth, we admitted two students who had been dismissed from their US medical schools and neither ultimately completed our program. As a result, our dean does not look favorably upon trying that experiment any more. Our exams are not graded on a curve and students are permitted two grades below a 70% on examinations before they are dismissed. We have mandatory attendance M-F 8-5 including summers for the pre-clinical years. Grades are entirely based upon examinations and there are no other components to the grade. Perhaps extrapolate that the same difficulties that prevented someone from doing well in medical school may still be present when they try and complete another professional degree....

 

[mrbreakfast]

Perhaps extrapolate that the same difficulties that prevented someone from doing well in medical school may still be present when they try and complete another professional degree....

Agreed. I always find it interesting that posts in a similar vein to this one - describing serious academic struggles early in medical school - are often met by suggestions to instead pursue another competitive graduate degree, or drop out and simply stroll into a six-figure medical informatics or consulting job. Just from personal experience, everyone I know who dropped out of medical school is either out of healthcare entirely, and doing well, or floundering trying to stay in it.

 

[Heist]

What are the chances of being accepted to PA or Nursing after failing 1 course as M1 and withdrawing from med school? When applying to these programs, should applicants mention med school attendance/withdrawals or just submit undergrad transcript/GRE?

You'll be fine with a pa application. Lots of pa schools out there. Nursing requires nurse education