Remediation

[diasIItema]

I'm about to enter my third year of dental school and I wanted to gauge whether or not this is occurring just at my school or nationally. I'm about to enter third year and this is what I have observed thus far:

My school has policies for remediation but they aren't enforced. We just had four students fail pharm and they won't have to remediate. We had students fail anatomy, physiology, micro and biochem (major credit courses) and they still haven't had to meet with the academic council. We have students with "ADHD" who get time and a half and weeks to turn in projects late, who have failed multiple classes, and yet still get passed along.

In a nutshell, my school doesn't remediate ANYONE for any class; students only rarely withdraw themselves for health reasons. It's become popular to say that "it's impossible to fail out of dental school." People who fail national boards still are able to start clinic before they have passed them.

TL; DR: my school is hurting for money and it appears that we cannot afford to fail/remediate students; is this an isolated issue or common among dental schools due to rising academic costs?

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[Shunwei]

Then your school is not doing its job. Students who don't have a class need to take the class again to pass it, period. If they are just letting anyone getting the degree I shudder to see the quality of your graduates.

 

[TheDentist16]

I'm pretty sure it's just at your dental school due to cost factors (as enrolling a student in a DDS program is as much an investment for the school as it is for the student himself/herself). For NYU at least, everyone who fails a class has to remediate, regardless of the reason for failing. If you missed an exam for those reasons, obviously they'll let you re-take the exam. But if you miss a final for any reason and you can't retake the final at an appropriate time, then they'll just remediate you. If you fail 3-4 classes (depending on which ones, how many credits they're worth, etc), then you won't even be granted remediation and you may be automatically forced to repeat the year or get kicked out altogether. And if you fail remediation at NYU, same rules apply. It's pretty strict over here.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and if you fail the boards part 1 end of 2nd year, then you'll be pulled out of clinic until you pass part 1.

 

[Bereno]

For the students at UConn, its on an individual basis. It depends on how much they failed by, and if they have failed other exams before. If they fail by 1% and have passed all their other exams, they will have a meeting with the academic deans, get some help from the administration on finding ways to cope/improve, and have some follow up meetings later on... but they usually don't have to remediate. However, if they failed by a bit more of a margin, they usually have to do all the same stuff, but with remediation. This also depends on if there were extenuating circumstances involved (close relative died the week before, health reason, etc).

 

[Screwtape]

For the students at UConn, its on an individual basis. It depends on how much they failed by, and if they have failed other exams before. If they fail by 1% and have passed all their other exams, they will have a meeting with the academic deans, get some help from the administration on finding ways to cope/improve, and have some follow up meetings later on... but they usually don't have to remediate. However, if they failed by a bit more of a margin, they usually have to do all the same stuff, but with remediation. This also depends on if there were extenuating circumstances involved (close relative died the week before, health reason, etc).

My school's policy is pretty much identical to this. I know several people who will be remediating a class during the summer.

 

[yappy]

This has not been my experience. The school policy is followed - Too many failures and you're out. Must remediate any failed class. All cases go before a board before removal from the program.

 

[sgv]

Interesting my school has seen four people having to repeat first year

 

[Erhatstil]

I'm pretty sure it's just at your dental school due to cost factors (as enrolling a student in a DDS program is as much an investment for the school as it is for the student himself/herself). For NYU at least, everyone who fails a class has to remediate, regardless of the reason for failing. If you missed an exam for those reasons, obviously they'll let you re-take the exam. But if you miss a final for any reason and you can't retake the final at an appropriate time, then they'll just remediate you. If you fail 3-4 classes (depending on which ones, how many credits they're worth, etc), then you won't even be granted remediation and you may be automatically forced to repeat the year or get kicked out altogether. And if you fail remediation at NYU, same rules apply. It's pretty strict over here.

EDIT: Oh yeah, and if you fail the boards part 1 end of 2nd year, then you'll be pulled out of clinic until you pass part 1.

theres also a 2nd year class that requires you to get a 60% in the class or they make you repeat the entire year. it happened to a couple of people i know. i'm all for holding students to a high standard, but this rule always seemed unreasonable to me.

 

[onebigsmile]

My school's policy is similar to Bereno's. Im a D1 and we had a few guys in our class that failed some classes and they will be repeating next year.

 

[skifastrokclimb]

At our school, the only time I have ever seen remediation offered is when a large portion of the class failed a final exam that you had to pass to pass the class. Other than that, if you fail a class they will try to kick you out, although usually you can appeal and they will let you repeat the year. Moral of the story, don't fail anything. I know many people who have had to repeat years.

 

[ChrisM07]

Ok, this question might seem pretty naive, but I am starting school in the fall and am wondering what it takes to 'fail' a class. I'm not asking so that I can do the bare minimum and skim by, but rather what is it really that results in failing? It seems that a few of you know people that have had this happen to so I'm hoping to gain insight. Is it just lack of studying/trying?

 

[jeffity]

Ok, this question might seem pretty naive, but I am starting school in the fall and am wondering what it takes to 'fail' a class. I'm not asking so that I can do the bare minimum and skim by, but rather what is it really that results in failing? It seems that a few of you know people that have had this happen to so I'm hoping to gain insight. Is it just lack of studying/trying?

If you're putting in sincere effort, there's no reason you should fail. You've come this far; you're academically capable. I'm not talking about a test here and there, I'm talking course/module failures. I suppose it still depends on the school (sounds like there are still oppressive curriculums/faculty/programs out there that have no problem just failing people out). It's no cakewalk, but the overall vibe from friends at other schools, my school, and hanging around these forums is that you have to be a clown to fail.

 

[dentalWorks]

I'm about to enter my third year of dental school and I wanted to gauge whether or not this is occurring just at my school or nationally. I'm about to enter third year and this is what I have observed thus far:

My school has policies for remediation but they aren't enforced. We just had four students fail pharm and they won't have to remediate. We had students fail anatomy, physiology, micro and biochem (major credit courses) and they still haven't had to meet with the academic council. We have students with "ADHD" who get time and a half and weeks to turn in projects late, who have failed multiple classes, and yet still get passed along.

In a nutshell, my school doesn't remediate ANYONE for any class; students only rarely withdraw themselves for health reasons. It's become popular to say that "it's impossible to fail out of dental school." People who fail national boards still are able to start clinic before they have passed them.

TL; DR: my school is hurting for money and it appears that we cannot afford to fail/remediate students; is this an isolated issue or common among dental schools due to rising academic costs?

This is very strange to me, and now I am curious to know what school you attend?

Detroit Mercy WILL and has failed many students before. Yes there are remediations that help save you from repeating the year, but certain fails WILL force you to repeat the year (remediation won't cut it). We have quite a few students from my current class that were forced to repeat DS3 (because of whatever shortcomings they had - I didn't care to investigate)

 

[diasIItema]

If you're putting in sincere effort, there's no reason you should fail. You've come this far; you're academically capable. I'm not talking about a test here and there, I'm talking course/module failures. I suppose it still depends on the school (sounds like there are still oppressive curriculums/faculty/programs out there that have no problem just failing people out). It's no cakewalk, but the overall vibe from friends at other schools, my school, and hanging around these forums is that you have to be a clown to fail.

Agreed. There is no academic reason, circumstances notwithstanding, to fail a major course in dental school. Maybe you screw up and completely bomb a midterm in one of those 1-hour classes, and then can't recover; fair enough. But as such, if a person fails multiple classes, I don't see any issue with making the student repeat an entire year or have them expelled. Dental schools are supposed to produce doctors; they're not supposed to be money-making degree mills like undergrad. Unfortunately, it seems like my school, for whatever reason, isn't willing to enforce remediation on students (you fail a class, write a 2-page paper or take another "test;" seriously?). Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I have never heard of a student at my school having to remediate a didactic course, nor has anyone had to remediate a year, even though some students certainly need to.

However, I'm happy to see it's not a national trend. Quite honestly, I think it's a particular dean, and not the school, that is the issue and hopefully it can be rectified in the near future.

 

[sgv]

Ok, this question might seem pretty naive, but I am starting school in the fall and am wondering what it takes to 'fail' a class. I'm not asking so that I can do the bare minimum and skim by, but rather what is it really that results in failing? It seems that a few of you know people that have had this happen to so I'm hoping to gain insight. Is it just lack of studying/trying?

During the weekend before the exam, you should be studying, not out partying or playing video games...Dedicating the weekend to efficient studying isn't too much of a sacrifice and it should get you a passing score at the very least. When people choose not to study or half ass on their studying during this weekend, they're probably gonna fail a couple exams.

If you fail an exam, hopefully, you'll learn before the second exam that you're doing something stupid and need to change your study habits.

 

[Erhatstil]

Agreed. There is no academic reason, circumstances notwithstanding, to fail a major course in dental school. Maybe you screw up and completely bomb a midterm in one of those 1-hour classes, and then can't recover; fair enough. But as such, if a person fails multiple classes, I don't see any issue with making the student repeat an entire year or have them expelled. Dental schools are supposed to produce doctors; they're not supposed to be money-making degree mills like undergrad. Unfortunately, it seems like my school, for whatever reason, isn't willing to enforce remediation on students (you fail a class, write a 2-page paper or take another "test;" seriously?). Unfortunately, as mentioned above, I have never heard of a student at my school having to remediate a didactic course, nor has anyone had to remediate a year, even though some students certainly need to.

However, I'm happy to see it's not a national trend. Quite honestly, I think it's a particular dean, and not the school, that is the issue and hopefully it can be rectified in the near future.

do you go to a public or private school?