School delaying me a full year after Step 1 retake — is this normal?

[dr.pepper1992]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

I’m dealing with a progression issue at my med school and would really appreciate advice from anyone who’s been through something similar.

I failed Step 1 once, took time to remediate, and I'm waiting on my retake result. Because of the delay, I missed the first two clerkships. My school has a written policy saying students can’t be more than one clerkship behind their assigned cohort, and that students who fall two clerkships behind have to restart the entire clinical year with the next class.

Here’s the issue:
I created a schedule that lets me join the next cohort’s Clerkship 3 now and make up Clerkships 1 and 2 later using flex time/electives. This plan keeps allows me to stay within my class and makeup the missed rotations before 4th year.

But the school is telling me I may need to take an entire year off and restart with the next class even though there is a way to let me continue within the curriculum. This setback means I lose financial aid for the year and lose health care benefits as I was forced to take a leave of absence. I haven't been given a justification as to why I can't make up the missed rotations during the flex time.

My question:
Has anyone seen schools impose a full-year delay even when there is a way to stay within the curriculum? Is this normal, or should I try to advocate for myself?

Any advice on how to navigate this with the promotions committee would help a lot.

 

[karaya]

In your previous post, you had mapped out a schedule to miss two 8-week clerkships. What?? You can't just dip out for 4 months and stay with the cohort. You raise this idea of using electives to catch up on clerkships, but electives are still required. They have to slot in somewhere. Unless they're just optional at your school, for unfathomable reasons. So, subtracting the electives, I seriously doubt your M3 and M4 have 4 months of slack.

Some real advice: take the extra year. Do research & extend your Step 2 prep. From the perspective of the committee, you're at risk of falling even further behind, and the schedule you've devised sounds unreasonable. To be blunt, you're not in a position to negotiate.

 

[Med Ed]

You only think this is workable because you have a very incomplete understanding of your school's curriculum, graduation requirements, and the logistics of running clerkships. You are joining the next cohort no matter what, the only variable is how many people you annoy along the way.

Abandon this quixotic scheme now.

 

[TwoDogMed]

I am hoping you passed Step 1 this time around.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Previously asked and discussed extensively: Clerkship Delays

Please utilize your prior thread if you have new questions on the same theme