Seeking Advice

[Life_in_MED]

Hi!
I am a second-year medical student in an MD program in US. Ashamedly, I failed one course during the first-year and one course in my second-year. I successfully passed my remediation exam for my failed first-year course. Based on our school policy, I can remediate the failed second course and this will be the last time that I will be allowed. I am working with a tutor currently to figure out my areas of weakness and flaws in my study strategies since my scores are truly not reflective of time and efforts that I have been put into studying. My main concern is if the school ask me to take a leave of absence instead of taking step 1, how much my chances to get into a residency program ( specifically diagnostic radiology) will be affected? Should I stop dreaming about my top choice and go for a much less competitive residency? or even worst, will I have any chances at all to get to any residency program?

Thank you so much in advance for providing advice!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[GoSpursGo]

Sorry you are going through this.

I am going to be somewhat harsh on two facts:

1) Scores are not intended to be reflective of your time and efforts, they are intended to be reflective of your mastery of the material. It is great that you're working with a tutor on the material, but something is not taking. Doing the same thing and expecting different results is the definition of insanity--figure out what is wrong and do something different.

2) It is time to stop worrying about what specialty you're aiming for and just worry about not getting dismissed. If your school recommends an LOA, you should strongly consider taking it, using that time to figure out what's wrong, and come back stronger.

 

[Goro]

I can't sugarcoat this, your concern right now is to make sure you don't get dismissed from medical school.

If that means taking extra time for a leave of absence, so be it.