Should I discuss academic dismissal in PS

[JabsterL]

I posted this same thread in the ERAS forum, but I also wanted to get feedback from the smart people in the field I'm applying to. I had an academic dismissal from a U.S. school in MSII and am now applying after completing the last couple years at a Carib school. There's a section in the ERAS application under "miscellaneous" where ERAS asks if there were any gaps in education, and I was going to explain the situation there. Do you all think I should also devote a little space in my 1-page personal statement to this situation as well? When I do address it, I was thinking I should use a sentence or 2 to "explain why," but mostly not want to make excuses and just say what I learned from the situation. Any suggestions/feedback for how to handle this? I'm sure I'll have to explain at interviews as well. I did get a good step 1, clinical grades, and LORs at least, so I hope I won't be looked upon too harshly even though I'm an IMG and have this red flag on my application.

Thanks so much for your time and help!

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[billypilgrim37]

That sounds precisely the way you should do it. Perhaps a little more than just two sentences, but your thought process sounds correct.

 

[psychattending]

I posted this same thread in the ERAS forum, but I also wanted to get feedback from the smart people in the field I'm applying to. I had an academic dismissal from a U.S. school in MSII and am now applying after completing the last couple years at a Carib school. There's a section in the ERAS application under "miscellaneous" where ERAS asks if there were any gaps in education, and I was going to explain the situation there. Do you all think I should also devote a little space in my 1-page personal statement to this situation as well? When I do address it, I was thinking I should use a sentence or 2 to "explain why," but mostly not want to make excuses and just say what I learned from the situation. Any suggestions/feedback for how to handle this? I'm sure I'll have to explain at interviews as well. I did get a good step 1, clinical grades, and LORs at least, so I hope I won't be looked upon too harshly even though I'm an IMG and have this red flag on my application.

Thanks so much for your time and help!

You should deal with it somewhere in your application. You need to explain it enough to get an interview. If you can't adequately cover it in the medschool interruption section, then cover it in your personal statement and use the interruption section to refer to your personal statement.

 

[whopper]

Agree with the above.

I would explain it, but I wouldn't make it the entire PS. People want to know why you're interested in psychiatry, not to hear someone explain why something happened that is not answering the question.

You want to explain, but you don't want to go overboard. Kinda like Michael Richards during his little comedy _igger faux paus. The guy, while he may have been out of line, apologized to the point where it made the faux pas even more glaring.

Some PDs will unfortunately pretty much blow you out of the water. A problem with the application process, and I've mentioned this in other threads is when a program has thousands of applicants for only a few spots, they must prune down the numbers using highly divisive and not so fair methods. As terrible as it is, it's the best that can be done given the circumstances. Only a few people to review hundreds to thousands of applications? You have to find a way to widdle down the numbers to something that's actually manageable. You have time to read maybe 100 applications, not 1000.

But I do believe some programs, if everything else looks good on paper, will be willing to listen to your side of the story. Good luck. Word of advice, I'd apply to more programs just in case than less programs.

One of the best residents I ever knew was a guy that was kicked out of a US program and finished off as an IMG. Why? An overbearing surgeon was verbally abusing a fellow student. This guy stood up to a bully. IMHO that's bravery, but he got kicked out as that abusing surgeon made it his mission to kick out that guy while he was a medstudent.

 

[ghost dog]

Agree with the above.

I would explain it, but I wouldn't make it the entire PS. People want to know why you're interested in psychiatry, not to hear someone explain why something happened that is not answering the question.

You want to explain, but you don't want to go overboard. Kinda like Michael Richards during his little comedy _igger faux paus. The guy, while he may have been out of line, apologized to the point where it made the faux pas even more glaring.

Some PDs will unfortunately pretty much blow you out of the water. A problem with the application process, and I've mentioned this in other threads is when a program has thousands of applicants for only a few spots, they must prune down the numbers using highly divisive and not so fair methods. As terrible as it is, it's the best that can be done given the circumstances. Only a few people to review hundreds to thousands of applications? You have to find a way to widdle down the numbers to something that's actually manageable. You have time to read maybe 100 applications, not 1000.

But I do believe some programs, if everything else looks good on paper, will be willing to listen to your side of the story. Good luck. Word of advice, I'd apply to more programs just in case than less programs.

One of the best residents I ever knew was a guy that was kicked out of a US program and finished off as an IMG. Why? An overbearing surgeon was verbally abusing a fellow student. This guy stood up to a bully. IMHO that's bravery, but he got kicked out as that abusing surgeon made it his mission to kick out that guy while he was a medstudent.

During one of my med skl rotations, I had an obs / gyne attending ass hat make the comment that "Islam was the biggest threat to the human race". He also commented that nurses "were strictly in the hospital in order to get their MD" (i.e. in order to marry / gold dig a doctor) - and this was right in front of a young and inexperienced RN. This guy was a real jerk.

He knew I really didn't like him, but couldn't do much about it. However, the way he chose to get back at me was to mark me down as "unprofessional" on my end of rotation evaluation. This is very hard to debate, as it is so subjective.

A real douche.

God, I'm glad med skl / residency is over. Some staff should NOT be allowed to interact with students and residents.