Should I get a medical withdrawal?

[Teleologist]

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I was hospitalized for a concussion among other injuries right in the middle of finals week.

Is this an acceptable reason for dropping the entire semester? Or should I just recover, reschedule the finals, grit my teeth, and just get through it?

If I do decide to drop the semester, will this be seen in a negative light?

 

[dechristine]

Is it possible for you to reschedule your finals to over the summer? That way you don't have to take your finals while you're recovering from your concussion, but this semester also just doesn't go to waste. One of my friends had to miss finals week for a completely different reason and was able to reschedule her finals about a month after we took them.

 

[ndafife]

Do you really feel like you need to drop the semester? Have you talked to professors about moving finals back a little bit?

Think about it in the context of your life: Is it an acceptable reason for delaying graduation a full semester? (Think about the $$$), Is it an acceptable reason to have a boring semester retaking a bunch of classes? Does dropping classes mess up your classes for the summer/fall?

 

[Teleologist]

To put it frankly, I'm wondering if I could use a med. withdrawal partly as a cover-up for bad grades during the semester. I know that sounds crappy. But it's perhaps half the reason I'm thinking about a withdrawl. The other half is that I'm not going to be doing any better on my finals than I would have with a concussion and a body that hurts all over. Had I not gotten a concussion among other injuries I might have just scraped by in my classes. Now I have to focus on studying while trying to tune out the pain.

I didn't purposely give myself a concussion (among with many, many scars and probably a huge bill from the ER) but I can't help but wonder if this is a blessing in disguise for me. Thoughts?

 

[ndafife]

I don't want to get into a moral debate here. Yeah if you get a medical withdrawal, I doubt schools will be too concerned with it. In interviews they may (will) ask questions about it - nature of the injury, what your actions were around the time (did you try to get your finals pushed back/how you were doing in the classes/did you even try to study/etc...) that may push you into lies or raise red flags about yourself.

All I can say is you do you. You were given an out, its up to you to decide what to do.

 

[Mad Jack]

If you can get a medical withdrawal, it might be to your advantage. I don't know how much the adcoms will buy into "concussed so hard I could in no way complete an entire semester" though, and you will be asked about it.

 

[DokterMom]

I vote for the 'take finals in the summer' and ask for an incomplete now. Your reasons are reasonable, even if your motives aren't completely honorable. Then just do your best. You know what they say about paybacks...

 

[22031 Alum]

Edit: realized you're pre-med, not in med school already. I think finals in the summer is the best plan.

 

[Neutropix]

@madjack Couldn't he pretend he was having episodes of amnesia and tell his physician that. I could see a pardon for a semester if you were having "amnesia."

If you are a good liar and have documentation you may be able to pull this off, OP.

 

[Teleologist]

@madjack Couldn't he pretend he was having episodes of amnesia and tell his physician that. I could see a pardon for a semester if you were having "amnesia."

If you are a good liar and have documentation you may be able to pull this off, OP.

Sounds like a plan.

 

[Lawpy]

@madjack Couldn't he pretend he was having episodes of amnesia and tell his physician that. I could see a pardon for a semester if you were having "amnesia."

If you are a good liar and have documentation you may be able to pull this off, OP.

@madjack sadly disappeared after intermittent random entries over the course of 10 years, but @Mad Jack can provide a medical answer to your pressing question if allowed.

 

[Teleologist]

@madjack sadly disappeared after intermittent random entries over the course of 10 years, but @Mad Jack can provide a medical answer to your pressing question if allowed.

What about Mad Jack?

 

[Mad Jack]

@madjack Couldn't he pretend he was having episodes of amnesia and tell his physician that. I could see a pardon for a semester if you were having "amnesia."

If you are a good liar and have documentation you may be able to pull this off, OP.

You'd need some really good documentation to make it believable. Memory loss of periods that stretch far before the concussion (or after, for that matter) is an atypical symptom, and is suggestive of a fairly substantial TBI. It would be too early to tell if he'll get such a diagnosis (PCS requires at least 3 months to really start making a diagnosis on), and at that point, he might have thrown all of his eggs into the basket of a diagnosis he ultimately never receives. Less severe concussions typically have dizziness, blurred vision, and headaches as their prime symptoms, not full-blown amnesia. Not saying he won't be able to pull it off, just that it's a ballsy move that could backfire horribly. Once you go down the full withdrawal path, there's no going back.

 

[tiedyeddog]

Were you diagnosed as having concussion or TBI from a physician? You'll likely need something official from a doctor.

 

[jb94mg]

 

[Teleologist]

Were you diagnosed as having concussion or TBI from a physician? You'll likely need something official from a doctor.

Yes. Physician told me I had a concussion.

 

[Neutropix]

You'd need some really good documentation to make it believable. Memory loss of periods that stretch far before the concussion (or after, for that matter) is an atypical symptom, and is suggestive of a fairly substantial TBI. It would be too early to tell if he'll get such a diagnosis (PCS requires at least 3 months to really start making a diagnosis on), and at that point, he might have thrown all of his eggs into the basket of a diagnosis he ultimately never receives. Less severe concussions typically have dizziness, blurred vision, and headaches as their prime symptoms, not full-blown amnesia. Not saying he won't be able to pull it off, just that it's a ballsy move that could backfire horribly. Once you go down the full withdrawal path, there's no going back.

OP sounds screwed. I just can't see a school dismissing an entire semester because of a concussion. It's most likely they'll just get him to retake it.

 

[Goro]

Doing this displays very poor judgment. Do you think you can really perform optimally?

Or should I just recover, reschedule the finals, grit my teeth, and just get through it?

No


If I do decide to drop the semester, will this be seen in a negative light?[/QUOTE]

 

[Mad Jack]

Well, I'll give this one to goro I guess, he'd certainly know better than me.

 

[cactus8910]

Doing this displays very poor judgment. Do you think you can really perform optimally?

Or should I just recover, reschedule the finals, grit my teeth, and just get through it?

He'd be rescheduling for a time after he's recovered from the concussion. How is that poor judgement?

 

[Goro]

This assumes that the OP will be back at 1o0 capacity by the reschedule date.

If so, then all is well. In fact, I strongly encourage this strategy.

OP, it's up to you. Know thyself.

He'd be rescheduling for a time after he's recovered from the concussion. How is that poor judgement?

 

[Tired]

...

 

[cactus8910]

Assuming that the OP actually has residual symptoms from his concussion, it is notoriously difficult to predict the duration and severity of those symptoms. True post-concussive symptoms may range from mild to severe, affect a variety of cognitive and motor domains, and may persist anywhere from a few days to many months.

True. I was assuming based on how he worded his post that he wasn't concerned about longer-lasting effects of the concussion, suggesting that his injury might not be so bad. Of course, maybe he isn't aware of the full extent of his concussion or just didn't communicate it.

 

[Oncie]

What happened? Did you get hit by a car? I know this dude who was riding his bike a few weeks ago and was hit by a car. He was alright thankfully but he suffered some mild trauma and a broken arm. He decided to take a withdrawal for the semester.

 

[ski89]

If you are really having symptoms that would compromise your performance then by all means delay the finals and use that extra time to crush them. Don't throw the semester away, it's a waist of a semester that you could use doing something meaningful to book your app ( like write an honors thesis or something).

If you are going to withdraw for the wrong reasons I think it's a horrible lapse in judgement and character.

 

[Teleologist]

a bunch of guys (military) who got their bell rung, thought they were getting a week off to relax, then discovered that their headache and difficulty processing just didn't go away...

Hoping that's not me either.