The ramifications of failing anatomy...

[dr.weiner]

Well it looks like i'm going to fail anatomy, our first course. I'm really close to the cutoff, but I will probably have to retake the course in the summer. It will show up as a P with an asterisk on my transcript. I was defnitely capable of passing, but I wasnt mentally prepared for the first set of exams and I dug myself too big a hole. I dont anticipate failing anymore classes, maybe I'll even pick up an honors or two along the way if this gives me the necessary kick in the ass that I needed.

Can anybody in the know tell me how much of an impact this will have on my record? If i get some honors and do well on my boards, will this stop me from getting better residencies? Thanks for any replies.

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[2112_rush]

It might make a difference for the MOST competitive residencies, but if you do well in other classes and especially on the Step, I don't think it will hurt much, if at all, when you are trying to match.

 

[peppy]

Sorry to hear that you've experienced this setback. I'm sure that's very disappointing.
If you do well on the boards I doubt that it will affect your long term prospects.
If it is any consolation, the asst dean at my school likes to tell the story of a past student who failed the cardiovascular system unit at our school twice before finally passing it, but then went on to become the chief of cardiology. 🙂 While I'm sure this is upsetting in the short term, I bet that you'll end up knowing anatomy much better than a lot of your other classmates in the long run.

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

what this means is that you'll never be a surgeon......

 

[Igor]

I failed anatomy (my grade was a 47, actually) as a first year med student ("an MS one") - I had to repeat the course over the summer between 1st and 2nd year.

I actually did remarkable better the 2nd time (grade was a 94).

You might want to look at either Blond's anatomy study guide or the anatomy coloring book - I likeds both of them; they might be of use.

I was, of course, very upset but I ended up matching in my #2 choice in Internal Medicine and I am now an attending (I am medical school faculty member). No one has ever asked me what grade I got in anatomy (either time).

The trick is to figure out why you're habing trouble - with me, it was simply that I had no idea what how to study and I was too proud (read stupid) to ask for help and say "I just don't get it - what I am supposed to be learning from this?"

Ah, first year...

Seriously though, even if you do fail the course, it's not the end of our career. You'll still get the a great residency (I did) and a good job.

If you can, find some people who are doing well in the course and ask them to explain how they do it.

Good luck.

Igor

 

[jonb12997]

Igor, you have no idea how encouraging your post is... thanks SO much.

 

[dr.weiner]

thanks for the replies and the encouragement everyone. i didn't want to be a surgeon anyway, so maybe this isn't so bad.

 

[skypilot]

I doubt it will make any difference at all. At most schools there is no penalty for retaking a course. An asterisk certainly isn't going to make any difference and in fact it may not appear on the transcript that is sent with your application for residencies. As long as you do well on the boards there is nothing that will prevent you from becoming a surgeon.

 

[ocean11]

thanks for the replies and the encouragement everyone. i didn't want to be a surgeon anyway, so maybe this isn't so bad.

Hi I know a few people who failed Anatomy last year and repeated it over the summer. It wasn't a big deal, many are now in my class doing ok. Anyhow, as for the poster who said 'you can't be a surgeon' he dosn't know jack because that is totally untrue. Most surgeons don't learn their trade from their M1 year anatomy course anyhow, they learn in during their residency or M3/M4 years....... so head up you can definetly still be a plastic surgeon or cardiac thoracic surgeon! if you ace your boards 🙂 good luck

 

[cindy4443]

Hi I know a few people who failed Anatomy last year and repeated it over the summer. It wasn't a big deal, many are now in my class doing ok. Anyhow, as for the poster who said 'you can't be a surgeon' he dosn't know jack because that is totally untrue. Most surgeons don't learn their trade from their M1 year anatomy course anyhow, they learn in during their residency or M3/M4 years....... so head up you can definetly still be a plastic surgeon or cardiac thoracic surgeon! if you ace your boards 🙂 good luck

I've had a very successful surgeon tell me that first year anatomy is not that applicable to surgical practice because everything looks totally different on a living person. He said that you learn surgery skills later so don't worry about it. You still have a chance if you want to. I certainly trust the opinion of an experienced surgeon over someone who obviously doesn't know jack.

 

[TripleDegree]

what this means is that you'll never be a surgeon......

If you don't have anything positive to say, then I suggest that you STFU

 

[njbmd]

Well it looks like i'm going to fail anatomy, our first course. I'm really close to the cutoff, but I will probably have to retake the course in the summer. It will show up as a P with an asterisk on my transcript. I was defnitely capable of passing, but I wasnt mentally prepared for the first set of exams and I dug myself too big a hole. I dont anticipate failing anymore classes, maybe I'll even pick up an honors or two along the way if this gives me the necessary kick in the ass that I needed.

Can anybody in the know tell me how much of an impact this will have on my record? If i get some honors and do well on my boards, will this stop me from getting better residencies? Thanks for any replies.

Hi there,
Failing Anatomy is going to affect your standing in your class. Eventually passing Anatomy in summer school means that you will go on with your class but you will be lower ranked in comparision with your classmates who did not fail anatomy or any other class. Will this affect your residency application? You bet it will but you WILL be able to get into a residency. Your medical school transcript is going to show that you failed anatomy. Getting a few honors here and there WILL NOT undo failing an important class but you can undo some of the damage by passing that important class during the summer session.

The important thing for you to do now is to put as much effort as you can into learning as much anatomy as you can at this point. If you fail, passing during the summer will be that much easier if you learn as much as possible now. In short, don't throw in the towel and keep learning something.

Do you need to beat up on yourself for failing anatomy? No, but you need to make sure that you pass everything from here on out. Some people fail anatomy, biochemistry etc and go on to be excellent physicians. Everyone in the country will not match at a Hopkins or Harvard for residency even if they passed anatomy. Does this mean that you will not have a good career and become an excellent physician? No, but you have to decide that you will learn from this trial and keep moving forward.

njbmd 🙂

 

[skypilot]

Hi there,
Failing Anatomy is going to affect your standing in your class. Eventually passing Anatomy in summer school means that you will go on with your class but you will be lower ranked in comparision with your classmates who did not fail anatomy or any other class. Will this affect your residency application? Your medical school transcript is going to show that you failed anatomy. Getting a few honors here and there WILL NOT undo failing an important class but you can undo some of the damage by passing that important class during the summer session.

While I agree that there may be some ramifications, I think they will be minor and might even be beneficial if you pick yourself up, figure out what you have been doing wrong and move forward.

Failure is just an opportunity to figure out how to improve. Getting honors and doing well on the boards WILL make up for a failing grade early in your med school career.

Two class ranks are often submitted for med school. One is your performance on the basic sciences and one is your performance on the wards. The second one is more important as is your performance on the boards and even more important is your enthusiasm for teamwork.

So don't give up on Harvard or Hopkins before you have even begun to fight. 🙂

 

[YouDontKnowJack]

If you don't have anything positive to say, then I suggest that you STFU

2 things.

1. you need to lighten up. do I need to put a happy face after my post?

2. and you too didn't contribute anything worth a damn to this thread.

 

[ocean11]

2 things.

1. you need to lighten up. do I need to put a happy face after my post?

2. and you too didn't contribute anything worth a damn to this thread.

1) I think putting a happy face after your post would have been better, still rude though

2) This guy is ALREADY depressed and miserable about failing, why make it worse for him? thats just NOT nice!! as future health prof's we try to bring each other up NOT tear each other down OR make fun of each other OR make light of someone else's suffering.......

bottom line is ITS NOT NICE!!!

 

[MeowMix]

depending on how close to the line you are, I would encourage you to do your absolute best to pass, even if it seems unlikely. One of my classmates had the near-impossible task of having to score much better on head & neck than any other exam, in order to pass anatomy. He pulled it off. The lesson is, NEVER give up!

and ask the anatomy faculty for help. Daily if necessary.

 

[getunconcsious]

Well it looks like i'm going to fail anatomy, our first course. I'm really close to the cutoff, but I will probably have to retake the course in the summer. It will show up as a P with an asterisk on my transcript. I was defnitely capable of passing, but I wasnt mentally prepared for the first set of exams and I dug myself too big a hole. I dont anticipate failing anymore classes, maybe I'll even pick up an honors or two along the way if this gives me the necessary kick in the ass that I needed.

Can anybody in the know tell me how much of an impact this will have on my record? If i get some honors and do well on my boards, will this stop me from getting better residencies? Thanks for any replies.

Hey dr. weiner (Going to be a urologist?) I'm in basically the same position, and I'm going to try really, REALLY hard to pull a P out of my ass at the last second. I don't want to give up because that will really not do me any good, and I don't think you should either. I mean you never know, you just might get the A on those last exams. At my school, 50% of the grade is still up in the air and so I'm definitely going to give it a shot even though I'm somewhat in dire straits.

If, like me, you're fortunate enough to have really good grades in your other classes, then I would neglect them for a while and do all anatomy, all the time. Maybe some people will think this is a bad idea, but I really think that a bunch of A's and one F looks worse than straight C's.

In any case, good luck, we should start a support group for people who suck at anatomy

 

[njbmd]

While I agree that there may be some ramifications, I think they will be minor and might even be beneficial if you pick yourself up, figure out what you have been doing wrong and move forward.

Failure is just an opportunity to figure out how to improve. Getting honors and doing well on the boards WILL make up for a failing grade early in your med school career.

Two class ranks are often submitted for med school. One is your performance on the basic sciences and one is your performance on the wards. The second one is more important as is your performance on the boards and even more important is your enthusiasm for teamwork.

So don't give up on Harvard or Hopkins before you have even begun to fight. 🙂

Hi there,
Do not think for one second that the more competitive residency locations will forgive or overlook a major first year failure. You can do some damage control but there are so many good students out there to pick from that you need to do everything possible to pass everything and do well.

Most schools DO NOT give two rankings. You can explain your failure during an interview but the competitive residencies are likely not going to offer you an interview in the first place as the clinical rotation grades are very subjective. There are just too few slots and too many people who passed everything in ther first place.

Granted, you can match but failing a course does have ramifications and to believe anything else is a farce. Failure of any class while not fatal is not helpful or great either. You have a failure on your transcript and your transcript will show that you passed the course in summer school. Rank does have value so do everything possible to keep yours as high as possible. Doing well on USMLE/COMLEX will help but that failure will be there and will be noticed by program directors when you apply for residency as most people DO NOT fail anatomy or anything else.

Do everything possible to pass. If you do not pass, do your best and pass during summer school and do not fail anything else.

njbmd 🙂

 

[skypilot]

Hi there,
Granted, you can match but failing a course does have ramifications and to believe anything else is a farce. Failure of any class while not fatal is not helpful or great either. You have a failure on your transcript and your transcript will show that you passed the course in summer school. Rank does have value so do everything possible to keep yours as high as possible. Doing well on USMLE/COMLEX will help but that failure will be there and will be noticed by program directors when you apply for residency as most people DO NOT fail anatomy or anything else.
🙂

Again it is a matter of perspective. I am not saying that you should give up. I am saying that you can come out from a failing grade with an attitude adjustment that will serve you well and make you stronger in the future than someone who hasn't experienced failure. And there is no reason to dwell on the past because you can't change it. People will tell you that you can't do this or that competitive residency because you failed in the past. They will also tell you that you can't go to med school, can't become a doctor etc. Don't believe it because it is B*&(*(&'!

It is more likely that if you show success, a misstep in your first semester of medical school will be ignored. There are countless examples of people who have gone on from failure to become successful and if you ask most HONEST successful people they can point to some serious failures in their past.

Some med schools do not have rank or even grades in the first two years.

 

[size_tens]

Based on everything I've heard from faculty members and attendings at my med school, clinical grades, step 1 scores and LOR's are all much stronger factors for residency than pre-clinical grades. Obviously failing anatomy is a negative, but if you turn things around and excel when it counts, you should not have any problems securing a good residency.

 

[skypilot]

Not to beat a dead horse but some schools allow a makeup exam. That might allow you to pull success from the jaws of failure. Check on that before you register for summer school! 🙂

 

[getunconcsious]

Hi there,
Do not think for one second that the more competitive residency locations will forgive or overlook a major first year failure. You can do some damage control but there are so many good students out there to pick from that you need to do everything possible to pass everything and do well.

Most schools DO NOT give two rankings. You can explain your failure during an interview but the competitive residencies are likely not going to offer you an interview in the first place as the clinical rotation grades are very subjective. There are just too few slots and too many people who passed everything in ther first place.

Granted, you can match but failing a course does have ramifications and to believe anything else is a farce. Failure of any class while not fatal is not helpful or great either. You have a failure on your transcript and your transcript will show that you passed the course in summer school. Rank does have value so do everything possible to keep yours as high as possible. Doing well on USMLE/COMLEX will help but that failure will be there and will be noticed by program directors when you apply for residency as most people DO NOT fail anatomy or anything else.

Do everything possible to pass. If you do not pass, do your best and pass during summer school and do not fail anything else.

njbmd 🙂

Not everyone wants to go to Hopkins or Harvard...or UVA...some of us are just trying to get by. I mean I'm perfectly ok with being an average doc myself.

 

[mules05]

Hi there,
Do not think for one second that the more competitive residency locations will forgive or overlook a major first year failure...... Doing well on USMLE/COMLEX will help but that failure will be there and will be noticed by program directors when you apply for residency as most people DO NOT fail anatomy or anything else.
Do everything possible to pass. If you do not pass, do your best and pass during summer school and do not fail anything else.

njbmd 🙂

I ended up passing anatomy, but I'm curious about all these schools where most people aren't failing anything...I'm not at a Harvard-level program, and we have a sh*tload of people failing anatomy....half the class was failing after the first exam. Maybe we're all dumb....or maybe the grading system is easier at some of these other schools. Who knows...

 

[Hoo\/er]

what this means is that you'll never be a surgeon......

A surgeon's lifestyle sucks anyway, so don't worry about this one.

 

[mules05]

A surgeon's lifestyle sucks anyway, so don't worry about this one.

I know this guy who's a pediatric surgeon who once told me that the worst thing about working 24 hours on/24 off is that you miss half the good cases. From what I've heard, I feel like that's not a completely atypical comment from a surgeon....it all comes down to liking what you do.

 

[starwisher]

Most people who post on here are going to have no more information than you do on how one failing grade is going to affect residency applications. My guess is not much as long as you pass the course in the summer and don't fail any more classes or the boards. I've always heard that your grades in your first two years matter the least in your residency applications. The easiest person for you to ask and get a fairly decent chance of hearing the truth would be one of the deans at your school.