Undergrad "Withdraw"s?

[SDWife]

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I have a good friend who wants to apply to medical school. This is his situation:

He was set to graduate undergrad school in 2006. But at the beginning of (what would have been) his last semester, he dropped out. He had enrolled in classes, took them for a couple of weeks, and then withdrew from all of them for personal reasons.

He enrolled again in 2007, and withdrew from all of his classes again. He did this a third time in 2008.

This year he enrolled again, and just successfully graduated last month.

My question is, does he have ANY chance of getting interviews if he applies to medical school? Will all of these "withdraws" be on his transcript and look like a huge red flag? He has good grades and good extracurriculars.

What is your honest opinion here?

 

[Whatyousay]

He withdrew from school for 3 years in a row?

I don't know how med schools will view those withdrawals, but there may be a lot of questions about his personal situation.

 

[SDWife]

He withdrew from school for 3 years in a row?
.

Yes. And took a few years off between the third withdraw, and then finally graduating.

 

[FloridaMedicine]

Yes. And took a few years off between the third withdraw, and then finally graduating.

I'm not really too sure... sounds like something Lizzy M can help answer.

 

[KindofBlue]

I'm not really too sure... sounds like something Lizzy M can help answer.

I agree. But seems like if there was a good reason for him dropping, then it won't matter so much, like financial hardships (had to take a job) and whatnot (which he could also include in his personal statement, if it would make him a more attractive candidate).

If there was nothing on his transcript, like Ws or anything, it wouldn't matter so much academically, but he would definitely have some explaining to do as to why he had to take the time off IMO.

 

[bajastapler]

if he can explain it, talk about how it has helped him mature, and convince people that he's ready for the next step I think he'd be okay

🙂

 

[orthomyxo]

Hopefully he has a REALLY good reason for withdrawing all those times. Otherwise, it sounds like he might be SOL.