When should I consider Withdrawal?

[Bergamasque]

Hello all,

I am a pre-med at a somewhat competitive University, five weeks into the semester and have done minimal studying for any of my courses. I recently got into a laboratory, and numerous other extracurricular activities but have very minimal attendance and have already gotten yelled at by bosses/PI's. I believe this was a result of a depressive episode that lasted 3 weeks, and a general lack of time-management skills from not having access to my ADHD medication since the start of the semester. I will not have access to this medication until November, and I have failed two exams already. Thankfully, it is still possible to achieve a 3.9, but being 5 weeks behind and without medication makes this extraordinarily difficult. I do not know what to do, my productivity is incredibly impaired without it as I have already established dependence on it as a result of long-term dosage.

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[crazymedguy123]

See if you can get a doctor's note stating you will be unable to complete the semester due to your medical condition and medically withdraw from all of your classes. This is a better option than trying to withdraw from just some of your classes.

 

[Bergamasque]

See if you can get a doctor's note stating you will be unable to complete the semester due to your medical condition and medically withdraw from all of your classes. This is a better option than trying to withdraw from just some of your classes.

Thanks for your response, I am afraid that if I were to do that, I would not be welcome the following semester for research, which was very a difficult position to attain.

 

[crazymedguy123]

Thanks for your response, I am afraid that if I were to do that, I would not be welcome the following semester for research, which was very a difficult position to attain.

Research is not that important to your application, whereas your grades are arguably the most important. What year are you? if you are assuming that you will get a 3.9 GPA and you are a freshman, I would reconsider. If you already have like 5 semesters of 3.9 GPA then maybe you can recover. I would still recommend medical withdrawal though since you are currently failing 2 courses

 

[candbgirl]

Thanks for your response, I am afraid that if I were to do that, I would not be welcome the following semester for research, which was very a difficult position to attain.

But they might kick you out of the lab since you’ve already gotten yelled at by the PI etc.. So ...

 

[Goro]

Hello all,

I am a pre-med at a somewhat competitive University, five weeks into the semester and have done minimal studying for any of my courses. I recently got into a laboratory, and numerous other extracurricular activities but have very minimal attendance and have already gotten yelled at by bosses/PI's. I believe this was a result of a depressive episode that lasted 3 weeks, and a general lack of time-management skills from not having access to my ADHD medication since the start of the semester. I will not have access to this medication until November, and I have failed two exams already. Thankfully, it is still possible to achieve a 3.9, but being 5 weeks behind and without medication makes this extraordinarily difficult. I do not know what to do, my productivity is incredibly impaired without it as I have already established dependence on it as a result of long-term dosage.

It's time to withdraw.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Medical withdrawal from all your classes this semester. Get things in order and go back when you are in a state to excel at your classes. That could be in the spring or 5 years from now, medical school ain’t going anywhere.

 

[Bergamasque]

@Pagan FutureDoc @Goro@crazymedguy123

I understand and appreciate these responses,

If I withdraw from all of my courses, I would lose an extracurricular and a research position.
If I withdraw from half of my courses, I would get to keep all of my extracurricular's and my research position (which are both 8 credits of guaranteed A's btw) and still have a likely shot for an easy A for the remaining course only if I were to pay out of pocket for this medication (which is quite expensive but not as expensive as losing 20 credits worth of tuition). However, GPA aside, I would still need to explain these two withdrawals and I am unsure if my explanation would hold as much weight than if it were a full withdrawal.

My GPA isn't so hot to begin with at a 2.5, I am on an upward trend starting from 1.5 first semester to 3.0 last semester, perhaps I need a break to begin with? Any advice is appreciated. Just wanted to make sure that you guys know the whole story before I take such a drastic step.

 

[MyOdyssey]

@Pagan FutureDoc @Goro@crazymedguy123

I understand and appreciate these responses,

If I withdraw from all of my courses, I would lose an extracurricular and a research position.
If I withdraw from half of my courses, I would get to keep all of my extracurricular's and my research position (which are both 8 credits of guaranteed A's btw) and still have a likely shot for an easy A for the remaining course only if I were to pay out of pocket for this medication (which is quite expensive but not as expensive as losing 20 credits worth of tuition). However, GPA aside, I would still need to explain these two withdrawals and I am unsure if my explanation would hold as much weight than if it were a full withdrawal.

My GPA isn't so hot to begin with at a 2.5, I am on an upward trend starting from 1.5 first semester to 3.0 last semester, perhaps I need a break to begin with? Any advice is appreciated. Just wanted to make sure that you guys know the whole story before I take such a drastic step.

Are you certain you'd get As in your research for credit and extracurricular for credit courses in your current condition?

Also why can't you get access to your ADHD medication? I don't understand.

 

[MyOdyssey]

OP. At the very least you should withdraw from the courses you're doing badly in.

 

[deleted480308]

....drop the extracurricular crap and get your crap together

You’ve been given good advice multiple times, you haven’t at all proven you can handle classes and extra stuff. Classes>stuff.

 

[Bergamasque]

@MrOdyssey
I contacted my psychiatrist and she had told me I was allowed to pay out-of-pocket for the medication and the visit, this was after I made this post. Since then, I have dropped two of the courses I was doing badly in, but I am asking whether its easier to have to explain a total medical (semester) withdrawal than having 2 withdrawals in the same semester, given my situation. I am still somewhat behind in the remaining three of my courses, but two of those are guaranteed A's (100% sure), the last is a little bit more complicated.

@sb247
The extracurricular crap in question is being taken for-credit and would boost my GPA as 8 credits of free A's, I have not even considered volunteering/shadowing amid all this mess, I only care about my GPA right now, everything else can wait.


Doing poorly in the 8 credits of free A's will only mean my bosses will be frustrated and I will be kicked out from these EC's next semester.

 

[ridethecliche]

Dude, stop doubling down when you've made a mistake. Get your house in order and start fresh. Everyone else will get over it.

I understand about being optimistic regarding your grades, but assuming that things will be perfect from here on out is straight up delirious.

 

[MyOdyssey]

@MrOdyssey
I contacted my psychiatrist and she had told me I was allowed to pay out-of-pocket for the medication and the visit, this was after I made this post. Since then, I have dropped two of the courses I was doing badly in, but I am asking whether its easier to have to explain a total medical (semester) withdrawal than having 2 withdrawals in the same semester, given my situation. I am still somewhat behind in the remaining three of my courses, but two of those are guaranteed A's (100% sure), the last is a little bit more complicated.

@sb247
The extracurricular crap in question is being taken for-credit and would boost my GPA as 8 credits of free A's, I have not even considered volunteering/shadowing amid all this mess, I only care about my GPA right now, everything else can wait.


Doing poorly in the 8 credits of free A's will only mean my bosses will be frustrated and I will be kicked out from these EC's next semester.

You have a long, uncertain, uphill climb to get to a 3.9 considering where you are now. Therefore, you should drop any classes you're doing badly in and only stick with those that you can ace - if any. To do badly again this semester will take you even farther from your goal of medical school.

As far as explaining to a medical school ad com, your medical grounds warrant either a partial or complete withdrawal. However, how will you guarantee to medical school ad coms that this won't happen again?