I know I need to be confident that I'll work hard and stay on top of my studies if I get in, but it's my secret fear that I'll fail out too. It's not like people who fail out of med school don't work hard either. Every school has about 15-20% of students that don't graduate for whatever reason. Now I know that some of those dropped out for various reasons, but still. Anyone else feel similar?
I'm applying with around a 3.0 GPA and it concerns me if I can handle med school. Did I get a 3.0 because I wasn't smart enough? Was it because I didn't work hard enough?
As noted, most of the graduation rates not being 100% are due to extenuating circumstances. At my school, three students did not pass on from semester 1 to semester 2. One student found out she was pregnant, taking a year off, will rejoin the class of 2021.
One student found out a family member back home was terminally ill, took the semester off to support family.
One student straight up failed and (I believe) is not coming back.
When looking at graduation rates, remember- a lot can happen in four years. Most of the students who don't graduate in four years are of the first two students described- some extenuating life circumstance. The other point I'd make.... the stats of 'how many graduate in four years, get residency match, etc'- those numbers matter very little if YOU fail or YOU don't match. So it all comes down to personal accountability.
As far as your 3.0- I find that no matter how hard I work, I know I can always work harder. To this day I still haven't hit my max. I keep finding a new ceiling.
Worrying about it is irrelevant. Your GPA, MCAT, where you went to undergrad, who your dad is, what frat you were in, how much research you did and with who- all of that is irrelevant once you're accepted. No one cares.
The playing field is leveled and everybody starts at the same point. You're the same as everyone else on day one until the 1st exam.
The people who fail out are the ones that don't have that fear. No matter what anyone tells you... we all have it.
The student who failed out from our class.. I didn't get the sense that he/she was not smart or lazy. I just think he/she lacked certain basic living skills, social skills, and ability to ask for help/ take advice. This person was given advice and repeatedly went against it multiple times. I also got the sense he/she didn't want to be here.
So basically. Take advice from professors and 2nd years, work hard, and as has been said- get a tutor. The tutor (in my experience) helps not so much with explaining concepts, but saying 'OK, definitely need to know this, here is a good trick', or 'Don't bother learning this' or 'this was definitely a detail you need to know'. Makes studying more efficient and high yield.
TL;DR- Graduation rates don't matter much, if you're truly afraid of dropping out, you won't.
