Disputing Clerkship Evals

[ThreeCheers]

I recently got back my evaluation for a third year rotation in my field of choice. Despite the evaluator suggesting "honors" as my overall grade, he rated me as an 8/10 for most of the categories, with a few 9/10's sprinkled in. Since this results in a grade in the 80s, my school has given me an overall grade of HP despite the suggested grade. I did well on the shelf, but that score doesn't factor heavily into overall grades at my school.

Since the evaluator suggested that my final grade be honors, do I have a leg to stand on in contesting this evaluation? I am hesitant to pursue this option because I am interested in applying for a residency at this program. Would it burn bridges with the evaluator (and therefore the program) if I were to try to dispute the grade? Or would it look worse to have a HP grade for a core third year rotation in my field of interest?

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[ActinicKeratosis]

I recently got back my evaluation for a third year rotation in my field of choice. Despite the evaluator suggesting "honors" as my overall grade, he rated me as an 8/10 for most of the categories, with a few 9/10's sprinkled in. Since this results in a grade in the 80s, my school has given me an overall grade of HP despite the suggested grade. I did well on the shelf, but that score doesn't factor heavily into overall grades at my school.

Since the evaluator suggested that my final grade be honors, do I have a leg to stand on in contesting this evaluation? I am hesitant to pursue this option because I am interested in applying for a residency at this program. Would it burn bridges with the evaluator (and therefore the program) if I were to try to dispute the grade? Or would it look worse to have a HP grade for a core third year rotation in my field of interest?

As much as you probably don't want to hear it I would not pursue a grade change. The main reason is that you are interested in this program. I think more harm would come out of it by potentially rubbing the evaluator the wrong way. As much as it sucks I would just let it go.

 

[iBS1972]

What AK said.
Also, unfortunately, that's how clerkship grading normally works. The suggested grade usually doesn't have a factor, rather they do it point-based.

 

[MSTP18]

I recently got back my evaluation for a third year rotation in my field of choice. Despite the evaluator suggesting "honors" as my overall grade, he rated me as an 8/10 for most of the categories, with a few 9/10's sprinkled in. Since this results in a grade in the 80s, my school has given me an overall grade of HP despite the suggested grade. I did well on the shelf, but that score doesn't factor heavily into overall grades at my school.

Since the evaluator suggested that my final grade be honors, do I have a leg to stand on in contesting this evaluation? I am hesitant to pursue this option because I am interested in applying for a residency at this program. Would it burn bridges with the evaluator (and therefore the program) if I were to try to dispute the grade? Or would it look worse to have a HP grade for a core third year rotation in my field of interest?

Something like this unfortunately I have to agree with the other posters. Usually an appeal only makes sense if you're going to argue the 8 and 9s out of 10 were done unfairly. I've appealed only one eval in 3rd year and did have it thrown out because the attending graded me poorly for "not being proactive enough about seeking out other attendings for teaching" because he didn't seem to understand that I was *assigned to him* and wasn't supposed to go tagging along with other attendings unless he specifically told me to. It sounds like worst case scenario, this attending simply has a different attitude about how people should be graded - i.e. 8 and 9/10 should be enough for honors - presumably because he is stingy with 10s.

If I am reading this right and 8 and 9/10 are really high for this particular attending, while it might have hurt you now, a LOR from this person saying you're one of the best students they've had will be better in the long run.

 

[ThreeCheers]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'm not particularly salty (more confused) about this eval despite my post, and was leaning toward not disputing.

I'm under the impression that the evaluator (it was actually a senior resident, although an attending signed off on it) just thought that 8/10 was a high, honors-worthy score. I think there's a decent chance that he would agree to change the scores to reflect an honors grade if I were to dispute the eval, but it's not worth the risk. Hopefully if I kill it on sub-i's and get good LORs, they'll overlook the HP.

 

[Light at end of tunnel]

It may be wortwhile to simply have a respectful discussion with the attending and or the resident that evaluated you. You never know.

Personal example: On my IM rotation, the director of the rotation (who was a super nice person that loved to teach) gave me 7's on a couple of areas. It did not seem to make sense to me, because the in person feedback seemed to reflect a potentially higher number if you will. But I did not assume he was "wrong."

So I simply brought that up in a respectful way while we were both finishing up notes after a clinic shift and said "you know, I was wondering if I could ask one or two questions about the eval." He said sure, and while looking at his own eval, he said "You know, I am not sure why I only gave you a 7 here, no reason it could not have been a 9." And so, like that, he changed the 7's to 9's across the board.

Appealing it, at least officially, seems like it could escalate a matter and make your evaluators defensive and come up for reasons to justify their grades if for nothing more than to save face. Doctors have big egos, ya know. And, they may get penalized themselves if their evaluations are not well thought out.

So be humble about it if you do it, but I would consider a dicsussion here.