Repeat 1st year US MD or risk getting dismissed on record

[Figueroa]

I did my first-year in med school remotely and it has not been a good experience. My home life is not the best, and trying to keep up with the pace of the courses was quite a struggle. You can only fail 2 courses for my med school in order to remediate and unfortunately I failed 3. I caught covid mid semester and had to make up a string of exams just to find out I didn't pass. Granted a C+ is passing for my school so it's a little odd because I was right on the border. I know it's my ego-talking here but I really don't want to see the people from my class all the time them ahead of me. Although granted everything was remote so I didn't really get to know them or see them in-person for that matter. Part of me is seriously doubting if I'm even worthy of doing med school because failing 3 classes is a major red flag. If MS1 was bad I'll need a miracle to get through the next few years. I've also already taken a loan for med school and I don't think I qualify for another given my academic standing, so I'll have to take another one from a private company. I've also considered going to IMG/Carribean instead, but I really don't want a dismissal on my record when I'm applying for the Match and I know Step 1 becoming P/F is another reason to stick to US MD no matter what. I should also clarify I go to a school in PR, where almost everything is done in Spanish except the exams. It would be really nice to go to another school without a major language barrier and more diversity. I have also yet to move down there and I've never been away from home before so I can imagine if I was struggling to pass in my home, I can't imagine it getting any better living on my own when I move down there especially with the culture shock, power outages, etc. This is not to offend any Puerto Rican or Latinx btw, the people are very hospitable and friendly, many of them say I'm Puerto Rican passing so I haven't really experienced any racism or prejudice per se. I seriously don't know if I'm cut for this, and I don't want to make the wrong judgement call in continuing with this school, any advice would really help, I appreciate it dearly. Especially if there are people here who repeated or went to another school, you can DM me too, I just really need to know the decision I make is worth it

P.S - Apologies in advance if my English isn't making sense, it's better than my Spanish but I know some of the syntax can be confusing to follow, so feel free to ask for any clarification below!

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[TakotsuboOkazaki]

If you get dismissed it’s game over.

Repeat the year or move on from medicine all together.

Put your heart (and potentially wallet…) behind the decision and don’t look back.

 

[Animalcules]

Nobody can answer this for you, but it’s a huge financial gamble. I do think exploring alternatives is important for the reasons you stated. There is a significant risk that you end up with half a million in debt and no job.

 

[nontradcns]

Trying to pass your classes without changing how you study probably won't be successful. You might consider asking for a year of personal leave to figure out how you could improve if you decide to repeat M1 year. Continuing isn't a decision to take lightly, but you will have to if you want to become a doctor. Also the few people I know who have gone to Caribbean med schools said they thought it was harder to do well there since their teaching was ****ty, so they had to learn the material independently, plus the prejudice from attending such schools may bite you in the ass later on anyway when applying to residencies. Food for thought.

 

[GoSpursGo]

This is an extremely personal decision, and ultimately you have to decide what's best for you. The best outcome is clearly for you to remediate first 1 and go on to become a doctor. But if you think that realistically you're unlikely to be able to fix the problems you ran into this past year, then calling it quits and finding some other field where you can be happy would also be reasonable.

Don't go to a foreign med school. You'll rack up even more debt and be DOA when it comes time to match. If you want to be a doctor, succeeding in your current school is the only tenable path.

 

[Figueroa]

If you get dismissed it’s game over.

Repeat the year or move on from medicine all together.

Put your heart (and potentially wallet…) behind the decision and don’t look back.

I really don't know if I'm cut for this school though. I've talked to other US MD med students outside of this school, and most of them found it odd we take cumulative +150Q CAS exams covering holistically multiple subjects at once. Some of them have optimistically said it'll be great for Step given how it's integrated, but I've yet to take a single subject-based exam i.e, physio only, histo only, etc. We get path questions too as first-years. Every now and then the admin will agree to drop some questions that were out of scope but it's a handful at best which barely makes a dent on our final scores. With that being said, most of the students in my class somehow passed and I didn't so there's something I'm not doing right even if the curriculum seems a bit unorthodox. Subject-based exams make sense for first-years before we start path, and I hate having the anxiety of not knowing what's actually fair game for the tests. Everyone in my class agrees the content covered in class does not match most of the exam, this is why most of them don't go to class and compensate for it by doing as many questions as possible from multiple sources, but I don't think it's healthy or fair for the school to waste our time on activities or lectures when most of the content won't show up on the actual exam, nor do the exams cover most of the objectives we get for each test. We've tried explaining this to the administration but it doesn't look like they're changing their curriculum anytime soon so I'll have to live with it in the meantime if I decide to repeat. Ideally I'd want to go to a school that's subject-based (at least for first-year) even if it's going to an international school but I know the dismissal on record will be a major burden to carry alongside with the slimmer chances of matching as an IMG.

 

[Figueroa]

Nobody can answer this for you, but it’s a huge financial gamble. I do think exploring alternatives is important for the reasons you stated. There is a significant risk that you end up with half a million in debt and no job.

Agreed, my debt is so intimidating and repeating another year with the chance I don't succeed will damage my future. I have to discuss my financial situation with my parents and maybe other family members or local organizations like my church that I can trust because the money is one of the biggest things on my mind right now

 

[Figueroa]

Trying to pass your classes without changing how you study probably won't be successful. You might consider asking for a year of personal leave to figure out how you could improve if you decide to repeat M1 year. Continuing isn't a decision to take lightly, but you will have to if you want to become a doctor. Also the few people I know who have gone to Caribbean med schools said they thought it was harder to do well there since their teaching was ****ty, so they had to learn the material independently, plus the prejudice from attending such schools may bite you in the ass later on anyway when applying to residencies. Food for thought.

When I caught covid I had to make up an entire set of exams, we are talking at least 4-5 different exams after the semester ended. The plus side is I didn't have other obligations like having to perform or submit a random presentation/project/assignment, it was just me and studying for the tests. The negative side is they gave me like 4 days between every exam. I've made radical changes in my studying with the time I had and I did make improvements here and there, but unfortunately, with my collective performance for the year it wasn't enough. I'd have to see if personal leave is on the table because the semester is technically over which goes against withdrawal policy if I'm not mistaken. I have a meeting with the committee coming up soon so I'll keep you all posted. It's crazy you bought up the poor quality of Carribean med schools because I feel even in this school which is LCME-accredited the quality of teaching is not good either, I learn more from online youtube videos like NinjaNerd or study aids like Kaplan far more than the lectures. Most of the people in my class don't show up unless it's mandatory for that very reason. I know it's tempting to blame it on the language barrier from the Spanish-speaking lectures but if the people in my class, who are overwhelmingly Latinx and/or Puerto Rican, don't show up, surely there's something bigger than just my experience with the material. But yeah I feel like I'm self-studying from the beginning, the difference however is the people in my class have cracked some algorithm or studying technique that works with self-studying but I have yet to find something that consistently works, even after consulting with upper classmen (formally known as tutoring in my school) and fellow peers who did well or are doing well in the courses. I'm willing to deal with the stigma of going to a Carribean school but I have to seriously find a way for the school not to put a dismissal on file, that burden is far different in my opinion, perhaps they'll knock it down to a withdrawal even if it goes against their policy. Still not good but better than a dismissal for sure.

 

[Figueroa]

This is an extremely personal decision, and ultimately you have to decide what's best for you. The best outcome is clearly for you to remediate first 1 and go on to become a doctor. But if you think that realistically you're unlikely to be able to fix the problems you ran into this past year, then calling it quits and finding some other field where you can be happy would also be reasonable.

Don't go to a foreign med school. You'll rack up even more debt and be DOA when it comes time to match. If you want to be a doctor, succeeding in your current school is the only tenable path.

I appreciate your honesty, I don't know if I have what it takes to pass year one even if I'm repeating but I really want to be a doctor. I'm not a fan of the ultimatum of this school or no school, you don't think being an IMG is an alternative even if let's say I don't have a dismissal on file but rather a withdrawal? I'm doing everything I can to knock the dismissal down, not sure if it's even possible but given what the other SDN forums have recommended, I still have to try. How big of an impact does having a dismissal on file serve in my path in becoming a physician in the US? If there's anyone who has been dismissed but somehow still made it here in the States feel free to let me know here or via DM

 

[GoSpursGo]

I appreciate your honesty, I don't know if I have what it takes to pass year one even if I'm repeating but I really want to be a doctor. I'm not a fan of the ultimatum of this school or no school, you don't think being an IMG is an alternative even if let's say I don't have a dismissal on file but rather a withdrawal? I'm doing everything I can to knock the dismissal down, not sure if it's even possible but given what the other SDN forums have recommended, I still have to try. How big of an impact does having a dismissal on file serve in my path in becoming a physician in the US? If there's anyone who has been dismissed but somehow still made it here in the States feel free to let me know here or via DM

It sounds stark, but if you are dismissed or withdraw from medical school the game is over and it is time to find another field. Even if you get a Caribbean school to accept you (and you probably would find a money-hungry school willing to take you), you will have a 0% chance of acceptance to residency. It's not an ultimatum of "this school or no school," it is a recognition of a reality where you would simply be out-competed by applicants without such red flags.

It sounds like this year was very challenging for you, for reasons that would be challenging for anyone. But it is not hyperbole when we say that this school truly is your one and only opportunity to be a doctor. Any other path is just going to lead you to even greater debt.

 

[FutureInternist]

Also…

Use

Paragraphs.

 

[ciestar]

I appreciate your honesty, I don't know if I have what it takes to pass year one even if I'm repeating but I really want to be a doctor. I'm not a fan of the ultimatum of this school or no school, you don't think being an IMG is an alternative even if let's say I don't have a dismissal on file but rather a withdrawal? I'm doing everything I can to knock the dismissal down, not sure if it's even possible but given what the other SDN forums have recommended, I still have to try. How big of an impact does having a dismissal on file serve in my path in becoming a physician in the US? If there's anyone who has been dismissed but somehow still made it here in the States feel free to let me know here or via DM

You’d still have to explain the withdrawal (it would be on record) and it would look BAD. This is a horrible plan if you truly want to be a doctor.

 

[Damson]

I did my first-year in med school remotely and it has not been a good experience. My home life is not the best, and trying to keep up with the pace of the courses was quite a struggle. You can only fail 2 courses for my med school in order to remediate and unfortunately I failed 3. I caught covid mid semester and had to make up a string of exams just to find out I didn't pass. Granted a C+ is passing for my school so it's a little odd because I was right on the border. I know it's my ego-talking here but I really don't want to see the people from my class all the time them ahead of me. Although granted everything was remote so I didn't really get to know them or see them in-person for that matter. Part of me is seriously doubting if I'm even worthy of doing med school because failing 3 classes is a major red flag. If MS1 was bad I'll need a miracle to get through the next few years. I've also already taken a loan for med school and I don't think I qualify for another given my academic standing, so I'll have to take another one from a private company. I've also considered going to IMG/Carribean instead, but I really don't want a dismissal on my record when I'm applying for the Match and I know Step 1 becoming P/F is another reason to stick to US MD no matter what. I should also clarify I go to a school in PR, where almost everything is done in Spanish except the exams. It would be really nice to go to another school without a major language barrier and more diversity. I have also yet to move down there and I've never been away from home before so I can imagine if I was struggling to pass in my home, I can't imagine it getting any better living on my own when I move down there especially with the culture shock, power outages, etc. This is not to offend any Puerto Rican or Latinx btw, the people are very hospitable and friendly, many of them say I'm Puerto Rican passing so I haven't really experienced any racism or prejudice per se. I seriously don't know if I'm cut for this, and I don't want to make the wrong judgement call in continuing with this school, any advice would really help, I appreciate it dearly. Especially if there are people here who repeated or went to another school, you can DM me too, I just really need to know the decision I make is worth it

P.S - Apologies in advance if my English isn't making sense, it's better than my Spanish but I know some of the syntax can be confusing to follow, so feel free to ask for any clarification below!

you studied hard to get here, and only you know what caliber of a student you are

if you're a pretty bright boi, you know what went wrong, and you know you can make changes in your methods or find out from friends/mentors what methods you can use

stay and invest in yourself. trust in yourself. and study hard

 

[24blue8]

Most of the people in my class don't show up unless it's mandatory for that very reason. I know it's tempting to blame it on the language barrier from the Spanish-speaking lectures but if the people in my class, who are overwhelmingly Latinx and/or Puerto Rican, don't show up, surely there's something bigger than just my experience with the material. But yeah I feel like I'm self-studying from the beginning, the difference however is the people in my class have cracked some algorithm or studying technique that works with self-studying but I have yet to find something that consistently works, even after consulting with upper classmen (formally known as tutoring in my school) and fellow peers who did well or are doing well in the courses.

Are you friends with anyone in your cohort? Are you using the same materials? Is it possible everyone is using a resource, something unofficial but basically a study/test guide, you don't know about because you're not down there (or originally Spanish speaking)?

 

[THEBACKANDFORTH]

IMG is NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT an option. you will not match if you leave this school and go there. I also think you chances of passing at either place are similar or even higher where you are. Correct me if I'm wrong, but dont Puerto Rico schools have MCAT averages around 496-98. If you can keep up in that cohort, the board exams will toast you. A carib cohort would be similar and far more cutthroat