Hello all - I was dismissed for failing Year 1 of top US dental school as a non-traditional student about 3 years back. I have boiled down the reason for it on one issue – lack of motor skills for dentistry. Academically I passed a few classes on the medical side and a few on the dental side and failed in both in equal numbers (it was a P/F school). Post-dismissal, I have worked as a project manager in a medical non-profit. Now at 33 yrs and counting:-) I am mature enough to realize and admit that my first attempt was a failure and seek some advise on how best to move on:
If I am interested in primary care medicine, would it be better to try and take risk of losing years applying to US MD/DO or try to go the carribean route?
I graduated in 1999 with a liberal arts degree with 3.5 Sci/3.9 major GPA. Thereafter I took further sci classes at a four year univ and maintained the sci GPA. Given that some of the pre-reqs are more than 10 years old, do I take them again? Should I consider a graduate degree or take more upper level courses?
I know that this situation is unique, but I could also really use any perspectives on how folks have dealt with professional school failure. I tried my best and failed, I stand a better person for it. How do I get it across? Is there hope?
I think you really need to prove to yourself and others that your failings in dental school were really because of your poor motor skills. Failing out of professional school is a huge red flag for any admissions committee, whether that school be here in the US or in a foreign country. To prove you academic abilities, I’d recommend taking some medical school courses (there should be some Boston medical schools that will allow you to do this) and doing well in those courses. Next best would be doing well in graduate-level science courses and/or upper-level science courses. I really doubt getting an easy “A” in a remdial premed/predental course would really impress anyone. It’s kind of expected.
Additionally, your assertion that your lack of motor skills led to your failures would beg the question why didn’t you realize this earlier? Didn’t you shadow a dentist and see dental surgical techniques performed? Didn’t you at least try to practice some of these before dental school? So, obviously, this go around you really need to understand what you’re getting yourself into and be ready to explain how you’re going to succeed this time through.
It is hard to believe that your failure was solely due to lack of motor skills. This will be a HUGE red flag and you need to prove NOW that you can make it through a rigours academic program. I am sure there some extension type programs where you may be able to take some classes along with medical students. Again, you need to PROVE that you will not be a liability.
All applicants to medical school must clearly demonstrate the capacity to succeed in the rigorous environment of med school - period. Add to that, the enormous pool of truly qualified applicants vs. the relatively small set of seats available. Getting in with no skeletons in your closet is a major challenge. Throw in a few skeletons & it becomes very daunting - NOT impossible, but much more difficult. There are very few things that are absolute death-knells to your application: felony convictions & drug-related convictions immediately come to mind.
However, this is an organization populated by people seeking to accomplish the improbable and ‘spiced’ with many examples of people who have succeeded. A quick perusal of our forums will rapidly dispell most rumors of, “if you have do this, that or the other thing - you cannot get in” because we probably have at least 1 somebody here who has done it.
More specific to you: the fact is, you failed out of a medically-related professional program. That is going to be a tough hombre to overcome. You claim it was due to “motor skills” and while that may be true, it is irrelevant whether or not we believe it or, to be perfectly frank, irrelevant whether or not YOU believe that. The challenge will be in providing objective & convincing proof to the admissions committees of the programs to which you apply.
Strategic recommendations: not that you asked, but I will briefly describe how I would attach this problem with the caveate that your chances of success would appear lower than average.
> If you have any academic skeletons, take courses on a high-level that will allow you to prove your ability to do very well in them - A’s my man, A’s.
> Talk to the folks back at your dental school & obtain objective, hard evidence of why you failed out. Also, if you could obtain a letter from the Dean specifically stating that you would be eligible for reinstatement or to apply for readmission to their program & any stipulations they might place upon your reapplication.
> Again, back at your prior program, try to secure time with a counselor who can review your records & define for you your strengths, weaknesses & how/why you flunked out.
> Once you have the above information, presuming that their collective story is conducive to your applying to med school, identify a selection of medical schools and begin to network with them. Go see & met with admissions officials & present yourself, your CV, your story & the facts you have obtained and ask them, “How can I become a competitive applicant to your program?”
There is some stuff missing to this story, the absence of this information frankly speaks a lot louder than what you actually DID say?
“I was dismissed for failing Year 1 (How many times? Usually one is not dismissed until the second try is failed? Many professional school will allow you to resign after ONE failure and carry you as eligible to re-apply) of a top US dental school as a non-traditional student†(how non-traditional are you in your20’s 30’s? 40’s?) about 3 years back.”
“I have boiled down the reason for it on one issue (methinks you may have boiled too much of your aliquot [rationalized] too much because I see two or three reasons without any more information) – Lack of motor skills for dentistry.”
“Academically I passed a few classes on the medical side and a few on the dental side and failed in both in equal numbers (it was a P/F school).” (Passed a few means to me that there were also a few NOT passed, were “motor skills” involved?)
“Post-dismissal, I have worked as a project manager in a medical non-profit. Now at 33 yrs and counting (are you 33 now or 33 when you were dismissed) I am mature enough to realize and admit that my first attempt was a failure and seek some advice on how best to move on” (are you sure, because you do not sound convinced?):
“1. If I am interested in primary care medicine, would it be better to try and take risk of losing years applying to US MD/DO or try to go the Caribbean route?”
(Let me explode a myth here. One of our colleagues here on OPM is a former nurse doing the Caribbean route and I understand his message made loud and clear over the years is that getting in is not so much of a problem but managing the brutal academic demands ARE, this is NOT a “short cut”)
“2. I graduated in 1999 with a liberal arts degree with 3.5 Sci/3.9 major GPA. Thereafter I took further sci classes at a four year univ and maintained the sci GPA. Given that some of the pre-reqs are more than 10 years old, do I take them again? Should I consider a graduate degree or take more upper level courses?”
(I don’t think there is much of a choice here even if they were a year old, considering you came up short with them once already)
"3. I know that this situation is unique (not so), but I could also really use any perspectives on how folks have dealt with professional school failure. I tried my best and failed I stand a better person for it. How do I get it across? Is there hope?
(This last phrase IS the most troublesome thing you have posted, and if you truly believe you “did your best” in you heart of hearts and there is really no possibility of “more” on your part the indeed this is the end of the story right here. Are you really saying there is NO room for improvement or growth? On the other hand, if you are simply disappointed or demoralized; even self pity is better that “I can’t”; there is some hope because the stuff you need to fix it is right between your ears. The first thing is we need to tighten up the attitude to quote Yoda, “Either Do or Do NOT there is no TRY”.
I have one other “death knell” to add to Dr Kelley’s list… academic dishonesty.
I hope this has been of some use, I do not believe in busting ones b_lls but DO believe in a solid bucking up.