Session 24 In today's episode, Ryan and Rich take another question directly from the OldPreMeds.org and they specifically discuss how getting academically dismissed in undergrad can possibly hurt your chances of getting into medical school. OldPreMeds Question of the Week: The poster is a student, 35 years old (by the time they will apply to medical school); thinking about transferring to finish their Bachelor's degree; academically dismissed from undergrad ad transferred credits to community college and now wants to finish at another four-year institution. How is this going to hurt their chances of going to medical school? Here are the insights from Ryan & Rich: Being dismissed is a major issue and has to be reported. A few considerations: When was the student dismissed? During freshmen year who got wild and got thrown out? Or somebody who spent three years struggling and got thrown out? How far in your career have you gone? How long ago was that? There are medical schools that like "redemption" - people who have shown they've come out of their academic holed and climbed up. Students going to a community college generally have very few credits from their original degree: You have to write a concise and compelling narrative explaining the pattern of failure to success. Consider the DO route that considers grade replacement so you can make up for some of the failures you took during undergraduate. A well-crafted application applying to a target rigorous school can make the person successful in getting into medical school. You can only go forward. There is nothing else you can do in a case like this. You have to deal with whatever the application interview comes up with. Major takeaway from this episode: Keep on and don't think it's impossible. Own up to your mistakes as you go forward and be able to talk about them. Links and Other Resources: www.mededmedia.com The Premed Years Episode 174