My Soph D is experiencing some medical problems. Today her doctors suggested a medical withdrawl for the rest of the semester. She feels like that is not an option and will “ruin her life and plans for the future since no medical school will ever admit her with a withdrawl on her transcript.” Is there truth to that? Is a medical withdrawl viewed differently from a regular withdrawl from a class/semester? Her situation is that she’s had a couple of concussions in the last several months and is struggling with severe headaches and concentration problems. She thinks she just has to power through this, and the doctors are recommending rest. Her schedule definitely leaves her sleep deprived. I’m looking for some advise and perspective.
I care about her overall health. She is looking at a semester lost as throwing off all her timing for graduation, MCAT, med school application in addition to the way her transcript will “look” with a medical withdrawl.
I’ve advised her to talk to a pre-med adviser at her univ.
IMO there is nothing more important than one’s health, nothing. As a soph in college pursuing an MD degree, D is looking at a minimum of 9 more years of school/training. Med school/residency training is quite demanding physically/mentally. A W on her transcript would not prevent her from med school. D best chance is to submit the strongest application she can on her first attempt. If that means she needs to tap on the brakes for health reasons and take a semester off (or more) to get back in good health, so be it. More and more kids are not trying to get into med school as soon as they graduate college, but take a year or two off after college for a variety of reasons (eg research, grade repair, etc). If D’s needs med help now, she needs it and should consider withdrawing. If she’s in med school and problems recur, will she then withdraw owing a couple $100s in debt?e
Tell her to withdraw. Her health comes first.
A semester’s worth of withdrawals–even if she doesn’t address it directly in her application or personal statement–will tell whoever is reading her file that something catastrophic happened that semester.
So long as this semester is an anomaly that is never repeated, it won’t negatively impact her chances for a med school admission. If she is particularly concerned, she can add a sentence to her one of her secondary essays or PS stating she suffered from ______ but she has recovered and it not be issue ever again.
As for throwing off her timing–this is a minor blip on a very long road. I mean seriously what impact will it have on the world if she starts med school at age 21 vs age 22? (none.) What impact will have on her? (She might have to get off the academic train and do something different during a gap year --but that might be a good thing and offer her opportunities for growth she hasn’t experienced yet.)
RE: concussions-- if your D is playing sports and that is the source of her head injuries, it might be time to evaluate whether continuing with her sport is best course of action. The effects of concussion are cumulative. (I keep telling my nephew the same thing, but he's convinced he's going to be the next major break out sport star.....)
Without getting into personal details, is the medical issue a temporary one (broken leg, surgery, short-term illness)?
Or is it something chronic and life-long and would interfere with med school and doctor career?
If I were an Adcom and someone had to withdraw to have corrective surgery, that wouldn’t deter me…but if someone had to withdraw because of extreme depression/anxiety, then I might pause and wonder if this person could handle med school.
Of course, I’m not an Adcom…lol…but that’s how I think many would look at a situation.
WowMom is right…if this is a concussion from sports, get out of that sport.
Thanks for the perspective! The concussions were due to two bizarre accidents, one in November and the other in January. I think she was more susceptible to the 2nd because her first one had so recently occurred. And she probably didn’t get enough rest immediately following either. She works out, but isn’t in a sport. No other chronic illness.
Make sure all of these are documented on paper with doctor’s signature and school’s acknowledgements that the withdrawal is health related, not academic. When the time comes to med school application, you just have to send in all the paperworks or have the school submit it in addition to her transcript. You have no worry, the road to a physician is a long one, a semester or a year of medical leave is of no consequence.