The Whatever--Random Medical School Stuff

somemom
Mon, 10 Feb 2014 06:37:21 +0000

I did get to read DDs Dean’s letter and as I recall (man this stuff is fuzzy already!) there was some info telling her the five adjectives and what they represented…secret code! DD was not sure how it was calculated, but felt that the ranking was ‘about right’ based on her marks to date. In her class, it was P/NP but she always got her score and how it related to the rest of the class- median, standard deviations, etc.

DD told me that when she met with her residency advisors some of the questions that went into whether one had a strong application were things such as whether the student had ever failed a class, had to remediate, had to expand, etc. It was not uncommon for friends of hers to fail a final or a class or even a rotation in clinicals. Not that they were dropping like flies or anything, but I distinctly remember being surprised how many people she mentioned needing to retake a final or even an entire class.

I also have been surprised how much personality can factor into clinical marks, raising or lowering the impression a student makes, DD definitely feels like she has been ranked highly where she really clicked with her preceptors and knows a couple of friends who just don’t come across well, they might come across as cranky or arrogant or b****y and though they do good medical work, they inadvertently offend people and it damages their overall mark.