Asked to withdraw from 3rd year of medical school

Hello TSR, i'm new around here and in some sort of predicament.

I transferred to a UK medical school in 2014 as part of a twinning programme. I didnt take the year too serious and did terrible at the 2014/15 end of year exams. Failed my written paper, OSCEs and a scientific basis paper too.

I was subsequently asked to repeat the year and did so. My results were just announced. I had improved in grades, did much better for OSCE this time round (failed 2 stations compared with 8 last year). However, I had a borderline fail for the clinical paper and the scientific paper.

The OSCE and the clinical paper combined gave me a grade of 55% but was considered an overall fail due to a borderline fail on the MCQ component (34/69). I have subsequently been informed that due to failing two major modules twice in a row, I have been asked to withdraw.

The only advice I've managed to receive so far is to try an appeal the decision, however, the rules regarding appeals are strict and only if you have new evidence of exceptional circumstances or an issue with procedural irregularity.

I've been reflecting on this. Obviously this isn't something that I wanted and I've tried my best in terms of revision and practise. I'm glad that there's been an improvement in my OSCEs and I did very well for the short written component. It was mainly the MCQ papers I struggled with.

Will like some advice if possible. I was thinking of appealing under a procedural irregularity as the uni states that students are only normally permitted 2 attempts at an exam. However, they've changed the assessment requirement such that all students now have to pass ALL components of every paper in order to pass the module. Previously, if you have failed the clinical paper, but passed OSCEs, you would have been granted an overall pass in the module of Clinical Practice.

I'm sorry to hear about your circumstances. I'm afraid that I am unable to add anything particularly helpful. But I don't think you can appeal on these grounds. As far as I am aware (and as our medical school states) it is a GM requirement that students pass all parts of a clinical exam in one sitting. I.e. at our medical school if you fail the OSCE but pass the written, you have to retake and pass both exams again.

You transferred? Any options re your former institution?

My former institution is in a different country. My twinning programme was as part of a global medical training programme. Preclinicals in Malaysia, clinical years in either UK/US/Australia. I was matched to a medical school in the UK.

I admit that in my first year here, I had some adjustment difficulties as well as not putting in sufficient effort, which resulted in failing all components of the 3rd year exams. I was not offered a resit as I did not fulfill the requirement for them. A repeat year was offered.

Throughout the repeat, along with the usual teachings and student obligations, I felt that I worked harder and I am very pleased with my OSCE and written paper. However, I have a borderline fail in the clinical MCQ and in the scientific basis MCQ.

A student would normally be permitted to resit in the current circumstances but my school is arguing that this is my second attempt and hence, a resit will not be offered. I will like to argue this as a procedural irregularity as I feel that resits and repeat exams should not be taken in the same light. Resits are usually 2 months away and a student can spend time focusing on the components that s/he has failed. A repeat, other than the financial burden as an international student, one has to go through the same training and obligations as a normal student as well as the full spectrum of exams. I feel that this is unfair and I was wondering what are your thoughts regarding this.

Surprised they won't let you repeat, with you being an international student/ cash cow. I'm very sorry to hear of your position, never the less. Every medic I've met is kind, hard-working and conscientious; I'm sure you are too.

Talking objectively, you have to understand the university's regulation. If you have failed the tests twice, for whatever reasons, when you cannot assure them you will improve, why should they put their resources into you. When they could instead be using it to fund high-flyers. Our country's desperately short of Drs.

Can you not look abroad to complete your studies?

I appreciate the concern. My fees as an international medical student are 10x that of a local student.

The fact remains that there has been an improvement at all levels. Some very good improvements and some very marginal improvements. However, the school's stand is that with new assessment criteria, they are an overall fail still. You are right in that they have these regulation of only 2 attempts before withdrawal. It is simply regulations.

The part of resource allocation is simply a non issue when half of 3rd year is a self taught module in the form of online e-lectures, and 20% of the days i am with my clinical group and I am the group lead trying to find a clinical tutor in hospital to take us for bedside teaching :|

Could you try to make an appeal on the basis of the bereavement that you were undergoing?

I mean, presumably that did affect your ability to study etc.

Will be giving it a go. I can only hope that they will allow it as a mitigating circumstance and allow me to go for a resit. I did not know that bereavements were covered under such mitigating circumstance.

Will be speaking with the appeals adviser soon. I think she might want to help refine the appeal that I've written in a presentable fashion. I will update this thread along the way. In the meantime, if anyone has ever been in my situation, I appreciate if you could share your experience.

I guess you would want to be giving them good reasons why you didn't declare it in the first place. Eg, you weren't aware that it would have been considered etc.

Medical schools tend to be more sympathetic if you declare such things before the exams, rather than after you have failed a resit. Therefore, I think you'd probably want to explain that clearly.

I'm in a similar situation to you, OP. I failed my final year, although I'm still waiting to hear back from the university about my appeal.

Your options for continuing medicine are a bit limited but not hopeless. You won't be able to apply to any of the UK medical schools; none of them accept students who withdrew from another medical course. There are medical schools in Europe, particularly Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, and the Czech Republic which will accept students who have withdrawn from a course. However, you'd have to learn the language before you can start the clinical years and I don't know if you would be able to work in Malaysia after graduating (assuming you wanted to go back to Malaysia). If you want to work in the UK, the GMC does recognize the degrees from these universities. The problem is that the courses generally include an intern year, meaning you would have to apply for full registration rather than provisional. This means you'd be ineligible to apply for F1 jobs through FPAS, but rather have to apply for a Locum Appointment for Training (F2) post before you would be able to start specialty training, and there are very few of these posts available. I think the count for last year was only 230, so as you can imagine there are far more applicants than places. You would be able to apply for Locum Appointment for Service posts and do those for a year or two to build up your resume, and there are plenty of those available. I'm not sure what your nationality/visa status is, and that could make things much more complicated. Also, the rules are probably going to change within the next few years now that Brexit happened.

I haven't looked at medical schools in Asia, but I imagine some of them might be recognized in Malaysia.

You could also consider speaking with a lawyer/advisor about submitting an appeal to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. They're an external body which reviews academic appeals and might be able to overturn the university's decision. I suspect that the chances are fairly slim of it being successful, but considering how much time, money, and effort you've already spent at medical school it would probably be worth paying a lawyer £150 to see if they can find any procedural irregularities you had overlooked.

I know this isn't what you want to hear, and I'm very sorry, but you might have to consider what options you have if you decide medicine is no longer an option. Have you spoken with anyone at your university about transferring to another degree program? You should have 2 years worth of credits and could easily put them to use studying public health, biomedical sciences, etc. You could consider doing nursing, although the majority of universities in the UK don't accept international students for nursing. A few of the ones that do are still offering places through clearing at the moment (go to clearing.telegraph.co.uk and search "nursing" and "adult nursing".

I'm wishing you all the best. I know things must seem pretty bleak right now, but you'll pull through this.