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How to approach dismissal?


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So to explain my situation let me first start by saying I am honorable discharged veteran who was recently dismissed from a first year pa program due to my GPA falling just below the 3.0 minimum requirement. I recently exhausted my post 9/11 GI bill while completing my second semester in the program. I was recently notified over the phone I would be dismissed after being placed on probation my first semester and again falling just below 3.0 requirement. The cohort began with 45 student and currently has 37 remaining, yet I cannot help but feel I was not fully made aware of the dismissal process as the student handbook is vague on the subject. I am currently considering legal action due to the lack of proper advising provided to me with many students choosing deceleration, which I was never afforded during my time in the program. Also the student handbook that is currently in use is full of contradictions on how deceleration is to be implemented prior to dismissal. I feel the program did not show me any support as my program director never made any attempts to speak to me throughout my time in the program. I welcome any advise and help anyone would like to provide me. Thank you

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Hoooboy.

 

If you go the lawsuit route, that bridge will be well and truly burned.  Correct or not, prevailing or not, compensated or not, you're not going to go forward with that program.  Since you'll have to explain the dismissal on ANY future medical program admission, I expect that suing your school would come across as a big, black mark.

 

8/45 loss rate just in the first year is terrible, so you may never want to go back to that school anyways... but then what do you do?

 

You've got some soul-searching to do.  I would seek wise counsel and make NO rush (or rash!) decisions.  In your situation, I don't see how sitting on your options until you've got things figured out makes anything worse.

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I would speak with a lawyer and see what your options are. Rev is right that you'd be burning bridges, but it sounds like they are already building a bonfire on their end of the bridge so perhaps a lawyer could help you figure out how to make it so you weren't "dismissed" from the program and therefore needn't report it going forward

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I guess it would depend on how far below the 3.0 bar you fell.  If you were just a hair under it and they cut you no slack, I would come back at them with both barrels.  If you were ending up failing in most classes then I would agree...time to re-eval your future in medicine as a provider.   As far as "burning bridges", I am unaware of any job ever asking for references from the School you attended?  They just want to know, are you NCCPA certified...period.  That school took a lot of your money, and again...if you were dismissed by just barely missing their 3.0 mark, then I would fight till the end for reinstatement.

 

And let's really be honest, if you are dismissed from one school for academic reasons, the chances of you getting accepted to another PA school are slim and none.  So really, what exact bridge are you burning by fighting for reinstatement?

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Don't get a lawyer yet. Write a letter to the program director stating your case and ask to be rolled back to next class. If that does not work then move on to Dean of College. If that does not work, move on to Provost. Make sure you can roll back, you are in a hole you cannot get out of.

If you exhaust all of that, then legal route but you are entering land of low likelihood while spending your money.

 

 

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Sorry to be the black cloud in the group, but maybe you are not cut out for this? It isn't for everyone. The majority of your class - 82%  (37/45) - has apparently been successful. What did they do that you did not do? You own your performance which was apparently suboptimal compared to most of your classmates.

 

If your handbook was vague, you needed to seek clarification. Most students do not even bother to read their handbook until they are already in big trouble. If you needed better advisement, tutoring, etc. did you seek it? It sounds like you were expecting the program director to chase after you. This expectation does not model PA behavior, because I do not expect my supervising physician to chase after me.

 

I don't mean to be a downer, but if you go the lawsuit route you will be asked hard questions. And if you interviewed with me for PA school, I would want to know specifically how you personally caused/contributed to this problem, what you learned from it, and how you will ensure it does not happen again.

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What do you hope to achieve by suing the school - reinstatement? What makes you think you would do any better a second time around? Not to be overly harsh, but you were placed on probation your very first semester for falling below a 3.0, and then failed to maintain a minimum GPA during the semester immediately following, so you got the boot (by the way, "just below" is still below). It seems pretty straightforward to me. Semesters 3, 4, and beyond are going to be hard, too. It's pretty standard for these programs to cut as many people loose the first semester or two, when it becomes evident that they won't do well. At least you didn't get cut during the final didactic semester, or the clinical year (seen both happen).

 

I've heard of people in your situation try to make lemonade out of lemons - go back and repeat pre-reqs, get more HCE, try to convince an ADCOM somewhere, somehow that they are worth a second shot at PA school. I'm not sure how any of those people have done, but it seems like a tough road. I've heard of other folks that see the writing on the wall, and decide to try another discipline - but if you don't have the insight to understand why you performed poorly the first time around, you could just be setting yourself up for a repeat experience (I went to school with a girl who failed out of PT school before she matriculated with us, and then failed out of PA school). What I think a lot of people do in your shoes (and probably what I would do) is go the RN route. Less competitive entry, less rigorous academics, decent enough job at the other end. Plus the option to go into all sorts of advanced practice fields (CRNA, the many flavors of NP, etc.) later down the line, should you choose to do so.

 

The absolute worst thing I think you can do in this situation is sue the school, and blame everyone but yourself for your failure. The student handbook? It's just a document, if it isn't clear to you, seek clarification before it's too late. Your PA program director didn't chase you down personally and give you a pep talk? Do you realize how ridiculous that sounds?

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I don't see what your veteran or financial status has to do with any of this.  

 

Your detailing of the dismissal "process" comes off as grasping at straws, as does the failure of your PD to talk to you personally.

 

However, if you were not afforded a benefit that others in similar situation are entitled to, then you do have a legitimate beef and may be able to negotiate a rollback.  But you have to understand that you would then be in a program that dismissed you and took you back under rather extreme duress.  One mistake, and you would be gone.  

 

And you'd be on your own dime this time, whatever that change may mean to you.  

 

I have to say if I was your program I would think it unlikely you will be able to sustain an extremely expensive legal action that will likely go nowhere but to your bank to dump your money into a lawyer's pocket.  If you bluff, they may call.

 

I agree with previous poster - call it a day.  Chances are almost 100% you will be on the street again, having now thrown away a whole bunch of money for tuition and living expenses for however many semesters you hung on for.  

 

Stop throwing gasoline on this fire.  Going RN would be a great option - you can go more slowly and you can stop getting education anytime and have a good career and paycheck.  

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  • 1 month later...

This would be like adding my 0.02 but I actually have some knowledge of this. It is a good idea to go through the Dean if you feel that you had a good reason for failing. The next step is the provost if you feel the Dean did not provide you justice based on the facts. Some student manuals are horribly written and some schools do not adhere to the student manual and give different outcomes to different students.

 

Suing the school will burn bridges, you will be persona non grata throughout that school system and not just the PA program.

 

You CAN and MIGHT want to hire an education lawyer for advice/guidance/counsel. As long as you don't start a suit but use the attorney to help you prep or present your case in a more prepared and eloquent fashion then it is a good move. You will not regret it one day at least. So far, you have already invested a lot of money into it, hiring an attorney to represent you is not going to drive you over the cliff. An attorney has access to information and history that you will not be able to get as a student.

 

They are not going to release to you how many people were dismissed and how many were allowed to come back and what circumstances. Some people may be going through divorces or child custody battles. My friend is doing it right now. The judge will not allow him to change dates because he has an exam on a certain day or maybe the professor won't change it either. This happened to him and I felt bad for him. But he loves his kid and goes the length. The poor guy had to live in his car when he first got kicked out. Imagine going to school and studying while using the facilities to brush your teeth in the morning or couch surfing.

 

There is always the chance you might just be in the wrong field. But if your grades were good and all of a sudden it dropped. You may have a good argument. Suing is a last resort. I know one person who has spent over $200k and still suing. She may never win but she has no choice. What school will take her?

 

I assume your dean probably already approved your dismissal because they are always the ultimate authority in a school with the provost being the next step since it's their boss. Speak to a professor who may be an ally or student who got dismissed or was in the same boat.

 

If you have a disability, you may need to get yourself diagnosed and go to the disability resource center in your school and see what additional options you may have. If you got into a program, then technically, you should be in the same boat as your peers. Some are smarter than others and some are not right for the program. But it seems like your argument is one of semantics and not an unforeseen impediment.

 

I am not sure if a RN program will take you since you got dimissed from PA school. Maybe others might know but it sounds like they may not want to take the risk in accepting you either if you already flunked one program. Anyone have anecdotal evidence?

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