I am a pre-med student and as of yesterday, I began to worry about the academic bankruptcy on my transcript.

Here is my story: I started college for the first time in 1992-1995 and did not do well at all. I had come from a home of abuse and as a result of that I was a very depressed and anxious student and my grades suffered.

In 2002, seven years later, I wanted to return to college and start fresh, so I declared academic bankruptcy. I am a really good student with an awesome GPA. I am now very happy and have absolutely no more signs of depression or anxiety, thanks to a wonderful therapist.

Now, I am worried that the academic bankruptcy will hinder my chances of being accepted to medical school. Is there anyone here who has any knowledge about academic bankruptcy and the medical school admissions process?

I was accepted MD/PhD 14 years after being expelled for grades from a university ( I didn't matriculate for personal reasons). When I applied in 1999, I was in the process of finishing up my MS in Chemistry which I finished with a 3.7 GPA and a mid 20's MCAT.

The key I think is to put some space between your academic failures and your application to medicals school. It sounds like you've done that. Mind you, I don't necessarily mean 14 years but the longer the time the better because you can always say I'm a differewnt student now.

Finally, I hope this doesn't sound to harsh but the adcoms aren't going to be too interested in the reason you didn't do well, so don't focus on it too much. I'd probably say something like "Yes , I did have academic challenges (notice the positive language) early in my career but in the 14 years that have passed I've become more mature, focused and committed to becoming a physician. Proof of this is in my 3.7 GPA and my 35T MCAT score."

Hope this helps :wave:

How do you declare academic bankruptcy?

kris

mommd2, to declare academic bankruptcy you have to have been out of college for 2-5 years, it varies with each university. All I did was go to the admissions office and fill out a form to declare academic bankruptcy. I signed forms confirming my knowledge that by doing this I was wiping out all previous classes, grades and GPA and starting fresh. After that, I started with a clean slate, as if I had never taken a class. Although the grades aren't used to calculate your new GPA, the fact that you declared the academic bankruptcy still shows up on your transcript.