Medical school is a long and grueling undertaking, albeit a highly rewarding one. Until you complete your M.D. degree, however, there will be near-infinite obstacles in your way as a medical student. The next step on your M.D. journey is to get into a residency. Medical residencies are incredibly competitive, and selection criteria vary, although your grades and letters of recommendation carry the most weight. Now that USMLE scores are pass/fail, grades and recommendation letters bear even more importance, as a high test score no longer increases your chances of acceptance to your desired residency.
Medical students also face the unique challenge of grades and recommendation letters potentially being in direct conflict. Filing a grade appeal may seem like a reasonable course of action if you feel that you were unfairly graded on an assignment or course. Grade appeals, however, do not exist in a vacuum. Your instructor will know that you filed that appeal, and it may have an adverse impact on your recommendation letter. They may even refuse to write your letter regardless of the appeal’s outcome. Medical school grade appeals are a conflicting area because it’s not so much about whether you win or lose the appeal, it’s about whether you filed one at all.
Grade appeals are a complex issue for medical students to consider. But you don’t have to navigate the grade appeal process alone. The LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team is experienced in the grade appeal process for medical students and effectively navigating multi-layered institutional logic. We know your rights, how the grade appeal process works at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and how to effectively use our resources to achieve the best possible resolution for your situation.
Are you a medical student at Feinberg considering a grade appeal? The LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team can help. Call us at 888-535-3686 or send us a message online.
Why Do Medical Students Request Grade Appeals?
Filing a grade appeal does not make you a bad medical student by default. Just like they were in undergrad and high school, grades may not be indicative of what you actually learned. Each instructor uses their own approach, and they may not realize, or admit, that their approach inflicts bias onto their students. Instructors are also humans in a stressful environment that can cause them to make mistakes when tabulating scores.
Grade appeals are also equally complex for faculty as they are for students. According to the American Journal of Medicine, internal medicine clerkship directors claim that concerns about matching for residency are the most common reason for grade appeals. Only 14% of grade appeals led to a grade change, with just 17% of clerkship directors having any kind of training in how to adjudicate grade appeals.
That probability might seem too low to want to go through with an appeal. Despite only 14% of appeals resulting in a win, more medical students are filing grade appeals compared to prior times. This suggests that there are inherent issues in the ways that medical schools evaluate students, including a lack of transparency. In an age where we can find terabytes of information with a few taps, medical students of today desire greater transparency in how they are evaluated and demand more fairness from instructors.
You may be concerned about your reputation if you decide to file a grade appeal. It is an intricate process, and the LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team is dedicated to increasing your chance of success.
The Grade Appeal Process at Feinberg
Feinberg permits medical students to access and contest any information in their academic records. If you feel that you were not graded fairly, you can contact the Associate Dean for Curriculum if it was a Phase 1 block grade. If you want to appeal a clerkship or elective grade, you need to contact the clerkship or elective director within 30 days of receiving that grade.
While you can ask questions or request feedback from your instructor or clerkship director, you cannot appeal directly to them to contest a grade or score.
Feinberg’s grade appeals policy also includes Medical Student Performance Evaluations (MSPEs). If you want to contest your MSPE results, you need to contact the Associate Dean for Student Affairs or the Senior Associate Dean for Medical Education. If you are contesting a portfolio review or peer review, you need to contact the Assistant Dean of Assessment.
One of the Deans or clerkship directors will propose a resolution. If you do not accept their proposal, you have the right to bring your dispute before the Student Promotions Committee.
The Risks of Filing a Grade Appeal
Medical school is difficult, and you often have to leave your emotions at the door. You trust research and science instead of gut instinct. But sometimes that instinct is telling you that you weren’t fairly assessed when you worked and studied very hard, but still received a poor mark or evaluation. Given that it’s more common for medical students to appeal their grades today, factors like instructor bias and opaque evaluation processes make it all the more logical to file a grade appeal if the situation is dire enough.
Outcomes are not always logical, though. Even if you aren’t seeking a recommendation letter from an instructor you want to appeal to, medical schools are very tiny communities. You run the risk of being labeled difficult and argumentative, and certain groups bear higher risks with such labels than other students do. The seasoned practitioners who teach your classes also tend to frown upon having their authority and experience challenged. Subsequently, this makes grade appeals as a medical student a far more complicated issue than your university’s policy alone. A grade appeal can have far-reaching consequences beyond a subpar recommendation letter. The risks may not even be worth filing the appeal.
Consider the following factors carefully before making a definite decision to file a grade appeal:
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Is your exam or course grade of particular importance to the specialty you would like to enter?
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Is the instructor especially powerful and respected at Feinberg?
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What evidence do you have to back up any claims you made against the instructor? Verbal testimony is harder to prove than something they put in writing. Although if multiple students can corroborate your claim that the instructor demonstrated racial, gender, etc. bias, you have a stronger case that prejudice influenced your grade.
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Did external forces play a larger role in the grade than the instructor? Your instructor is less likely to be offended by events outside of your control, thanks to many medical schools’ policy shifts that arose during COVID. Personal circumstances like the death of a loved one will affect your concentration, as will external forces you cannot control, like natural disasters and civil unrest.
You should carefully consider these angles and possible outcomes before filing an appeal. The LLF National Law Firm can guide you through this process, as our Education Law Team is experienced in navigating complex institutional appeals processes.
How Medical Students Can Mitigate the Risks of a Grade Appeal
If, after careful analysis of the situation, you decide to file an appeal with the appropriate Dean or committee at Feinberg, there are certain cautions you can take to increase your chances of success:
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Discuss the matter with an instructor you trust. It’s certainly helpful to ask your friends and family for input on a matter that is stressing you out. Just talking it out can prevent you from acting rashly and also help you articulate why you suspect you were unfairly evaluated. But if there’s a Feinberg instructor whom you trust, they will give you a valuable perspective from the inside. Your instructor can lend insight based on how well they know the other instructor and the Feinberg’s institutional logic. This insight can inform you whether it’s worth it to file a grade appeal. They can tell you how rare or common grade appeals are and what that instructor is like, so you can write a more effective appeal.
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Seek out other students. Your classmates may have had an equally bad experience with that instructor, or a completely different one. Why or why not? Talking to other students can help you gather different opinions on the situation. If an instructor has a history of being prejudiced, other students can back up your claims. You may find other students who appealed a grade at Feinberg, even with that particular instructor. Find out why they were or were not successful.
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Avoid coming off as angry or confrontational. If you’re angry about your grade or evaluation, vent in private. When talking to your instructors, Deans, committees, or any other staff, you need to come across as calm and level-headed. Word gets around quickly in medical schools, and a calm demeanor ensures the other parties are more willing to reason with you.
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Work towards negotiating a resolution instead of forcing the balance in your favor. Even if it’s incredibly obvious you were not evaluated fairly, institutions usually have the deck stacked in their favor compared to students. Any evidence that backs up your claims should be readily available. Even with evidence in hand, you need to discuss the matter from a negotiation perspective rather than one of accusation.
Filing a grade appeal is not an easy decision. You also don’t want to handle a serious matter like a medical school grade appeal alone. The LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team can help Feinberg students navigate every step of the grade appeal process and strategize their defense to increase their chances of a favorable outcome that leaves their professional future unharmed.
We are on your side, ready to advocate for you. To learn more about how the LLF National Law Firm can help, call us at 888-535-3686 or send us a message online.