The Academic Standards Committee at Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine meets after every semester to review students who earned D or F grades, received professionalism violations, or failed licensing exams. Whether you attend the Tulsa campus or the Tahlequah campus at Cherokee Nation, the committee recommends dismissal, probation, or remediation to the Dean, who makes the final call.
Once the Dean signs off on dismissal, you have six weeks to appeal, or the decision stands. Your student loan debt doesn’t disappear if you get dismissed—you’ll owe every dollar you borrowed for medical school even without the D.O. degree to show for it. Contact the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or contact us online if OSU-COM has notified you of academic deficiencies or professional conduct violations.
Why Students Face Dismissal
OSU-COM dismisses students for failing classes, professionalism deficiencies, or failing to progress through the program under the Academic Standards Handbook. You can be dismissed if you get more than 10 credit hours of D or F grades in your first two years, or if you fail more than two clinical rotations later on. You can also be dismissed for getting N grades for things like dishonesty or acting unprofessionally with patients. If you do not pass the required exams in the allowed number of tries or do not finish your degree in six years, you can also be dismissed.
The Academic Standards Committee Review Process and Timeline
After each semester ends, the Academic Standards Committee reviews every student who earned a D or F grade, received N grade referrals, or failed licensing exam requirements. The committee convenes on a regular schedule following each semester to conduct these reviews.
You receive written notice before the committee meeting. The notice specifies which policies you allegedly violated and what evidence the committee will consider.
At the committee meeting, you present your case and explain the circumstances that affected your performance. The committee asks questions about your academic record and professional conduct. You can bring witnesses with firsthand knowledge and submit documentary evidence like medical records or proof of remediation efforts.
The committee deliberates after hearing from you and votes on a recommendation: take no action, require remediation, place you on probation, recommend repeating the academic year, or recommend dismissal. The committee forwards its written recommendation to the Dean.
Who Has the Authority to Dismiss You
The Academic Standards Committee only makes recommendations. After the committee votes, its recommendation goes to the Dean for review. The Dean can accept the recommendation, modify it to make it less severe, or reject it entirely. The Dean cannot impose harsher sanctions than the committee recommended.
The Dean reviews the committee’s recommendation and issues a decision. You receive written notification by email and certified mail explaining the basis for the decision and your appeal rights.
If the Dean decides on dismissal, the Office of General Counsel reviews the decision for procedural compliance before final implementation. This review ensures OSU-COM followed its own policies and provided you with due process protections.
Only after the General Counsel signs off does the dismissal become official. At that point, the Registrar updates your enrollment status and notifies Financial Aid. Your student loans enter their grace period—you’ll start making payments within six months, even though you won’t have a physician’s income.
The Appeals Timeline and What You Can Challenge
You have six weeks from the date of the Dean’s dismissal letter to file a written appeal with the Academic Appeals Board. Missing this deadline by even one day forfeits your appeal rights.
Your appeal cannot simply argue that the committee made the wrong decision about your academic ability. Appeals are limited to three grounds: procedural failures that affected the outcome, new evidence that wasn’t reasonably available during the committee process, or bias by a committee member or the Dean.
Procedural failures include not receiving adequate notice of the committee meeting, being denied the opportunity to present witnesses, or the committee considering evidence you never saw. You must show that the procedural error actually affected the outcome.
New evidence must genuinely be new—you cannot hold back information during your committee meeting and then present it on appeal. The evidence must have been unavailable despite reasonable efforts or discovered afterward.
Bias claims require specific evidence that a committee member or the Dean had a personal conflict with you that affected their judgment.
The Academic Appeals Board reviews your written submission, the original committee materials, and any response from the Dean’s office without holding a new hearing.
If the Board finds procedural errors or bias, they remand your case to the Academic Standards Committee for a new meeting. If they find your new evidence could change the outcome, they send the case back for the committee to consider it. If the Board finds no merit to your grounds, they affirm the dismissal, and it becomes final immediately with no further internal appeal.
Alternatives to Dismissal
The Academic Standards Committee has several options short of dismissal.
Probation lets you stay in school, but with certain rules. If you are on probation, you must follow the instructions in your probation letter. For first- and second-year students, probation means you cannot do more than three hours of activities outside of class each week, cannot be a leader in student groups, and must meet with your faculty advisor every month. You also have to follow the rules from the Office of Academic Success. If you break any probation rules, you can be dismissed right away.
Remediation lets you fix failed classes without having to repeat the whole year. First- and second-year students can make up to six credit hours or three classes each year, with a total of 10 credit hours allowed over both years. You must get at least a C grade when you make up a class, and the highest score that will be recorded is 70 percent, even if you do better.
Repeating a year gives you a fresh start if you have too many failures to fix with make-up classes. You have to take all the classes from that year again, even the ones you already passed. If you repeat a year, you are automatically put on probation with strict rules: if you get a D or F in a class you failed before, you are dismissed right away. If you get a D or F in more than one class during the repeated year, you are also dismissed.
The committee considers your entire record when deciding which alternative to recommend. If you’ve already been on probation and violated its terms, they’re less likely to grant probation again. Your willingness to acknowledge problems and documented efforts to improve carries significant weight.
How the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team Helps
We review your academic record and identify which alternatives fit your situation before your committee meeting. We help organize evidence of extenuating circumstances and prepare your presentation. We ensure you understand procedural protections and how to preserve appeal rights.
If dismissal happens, we assist with appeal preparation within the six-week deadline. We analyze whether procedural irregularities occurred and whether grounds exist to challenge the decision.
You’re facing the loss of your medical career and hundreds of thousands in debt that follows you regardless of whether you finish your degree. If Oklahoma State University College of Osteopathic Medicine at the Tulsa campus or the Cherokee Nation campus in Tahlequah has notified you of academic deficiencies, professionalism violations, or scheduled committee meetings, call the LLF National Law Firm’s Student Defense Team at 888.535.3686 or contact us online.