Getting into medical school is a huge accomplishment and also marks the start of many years of arduous study and long hours in classrooms and clinical settings. As you work your way through medical school, you’ll surely be highly motivated to perform at your best, get outstanding grades, and earn the respect of your professors. But at times, you may feel that your grades don’t accurately reflect your work, which places you in a frustrating predicament. What recourse do you have when you believe you deserve better grades, and what are the downstream effects of fighting for better marks?
As a student at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, you have access to a valuable medical education and numerous opportunities in patient care and research. As the 11th largest medical school in the United States, McGovern Medical School offers 900 accredited residency and fellowship programs. The high caliber of the school’s students means you have intense competition for these residency slots, and you’ll face immense pressure to perform well enough to earn a spot in your desired residency program. You know you need not only excellent grades, but also the esteem of your professors and instructors, whose recommendations are vital to your residency goals.
So what do you do when you feel you’ve received a lower grade than you deserve, whether on a single assignment or exam or for an entire course? On the one hand, your immediate reaction is probably to feel like you want to state your case and fight for a better grade. On the other hand, you don’t want to get on your professor’s bad side and lose the opportunity for a good recommendation. How do you navigate this fine line and make the best decisions for your future?
If you find yourself in this tricky situation at UTHealth or another medical school, the LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team can help. We know how to help students determine the best course of action and guide you through the grade appeals process. Call us at 888-535-3686 or complete our confidential contact form to set up a consultation and learn more.
Did You Really Deserve That Grade?
It can be extremely frustrating to work hard on an assignment or in a certain course, only to receive a failing grade or a grade you think is unfair and undeserved. Did you really do so much more poorly than you thought? Or are the professor’s assessment standards flawed? In medical school, some assignments and tests are objective. The answer is either right or wrong. But in many cases, how well you perform on an exam or care for a patient is a subjective evaluation.
The Liaison Committee on Medical Education (LCME) is the national organization responsible for ensuring that medical schools abide by fair assessment standards for students in their courses and clerkships. The U.S. Department of Education acknowledges the LCME as the accrediting organization for medical schools, which must meet the LCME standards for assessing student performance.
Despite these standards, grades are still subject to professors’ accuracy and opinions. Maybe your professor made a mistake in grading your assignment. Maybe they misunderstood something you did or said while providing patient care. Or maybe they have a negative opinion of you that is tainting their ability to grade you fairly.
Regardless of the reason, you have the right to question and appeal a grade that you feel is unfair. In fact, there has been a significant rise in grade appeals nationwide, and studies indicate that medical schools’ current assessment processes may be faulty. Considering all the time, energy, and money you’ve dedicated to becoming a doctor, you need to use all the tools at your disposal to ensure that you’re getting the good grades you deserve. Residency programs are far too competitive to let an unfair grade slide.
Appealing a Grade at McGovern Medical School
As a student at UTHealth McGovern Medical School, you must follow the school’s Policy on Grade Grievances to protest a grade or assessment. According to this policy, for a pre-clerkship grade grievance, you must email the course director, with a copy to the Office of Admissions and Student Affairs, within four weeks of receiving your final grade to explain why you feel the grade is unjust and to provide any documentation to support your case. The course director then has 10 days to respond with their decision about changing your grade.
If you’re unhappy with the course director’s decision, you have four weeks to file an appeal with the Vice Dean of Educational Programs, who must give their decision within 10 days. The vice dean’s decision is final unless you can provide evidence of blatant discrimination or unfair treatment.
If you feel you have the evidence to make a further appeal, you can submit the appeal in writing, along with the evidence, to the Vice Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs. Within 10 days, the vice dean must review the appeal and forward their written recommendation to the dean of the medical school, who will make a final decision. At this point, you have to accept this final determination, and you can’t protest further.
The school’s policy for appealing a grade in a clerkship or career focus tracks course is similar. Within four weeks of receiving your final grade, assessment components, or narrative evaluation comments, you must email your rationale and supporting documentation to the clerkship director. However, if you’re appealing a grade from the clerkship director, you can instead send your protest to the department chair, who will appoint a faculty member to review the protest and provide a decision within 10 days.
If you want to appeal the initial decision of the clerkship director or chair-appointed reviewer, you can next send your protest directly to the department chair. Their decision is final unless you have compelling evidence of discrimination. In this case, you can send your protest to the Vice Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, who will forward their recommendation to the dean of the medical school. Similar to a pre-clerkship grade appeal, the dean’s decision is final, and you can’t protest further.
To Appeal or Not to Appeal?
It’s tempting to want to file a protest anytime you get a grade or assessment significantly below what you think you deserve. But there’s more than just the time and energy of filing the appeal at stake. A protest can have real consequences beyond the actual grade. Recommendation letters often carry as much weight as grades when it comes to applying for residencies, especially considering how highly competitive these coveted slots are at McGovern Medical School.
Some professors may be open-minded when it comes to grade appeals, but many will take offense when a student accuses them of giving an unfair grade, whether for a single assignment or an entire course. You need your professors on your side when it comes time to ask for recommendation letters. The last thing you want is to develop a reputation for being a petulant, whiny student who complains every time you get a bad grade. And you can be sure your professors all talk among themselves, sharing stories of problem students. So a grade appeal can damage recommendations from your other professors, too.
When it’s time for you to decide whether to protest a grade, ask yourself these questions. And be honest with yourself!
- Do you really deserve a higher grade? And can you prove it? Before you appeal, make sure you have solid evidence to back up your argument.
- How important is this grade to your overall standing, and how relevant is it to the specialty you plan to pursue?
- How does your argument reflect on your professor? Are you making a personal attack, accusing them of prejudice or discrimination? Or are you simply pointing out an innocent mistake they made? Your professor will surely be more protective of their own reputation than yours.
It’s easy to get bogged down in the emotion of dealing with a bad grade, especially when you’re immersed in the stress and exhaustion of medical school. You need a rational voice to help you figure out the best option for handling this tricky situation. That’s where the LLF National Law Firm comes in.
The LLF National Law Firm Knows How to Help
Getting a bad or failing grade or assessment is certainly problematic for your progress through medical school and residency. But you need to be careful in how you deal with it. The Education Law Team at the LLF National Law Firm is your best bet for figuring out what to do. We can help you objectively evaluate the pros and cons of filing a protest, and we can help you through the appeal process to give you the best chances of a successful outcome. The LLF National Law Firm can help:
- Identify the evidence and documentation that best support your protest.
- Steer you toward the best resources to help you make the right decision about whether to appeal, including talking to other faculty and students.
- Determine the importance of the grade in question for your overall success in medical school.
- Evaluate the potential effects on letters of recommendation.
- Craft your emails to the course or clerkship director, Vice Dean of Educational Programs, and Vice Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, ensuring that you present your arguments fairly and in a non-accusatory way.
- Ensure that the McGovern Medical School is adhering to its process for grade grievances and responding in a timely manner.
- Negotiate with school administrators for grades that accurately reflect your performance.
The McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston is a prestigious medical school that gives you a promising future as a doctor. You need to do all you can to ensure that you get the best possible grades and earn your most desired residencies. The LLF National Law Firm’s Education Law Team can help you through the ordeal of appealing unfair grades and get you back on track to a successful career as a doctor. Contact us at 888-535-3686 or via our online contact form to get started.