STUDENT PETITION FOR POLICY CHANGE IN REGARDS TO CONTINUATION FOLLOWING ACADEMIC LEAVE
This petition aims to encourage the faculty and staff of
Emory University’s Anesthesiologist Assistant Program to change the current policy
regarding an academic leave of absence.
It is understood that this policy has been in place for many
years and in the past it has been the most logical approach. However, with the
recent addition of a summer semester, we believe that that the policy should be
updated. Before the addition of the summer semester, students returning from
academic leave would only have their graduation date pushed back by one year. With
the new summer semester, any student who receives a D in the last didactic
semester will not be able to return for 10 months, and their graduation date is
pushed back by 2 years. These students
also incur four more semesters of debt. In
addition to this financial burden, such a lengthy absence without exposure to
anesthesia is detrimental. Continuous clinical experience facilitates greater
improvement and is more beneficial to the student than the current policy.
If a student is academically successful until the final
didactic semester it would seem reasonable that they should not need to
remediate the introductory semester. The review of this material does not
outweigh the consequences of being absent from anesthesia for a year. Due to
these concerns we request the policy be changed to the following:
If a first-year student meets either of the following criteria in any semester of the first year, then that student will be offered a leave of absence for academic reasons:
Receipt of D in any course
OR
Receipt of F in any course.
In order for the student meeting the above criteria to be offered a leave of absence for academic reasons, then that student must complete all course work in the semester in which he/she meets the criteria for the leave of absence for academic reasons.
The leave of absence will
begin effective at the end of the semester in which the student receives the D
or F. If the student received the D or F in the first 3 semesters the student
may then return to the Master of Medical Science Program at the beginning of
the following summer semester to restart the educational program. If the student
receives the D or F in the final didactic semester the student may resume their
educational program in September.
We urge you to
seriously consider this change and hope that you will keep the well-being of
the student in mind.
Updates
September 9, 2014
I was just staring at the screen and honestly it feels surreal seeing how many people feel the exact same frustration about these extra semesters and the debt piling up. It is wild to think about how this has been the status quo for so long but things are shifting now because everyone finally said something out loud.
6 Comments
I hope they listen. staying away from clinicals for that long is not helping anyone learn.
The program needs to adapt to the new schedule. Pushing graduation back by two years over one class makes zero sense.
Ridiculous policy. Fix it now.
Two years is way too long to wait. People will lose all their skills in that time. This needs to change.
Total waste of time and money to make people repeat stuff they already know. update the rules already!
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STUDENT PETITION FOR POLICY CHANGE IN REGARDS TO CONTINUATION FOLLOWING ACADEMIC LEAVE
This petition aims to encourage the faculty and staff of
Emory University’s Anesthesiologist Assistant Program to change the current policy
regarding an academic leave of absence.
It is understood that this policy has been in place for many
years and in the past it has been the most logical approach. However, with the
recent addition of a summer semester, we believe that that the policy should be
updated. Before the addition of the summer semester, students returning from
academic leave would only have their graduation date pushed back by one year. With
the new summer semester, any student who receives a D in the last didactic
semester will not be able to return for 10 months, and their graduation date is
pushed back by 2 years. These students
also incur four more semesters of debt. In
addition to this financial burden, such a lengthy absence without exposure to
anesthesia is detrimental. Continuous clinical experience facilitates greater
improvement and is more beneficial to the student than the current policy.
If a student is academically successful until the final
didactic semester it would seem reasonable that they should not need to
remediate the introductory semester. The review of this material does not
outweigh the consequences of being absent from anesthesia for a year. Due to
these concerns we request the policy be changed to the following:
If a first-year student meets either of the following criteria in any semester of the first year, then that student will be offered a leave of absence for academic reasons:
Receipt of D in any course
OR
Receipt of F in any course.
In order for the student meeting the above criteria to be offered a leave of absence for academic reasons, then that student must complete all course work in the semester in which he/she meets the criteria for the leave of absence for academic reasons.
The leave of absence will
begin effective at the end of the semester in which the student receives the D
or F. If the student received the D or F in the first 3 semesters the student
may then return to the Master of Medical Science Program at the beginning of
the following summer semester to restart the educational program. If the student
receives the D or F in the final didactic semester the student may resume their
educational program in September.
We urge you to
seriously consider this change and hope that you will keep the well-being of
the student in mind.
Updates
September 9, 2014
I was just staring at the screen and honestly it feels surreal seeing how many people feel the exact same frustration about these extra semesters and the debt piling up. It is wild to think about how this has been the status quo for so long but things are shifting now because everyone finally said something out loud.
6 Comments
10 months is already pushing it but 2 years is just cruel. students have enough debt as it is without adding more because of a single grade.
I hope they listen. staying away from clinicals for that long is not helping anyone learn.
The program needs to adapt to the new schedule. Pushing graduation back by two years over one class makes zero sense.
Ridiculous policy. Fix it now.
Two years is way too long to wait. People will lose all their skills in that time. This needs to change.
Total waste of time and money to make people repeat stuff they already know. update the rules already!
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10 months is already pushing it but 2 years is just cruel. students have enough debt as it is without adding more because of a single grade.