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MIT Students' Frequently Asked Questions about Mental Health Services (MHS)
FAQ Major Topics:
Medical Withdrawals
What's medical withdrawal?
Medical withdrawal is often recommended when it becomes clear that the student needs intensive treatment and should be focusing his or her resources and time on getting better rather than studying. In many university settings medical withdrawal is a virtually automatic consequence of hospitalization. At MIT each individual case is assessed with the goal of determining what is best for the student.
How is it decided who needs to take a medical withdrawal?
A medical withdrawal is recommended or is initiated by a student when a student's medical condition interferes with his or her ability to do schoolwork, manage day-to-day functioning or live safely in the school environment.
What happens to someone who needs to take a medical withdrawal?
For undergraduates, medical withdrawals are processed through Student Support Services (SSS), with consultation from MHS or another medical department at MIT. A withdrawal is usually for a minimum of one full semester. Often there are specific requirements for the student to fulfill during the withdrawal, such as obtaining medical treatment and taking courses or working. For graduate students, medical withdrawals are processed through the Graduate Students' Office. A medical withdrawal usually lasts for at least a semester and is re-evaluated each semester.
What happens when someone on medical withdrawal comes back to MIT?
For undergraduates, the readmission process is initiated through SSS. The student is asked to prepare a readmission application, including a statement about what s/he has done during the medical withdrawal and about how s/he is now ready to return. In addition, the student will be interviewed by either the chief or the associate chief of the mental health service for mental health related withdrawals, or by Dr. O'Pray for non-mental health withdrawals, to see if he or she has gotten well enough to return. The chief or associate chief may well want to speak with the clinicians that the student saw during the withdrawal as part of this assessment. At times it is a requirement that the student be in therapy while he or she is at MIT. There is a therapy group at MHS for students who are recently back from medical withdrawal. For graduate students the process is different: the request goes through the dean of graduate students. Usually the mental health clinician that the student was working with prior to the medical withdrawal is the one who evaluates the student's readiness to return.
The above was prepared by the mental health work group of the MIT Student Health Advisory Council with input from the staff of the mental health service at MIT Medical. This source should be acknowledged if the material is used.
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