Medical Withdrawals from College for Mental Health Reasons and Their Relation to Academic Performance

A collaborative study among the university health service, the dean's office, and the registrar's office examined the academic performance of 77 students who took medical withdrawals for mental health reasons from Dartmouth College during a 3-year period. In 71.4% of the cases, students withdrew from a term in progress; the remainder arranged to withdraw after they had completed a term but before starting a new term. Depression was a major factor in approximately half of the withdrawals. Grade point average improved significantly after return from the withdrawal, with a large jump in individual term averages occurring between the terms immediately preceding and immediately following return. We found no significant difference between the number of students who experienced disciplinary trouble before withdrawal and those who were disciplined afterward. Students who were depressed at the time of withdrawal did not fare as well academically upon return as those students who had not been depressed. The data suggest that procedures for handling mental health withdrawals and readmission are important ways in which the campus counseling center can support the university's academic mission.