LECOM Bradenton School of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals

Written by Zachary Gaynor, attorney · The Florida Bar, admitted 2016 · court admissions. Reviewed 30 September 2026.

Who decides whether a LECOM Bradenton pharmacy student is dismissed?

The Academic Standing and Professionalism (ASP) Committee recommends, and the Dean of the School of Pharmacy decides: the Dean “may accept, reject, or modify” the committee’s recommendation. An appeal from the Dean’s decision goes to LECOM’s President, within seven days of notice of the decision, and the President’s decision is final.

There is no Bradenton handbook. One document, the School of Pharmacy Academic Catalog and Student Handbook 2026–2027, governs every LECOM pharmacy pathway: the three-year Accelerated Pathway in Erie, the four-year Florida Pathway in Bradenton, and the four-year Distance Education Pathway. As explained below, LECOM has posted two different versions of that document this year, and they disagree on the rules that end programs.

The Florida Pathway: four years, and six to finish

The Bradenton pathway has run since fall 2007: three years of didactic courses, two four-week introductory rotations in the summer after the first year, and six six-week advanced rotations in the fourth year. Students in a four-year program must complete it within six years of matriculation (three-year students have five). “If a student is unable to meet the maximum timeframe allotted for their program, they would be dismissed.” Every repeated year and every delayed rotation counts against that clock.

Seventy percent, and remediation is a privilege

Every course, module and rotation requires 70% (a C). A failure must be remediated before you advance to the next academic year. The catalog is blunt about the remediation that follows: “There is no right to remediation. All decisions on remediation rest solely with Administration.”

• 65% is the floor. You must score at least 65% in a course to be eligible for a remedial examination.
• 64.5% to 69.4%: a remedial examination, taken when the ASP Committee schedules it; students who take and pass it are charged $100. You need 70% to pass. Failing it puts you in the next category.
• Below 64.5%: a remedial course, paid in advance ($500), which also applies to remediating a failed introductory or advanced rotation. Remedial coursework can delay rotations and graduation.
• The ceiling is a C. The original F stays on the transcript (excluded from the GPA), and “there will be no appeals of the remediation grade.”

The Dean or a designee notifies you of required remediation in writing, generally within fifteen working days after grades reach the Registrar.

Two 2026–2027 catalogs with the same cover date

LECOM’s catalog page now links to a pharmacy catalog file posted in August 2026. An earlier 2026–2027 file, posted in June, is still online, and both covers read “Updated June 16, 2026.” They are not the same where it matters most:

• The June file made “three original course failures in any academic year” a dismissal ground for Florida Pathway and Distance Education students. It allowed a Bradenton student with fewer than three failures in a semester to progress by remediating the course, or by auditing it and completing the coursework the following year, and it allowed a student with three or more failures in a semester to be offered deceleration: the year’s curriculum spread over two years, with supplemental courses.
• The August file removes deceleration entirely, places every student who fails a course on academic probation, and replaces the pathway-specific limit with one rule for all pathways: more than five original course failures in the first year, or three in the later didactic years.

For a student whose semester began before the August file appeared, which version governs is a live question, and the answer can change the outcome. Save both files, note the date you first received or were told about each, and make the committee say which one it applied.

Probation

A pharmacy student is placed on probation after failing a course or rotation, for unsatisfactory academic performance, or for other causes in the catalog such as an honor code violation. The Dean or a designee must tell you the reasons in writing. On probation you may not serve as an officer of a club or take on time-consuming extracurricular activities, and you must meet with your faculty advisor at least every two weeks. A student who does not improve “may continue on probation, be asked to withdraw or be dismissed.” A probation labeled “Disciplinary,” unlike one labeled “Conduct,” puts the letter in your permanent file, so the label itself is worth checking.

The listed grounds for dismissal, and why the list is not the limit

Under the August 2026 catalog, the ASP Committee may recommend dismissal for:

• an F (below 70%) in a remediated course or remediated rotation;
• needing more than two remediation courses, or two remedial rotations, in one academic year;
• an F in more than one core rotation (Advanced Institutional, Acute Care, Advanced Community, Ambulatory Care), or in more than two rotations in total, in one academic year;
• unsatisfactory professional and personal behavior, including attendance, cooperation, interaction with patients and staff, and dress code;
• failure to demonstrate continued academic and professional growth;
• conviction of a felony or a crime involving moral turpitude (students must report arrests and charges to LECOM); and
• more than five original course failures in the first year, or three in the later didactic years.

The catalog then adds that “this list is not exclusive,” and separately that LECOM may dismiss a student “at any time” for reasons of a “legal, moral, behavioral, ethical, health or academic nature.” A dismissal letter should say which ground it rests on. If it does not, that is the first thing to ask.

At the end of the year the choice narrows. A student who does not succeed at remediation must “either repeat the entire year or be dismissed.” Repeating has its own price: no federal aid for coursework already taken, 25% of tuition and fees plus insurance paid before returning, and the balance arranged by the end of the second week of the semester.

Rotations: two repeats is the ceiling

A student can repeat at most two failed experiential rotations, and one failure may bring a meeting with the ASP Committee. To contest a rotation grade, the conference with the Director of Experiential Education must happen no later than ten business days after the evaluation is completed in CORE. Rotation failures near graduation compress every deadline on this page, and the catalog asks students to move quickly in exactly that situation.

What happens in the ASP meeting

You are told why you are there, you may address the committee and submit supporting documents, and members may question you. Then you leave, the committee considers the written record in front of it, and it votes on its recommendation to the Dean. Meetings may be in person, by video or by phone, and recording is not permitted, so bring your own notes and write down who was present.

Honor code cases add a few rules. The standard of proof is preponderance of the evidence. The accused student and “a representative (non-attorney) from the institution” have the right to appear. An appeal to the Dean must be requested in writing within three working days of the committee’s decision, and from the Dean to the President within seven working days, where “the President will only hear arguments and evidence presented below.”

Counsel has no defined role

No provision gives a pharmacy student the right to bring an attorney to the ASP Committee. The only mention of representation in committee proceedings is the institution’s non-attorney representative. The catalog does allow a student to be “assisted or represented by one or more individuals, including an attorney” at a FERPA hearing to amend an education record, which shows LECOM knows how to grant that right when it means to. For academic and honor code matters, treat the question as unresolved and plan for the written record to carry the case.

Grade appeals: short clocks and narrow grounds

Only three things count as “good cause” to change a final grade: a malicious or discriminatory grade, an arbitrary or capricious one, or a human error in computing or recording it. Disagreement with the standards or the professor’s judgment does not qualify, and students repeating an academic year are ineligible for grade appeals.

• Step 1: a conference with the course coordinator no later than ten business days after the course ends; the coordinator answers within five business days, and you have five business days to take a written appeal to the Pathway Dean or Director. Once submitted, that appeal letter cannot be changed later in the process.
• Step 2: the ASP Committee, within ten business days of the Pathway Dean’s decision.
• Step 3: the Dean, with notice within three calendar days and all documentation filed within seven business days; then the President within seven business days. The President’s decision is final.

You may stay enrolled while you appeal, but nothing counts

A dismissed student who has filed an official appeal with the Office of the President may remain in classes and rotations during the appeal unless the Dean finds the appeal was not properly filed, or that your presence is disruptive or potentially harmful. The catch is in the next sentence: work done during that period “will not be scored or graded,” and the Registrar holds all grade reports and transcripts until the appeal is resolved.

Accreditation

ACPE lists the LECOM School of Pharmacy as accredited through June 30, 2033. Its 2025–2026 monitoring record cites the program as Partially Compliant with Standard 5, “Faculty and Staff,” with an interim review listed for 2026–2027. The finding concerns faculty and staff rather than student services, but it is part of the public record on the program.

Where a lawyer fits in a LECOM pharmacy dismissal

Because the committee meets without counsel and the President decides only on the record below, the work that matters is done before and around the meeting: reading the full file against the 2026–2027 catalog, pinning down which listed ground (if any) the recommendation rests on, preparing you to address the committee, and drafting the Dean and President appeals inside their windows. A Full Read + Game Plan is the usual starting point when a letter has just arrived.

Where the governing documents are

Verified as loading on 30 September 2026:

• School of Pharmacy Academic Catalog and Student Handbook 2026–2027, August 2026 file (the one LECOM’s catalog page links to) — sections 2.5.1 (final grade appeals) through 2.5.6 (dismissal), 9.6 (ASP Committee), 9.7 (honor code), 9.9 and 9.9.1 (disciplinary procedure and enrollment during appeal) — lecom.edu
• The earlier June 2026 file of the same catalog, with the deceleration option and the three-failure rule for the Florida Pathway — still posted at lecom.edu
• IPPE/APPE Manual, referenced by the catalog for rotation make-ups — request the current edition from Experiential Education
• ACPE program record for the LECOM School of Pharmacy — acpe-accredit.org

Both 2026–2027 files carry the same cover date. The quickest way to tell them apart is the upload month in the file’s web address (2026/06 or 2026/08) and whether the dismissal section still mentions deceleration. Save a dated copy of each the day your matter begins.

Related reading

• Pharmacy school dismissal
• Remediation and repeat years
• Clinical rotation and externship failures
• Grade disputes and grade appeals
• Academic misconduct and honor code charges
• LECOM Bradenton College of Osteopathic Medicine — dismissal & appeals

Other Florida health-professional programs

Every school writes its own dismissal, appeal and conduct rules, and the filing deadlines are rarely the same from one campus to the next. These pages set out the procedure at other Florida pharmacy programs:

• Florida Pharmacy Schools — Dismissals & Appeals
• UF College of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals
• FAMU College of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals
• USF Taneja College of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals
• NSU Silverman College of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals
• Palm Beach Atlantic Gregory School of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals
• Larkin University College of Pharmacy — Dismissal & Appeals

Common questions

How many failed courses end a LECOM pharmacy program?

Under the August 2026 catalog, more than five original course failures in the first year, or three in the later didactic years, is a listed ground for dismissal, and so is needing more than two remediations in one academic year or failing a remediated course. The earlier June 2026 file drew the line differently for Bradenton students: three original failures in any academic year. The ASP Committee recommends, the Dean decides, and the catalog says its list of grounds is not exclusive.

Can I appeal a remediation grade?

No. The catalog states there will be no appeals of the remediation grade, and the highest grade remediation can earn is a C. A student repeating an academic year is also ineligible for final grade appeals.

Can I stay in class while I appeal a dismissal?

Usually, once you have filed an official appeal with the Office of the President, unless the Dean finds the appeal improper or your presence disruptive or harmful. Nothing you complete during the appeal is scored or graded, and your transcript is held until it is resolved.

Can a lawyer come to my ASP Committee meeting?

The catalog does not give students that right. It refers only to a non-attorney representative for the institution, and it grants a right to an attorney only for FERPA record-amendment hearings. Plan for your written submission and your own presentation to carry the case.

How long do I have to finish the Florida Pathway?

Six years from matriculation for the four-year program. A student who cannot finish within the maximum timeframe is dismissed, and repeated years and delayed rotations count toward it.