Exit interviews were conducted with 21 students who withdrew or were dismissed from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, School of Medicine. Female, minority, and rural students were disproportionately represented among students who left the program. Of 22 students who left the program during June 1983-January 1985, 16 left during the first 2 years of the program in poor academic standing. Major factors implicated in academic failure were disinterest in medicine, cognitive disadvantages, and economic deprivation. Twelve of the students felt they received help from peers, docents and assistant deans, and the medical school, while six felt Arts and Sciences faculty were not interested or unwilling to help. Of the six students who left in good academic standing, five were female, and two transferred to another medical school. At the time of the exit interview, nine of the students who left in poor academic standing expressed positive attitudes about themselves and their future. Students found the exit interview useful in sorting out their feelings and thoughts about their departure and future plans. Attention was also directed to cognitive and noncognitive predictors of academic failure, including test scores, high school rank, quality/type of high school, and high school teachers' references. (SW)