- Joined
- Mar 29, 2012
- Messages
- 75
- Reaction score
- 2
thanks
Last edited:
Judging from LizzyM 's comments on the topic,
1) Don't bring it up unless they do
2) Bad grades and the bottom of upward trends are like zits. If you focus on the negatives they're going to really stick out. If you focus on the upswing and how much it made you better/how it made you a better person/what made you turn it around it'll be a good talking point. Only talk about it positively and what you overcame to deserve that interview. Be upbeat and positive.
I have a 3.2 cGPA and sGPA. Strong upward trend (it hovered around 2.9 in my freshman and sophomore year but really picked up to a 3.7-3.8 the entirety of my junior year). I have a 30T MCAT.
As you can guess, a lot of my core classes like ochem and biology received C's and low B's. There are a couple of reasons why these early grades were bad - I was working on losing 80 pounds and overcoming obesity, I was coming from a small town to a gigantic university, I took on a full research load during freshman year which sucked up a lot of time, etc. But honestly, these are more excuses than solid reasons. The truth is... I just didn't have much motivation and good study skills until junior year, when I really got my rear in gear and started achieving stellar grades.
Now I have an interview with a school known for specifically asking questions about bad grades. I'm sure they will ask me to justify all those C's in biology, physics and ochem. What am I supposed to say? I don't want to lie and pretend I had some huge anchor holding me down, but I also don't want to say "eh, I just didn't try hard until junior year". Help.
EDIT: Let me emphasis how bad my early grade situation really was. I literally had B's and C's in every single bio, every single physics, and every single chem/ochem class during those two years. It's so mediocre that I'm surprised I even got an interview from a school. So I know they'll try to focus on that.
I have a 3.2 cGPA and sGPA. Strong upward trend (it hovered around 2.9 in my freshman and sophomore year but really picked up to a 3.7-3.8 the entirety of my junior year). I have a 30T MCAT.
As you can guess, a lot of my core classes like ochem and biology received C's and low B's. There are a couple of reasons why these early grades were bad - I was working on losing 80 pounds and overcoming obesity, I was coming from a small town to a gigantic university, I took on a full research load during freshman year which sucked up a lot of time, etc. But honestly, these are more excuses than solid reasons. The truth is... I just didn't have much motivation and good study skills until junior year, when I really got my rear in gear and started achieving stellar grades.
Now I have an interview with a school known for specifically asking questions about bad grades. I'm sure they will ask me to justify all those C's in biology, physics and ochem. What am I supposed to say? I don't want to lie and pretend I had some huge anchor holding me down, but I also don't want to say "eh, I just didn't try hard until junior year". Help.
EDIT: Let me emphasis how bad my early grade situation really was. I literally had B's and C's in every single bio, every single physics, and every single chem/ochem class during those two years. It's so mediocre that I'm surprised I even got an interview from a school. So I know they'll try to focus on that.