Question regarding explanation of "academic difficulties"

[sedaniel]

I wanted to get someone's opinion because I'm not entirely sure what to do. I've been debating whether to post this because I know how rough SDN members can be (y'all know its true ), but I don't know who else to ask because I no longer trust my premed advisor. I am a reapplicant and I know the main reason I didn't get in when I first applied was my poor uGPA. There were three main problems: 1) I had to take a full load of upper level science courses (avg. 16 credits) for 2 1/2 years while 2) playing a huge role in the founding of my local sorority on campus (founding president, followed by house manager) so I know I was not focused enough on classes as I should have been. I mentioned (mentioned = one sentence) this in my personal statement because I wanted to focus mainly on what I have done to improve, but the adcomms who read my PS asked me specifically what contributed to my bad uGPA and therefore suggested I put at least one line in there about this.

The third reason is one that I did not talk about in my PS and now I am coming across secondary essays that specifically ask to explain academic difficulties. I was in an abusive relationship for two years during undergrad and I don't ever talk about it for obvious reasons, but I know that it affected my grades hugely (there is noticeable drop in my grades at the point when we started dating). Up until now I was just going to lie and never use it as a reason because I'm not a fan of making excuses for things, but my graduate GPA is so much higher than my uGPA that I feel like adcomms will wonder why.

I hope that no one else has had to go through anything like this, but does anyone have any advice for how to tactfully mention this in one of these types of essays in just like a couple of sentences? I definitely do not want to focus any essay on it and I don't want a pity party because I have no regrets, I just am finally at the point where I have moved on and can admit what a huge impact this had on my grades. So I am wondering if it should be mentioned, and if so, how?

I guarantee there is someone out there who's gonna rip me apart for posting this but I'm not an SDN virgin anymore so go ahead, I can take it.

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[mommy2three]

i have in the past actually failed classes due to reasons that are too long togo into here.

the best way i was told to handle it was to mention that it existed, acknowledge that you bear some fault (perhaps being over involved in your sorotity lead to not enough time to study and coupled with the relationship it was too much to bear at the time), then state what you have learned from living through that situation (how it impacted your grad studies) then move on.

you will probably get interview questions about it so i would be preparedto handle those as well.

hope some of this helps

 

[bonsaipalmtree]

I was in a similar situation- "unmentionable" traumatic experience that killed my grades for 2 semesters. I mentioned it in my PS and explained it clearly. I also talked about how the experience would make me a better physician.

It was never mentioned during any of my interviews directly, probably because I had already hashed it out in my PS. Out of 6 interviews, only once did an interviewer ask, "what happened to your organic chemistry grade?" and I had to tell him that I was enrolled in that class during a time when, realistically, I should not have even been in school. I have a good MCAT score, which I tried to use to "make up" for those two bad semesters too.

I'd talk about it, if it really affected your grades that much.

 

[pietachok]

I had problems with grades due to health reasons.
I applied to med schools 3 times, and only got a substantial # of interviews and admitted the 3rd time with the class of 2013.

There were only 2 major differences in my successful app. (1) I didn't use a committee letter, which helps when you aren't a great applicant, because many of the "committees" compare you to the rest of your class in some way or another, and (2) I got rid of a small chunk of my essay that discused my health and how in spite of my mental/emotional motivation, my body could not keep up.

After changing my essay, I heard a lot of positive feedback regarding the removal of the tiny "excuse" portion from physicians (employers, family, & a dean at a school that rejected me earlier) who are actively involved in admissions at their respective med schools.

One physician pointed out that the PS is the only place you have to sell yourself, why would you waste it putting forth anything negtive?--you wouldn't start a job interview and start off with, "I know there was this one month when I was breaking up with my boyfriend and my work sucked," but that's what you are doing when you start off your med school application with justifications. And as you've now realized, there is plenty of space in the 2ndaries & interviews to explain yourself if they are interested. There are few if any that don't have some place to put "obstacles."

Another, a dean of admissions, pointed out that by the time I made it past "GPA screening" at his school, the people reading my essay didn't have my grades . . . so they were left to imagine how bad those grades were, whereas if I'd never written that, they'd never have been nervous they were admitting a mediocre applicant who barely slipped by the GPA cutoff!

If you are in a situation that you think was seriously detrimental (possibly the abusive relationship, but NOT making a poor decision to devote too much time to a sorority) and you can tactfully & maturely write a heartfelt PS that discusses the situation (not how it impacted your GPA) & how it shapes your motivation or ability to be a mature person or good physician, respect your readers enough to realize they can put 2 & 2 together to realize that if you are talking about being beaten to a bloody pulp by your college partner, it likely explains your chunk of poor grades.

Be very careful, of course, when discussing a serious issue like your own abuse, because you should not write a "poor me" essay by any means. There is always someone poorer and worse off than you, and doctors have seen them. And you have to make it clear that this experience will help not hurt you--leave them confident that you have grown enough to use it for empathy toward other people but that you are not going to be one of the many women who tragically repeats the cycle of abusive relationships to an extent where she is not mentally/emotionally available to conquer med school.

And if you need to bring up something like giving too much time to a sorority in your 2ndary, make sure you sound like you are mature enough to view that choice in its appropriate context -- it was immature, foolish, etc., you learned how to better manage your time when you realized such time management was incompatible with the adult goals you were growing into.

Maturity, empathy, & a passion for medicine are major attributes adcoms want to see in you. You can discuss almost anything at some point in the process as long as you can logically frame it within those contexts.

Good luck!