I have no suggestions regarding what schools to apply to, but I do have this to add.
Id think really seriously before explaining the reasoning for your downward trend. Youve explained that your family was facing the propect of being deported, and you thus felt like "nothing you did mattered" and "whats the point". I obviously cant speak for Adcoms, but to me, these are troubling statements. This could essentially indicate to Adcoms that when you are faced with adversity and uncertainty, you are likely to give up and be unable/unwilling to persevere. PLEASE understand that I am not suggesting that this is true for you, and I am by no means, minimizing the negative effect that your families situation would have upon your mindset and motivation. I am only pointing out what COULD be troubling to an Adcom, who will be looking to poke holes in your application. I may be totally wrong, and they might end up being totally sympathetic to your situation. However it remains a possibility that they will view your response (lack of motivation) to your families troubles, as an indication that you do not perform well when faced with adversity. Just my 2 cents.-SH
PS- Thats an amazing score on your MCATS. Did you only take them this one time? If not, would you mind sharing what your scores were first time around.
PPS-What country is your family from?
Hi, thanks for the response. That is an issue that I have considered for a long time. Last year, I thought more like you do, and I did my best to not draw attention to the GPA trend. However, after speaking to some admissions people and all sorts of other people, I am deciding in favor the opposite this year.
For one, I think it is better for adcoms to think that I have trouble dealing with adversity/uncertainty rather than that I'm simply lazy. I have actually used examples of my successful dealings with previous adversities to show that it was really uncertainy that troubled me, which I think is the least of the 3 evils. Secondly, it's a problem that can't be avoided, as the majority of adcoms will notice it and question it, so it is best to be proactive and address the issue and get my story out there first. Additionally, the general opinion is that it is OK to admit a mistake, especially when it's obvious, if you can convince them that you can change and have changed.
Thus, I made a volunteering experience of this past year where I shadowed/worked with a physician who has faced and overcome unimaginable obstacles as one of the central pieces of my personal statement. I used it to show that I have understood my problem(i.e. lack of perseverance) and I used my work this past year, such as how I doubled up on my volunteering/shadowing hours in one year over the previous five, and how while I am still dealing with adversity(a lot of family troubles) at the same time, as evidence that I have indeed changed. Some of the explanations were in the secondaries, since I had other stuff to talk about in the PS.
Anyway, I did take the MCAT once previously and got a 35M, I think it was 13, 11, 11, but I'm not sure. My family came from China and I came to the states when I was 11. Our green card application was dependent on employer sponsor, so if my father lost his job we'd have to leave. It actually happened once when I was in high school, and I had returned all of my textbooks and said goodbye to all of my friends before my father found a new job within the 2-month grace period. Then in college, his new company floundered, he was forced to work reduced hours, and I really thought I was gonna relive that nightmare. He was actually laid off just a few months after we received our green cards, and he hasn't found a new job yet. If that had happened when I was in college....
