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I wouldn't specifically address bad grades. A personal statement should be made into a narrative about why you're going to be a great doctor. Highlighting bad grades and making excuses is not the theme you want to display. If you can tell a good story without being negative, stick to that. If there was a moment in your life that led to the bad grades (having an illness yourself or someone close to you, or anything like that) then you can use that but unless it's important to the narrative then I would leave it out. I used perseverance as a theme throughout my application (up trending GPA, higher retake on my MCAT) and secondary essays, but in my statement I kept the narrative I wanted by explaining all the positives and using that to showcase why I would be a great medical student/doctor. You can always use those good reasons you had in the interview setting when you get to that stage.
 
aorta22 said:
As the title suggests, I have some bad grades on my transcript, and I've received conflicting advice about whether or not to address them in my personal statement. Should I mention my bad grades, explain what happened, and then describe how I've improved since then? Or, should I not mention them at all and focus on the positives of my application in my personal statement, and address the bad grades in a secondary question?

One of my professors is convinced I need to own up to my mistakes in the PS, but my other professor says the PS shouldn't mention anything negative, and I'm not sure how I can satisfy both. I would love any and all advice!
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Save it for suitable Secondary prompts.
 
Since I'm using the personal statement as a basis for our interview, I think it would be to your detriment to write about them and then have that come up as a big topic during your interviews. I also like reading personal statements because it gives me a sense of what you think is important about yourself and the world around you, which speaks to your insight and maturity (explaining your grades does not give me a favorable impression in that regard). It's the only way I get to know anything about you personally before the interview, and unlike in the interview, you control 100% of the content—use that to your advantage.

On the other hand, the academic record speaks for itself. If you did poorly and then remediated and did well, that's great. If you did poorly in some unrelated classes 10 years ago, who cares. If you recently got some poor grades in some core premed classes, that's not great for your chances no matter what, and writing an essay about it isn't going to make much of a difference. If there's something you really feel like you need to address, do so in the designated places on the secondary applications.
 
aorta22 said:
Freshman year: BCPM 3.3 (21 credits), Cumulative 3.3 (32 credits)
Sophomore year: BCPM 1.9, including 1 D and 1 C- (14 credits), Cumulative 3.15 (32 credits)
Junior year: BCPM 2.75, including 1 F (16 credits), Cumulative 3.63 (44 credits)
Senior year: BCPM 4.0 (6 credits), Cumulative 3.92 (44 credits)
Postbacc year: BCPM + Cumulative 3.97 (35 credits)
SMP year: BCPM + Cumulative 3.9x (36 credits)

Overall, undergrad classes (not counting SMP) come out to a 3.3 BCPM GPA and a 3.6 cumulative.

Outside of these grades, I have great recommendations, hundreds of hours in research, ~200 hours of nonclinical volunteering, ~120 hours of clinical volunteering, ~50 hours of shadowing, and thousands of hours of involvement in a relatively distinct activity at the national level. I was planning to focus my PS on this activity, how I've grown from it, and why it has drawn me to medicine, but given my spotty record, wasn't sure if I could totally ignore it in the PS, as I wasn't sure if I could guarantee a secondary question to explain myself and take responsibility.

Edit: haven't taken the MCAT yet, I was double cancelled from March and May, but I'm hoping to test ASAP.
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Never, ever bring attention to a negative.

The PS is for Why Medicine? and Who am I?
 
aorta22 said:
If I mention my SMP in a middle paragraph in my PS, do you think it would be appropriate to add this sentence around there?
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I did an SMP and never actually wrote about doing it. I let it speak for itself on my application. I think it could would be alright if you put it in the middle when talking about the SMP, however I would still personally just put it in the last paragraph when driving your point home or reviewing the main point of your PS. Also maybe to help with the flow, don't want it just sticking out in the middle of your PS.
 
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