Addressing Academic History in Personal Statement

[huskydock]

I did a search and only found one thread back in 2006, so any links or fresh answers are appreciated:

There is a dip in my grades in my senior year due to a personal event. How important is it to address this in the PS? Is it worth taking up characters, which I already have almost filled up with relevant experiences that tell ADCOMs why medicine? Do ADCOMs really look at PSs and transcripts and think "Why didn't he talk about his grades? Red flag."

I'm currently doing a post-bacc to finish off my med school requirements and retake 2 classes. Is that important to address in a PS? I'm getting mixed opinions.

Thanks!

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[Propylene]

If it is a serious drop and you can explain it in a compelling way it might be worth addressing. If you work in carefully, it might not even take up too much space (ie a sentence or two). No point dwelling on it too much.

 

[huskydock]

I guess my concern is that addressing my academic history wouldn't fit in with the overall flow of my personal statement. It would seem like a random, disjointed sentence or two. And I would hate to take out a whole paragraph just to fit in this personal event leading to my low GPA to coming back with an upward trend in post-bac.

 

[survivordo]

I would just leave it out. If they see it as something significant to your application they will ask you during your interviews. My feeling is that the PS should be used to address positives about yourself. The only other way to go about it would be turn the "negative grades" into a "positive" but this is going to take up some space. My thoughts in this case are to K.I.S.S.

Survivor DO

 

[DAPI]

Most secondaries have a place for stuff like this. I say leave it out of the PS and put it in the secondary.

 

[Propylene]

I guess my concern is that addressing my academic history wouldn't fit in with the overall flow of my personal statement. It would seem like a random, disjointed sentence or two. And I would hate to take out a whole paragraph just to fit in this personal event leading to my low GPA to coming back with an upward trend in post-bac.

Right, that's what I was thinking too. A whole paragraph is a lot and if you can't find a way to weave it in with another – say, a paragraph talking about struggles you have overcome – then it might be best to leave it out.

If they are Ds or below you will probably want to address it no matter what.

 

[mimelim]

It does not belong in your personal statement. If someone is willing to read your personal statement despite whatever hit your GPA took because of this, they don't want to know more about it, they want to hear why they should advocate for you at their next committee meeting. You might get asked about it during interviews, but that is a separate issue.