Addressing poor grades from long ago

[austinap]

I have a quick question that I'd like to get a bit of feedback on.

I took some college classes in high school that I did not do well on, and also received bad grades my first ~year out of HS. I'm talking pretty ridiculous here: my gpa for my first ~35 undergrad credits was around 2.2.

I pulled myself together and ended up graduating with a 3.75 overall, 3.8 sciences, and will be finishing a PhD in the next year with a graduate GPA of 3.9. I'm obviously able to handle the course work, and my overall GPA isn't bad. My question is this: should I even address these old grades if given the chance, or should I forget about it and say something only if asked?

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[Naijaba]

I have a quick question that I'd like to get a bit of feedback on.

I took some college classes in high school that I did not do well on, and also received bad grades my first ~year out of HS. I'm talking pretty ridiculous here: my gpa for my first ~35 undergrad credits was around 2.2.

I pulled myself together and ended up graduating with a 3.75 overall, 3.8 sciences, and will be finishing a PhD in the next year with a graduate GPA of 3.9. I'm obviously able to handle the course work, and my overall GPA isn't bad. My question is this: should I even address these old grades if given the chance, or should I forget about it and say something only if asked?

This happened to me as well. Imagine how mad I was when I found out that I started college with a 3.3 because a college photography class that I took in HS was forever attached to my transcript.

From what I gather on SDN, adcomms use your cGPA and sGPA to perform initial screenings, and don't look at the specifics of your transcripts until post-secondary/interviews. I would suggest addressing it in your secondaries if at all. IMHO I wouldn't mention it at all since your overall undergrad grades aren't terrible and your PhD GPA is almost perfect.

EDIT: I just read that he is an MD/PhD student...so to whom is he asking this question?

 

[Uisa]

It says that you're a MD/PhD student... to whom do you need to address this to? Aren't you already in med school?

 

[austinap]

Grad student isn't an option, so yeah. I'm a PhD student applying to be a med student. Sorry for the confusion!

 

[plsletmein]

my gpa for my first ~35 undergrad credits was around 2.2.

I pulled myself together and ended up graduating with a 3.75 overall

I did the calculation and you would need around 200 units of 4.0 GPA to go from a 35 unit 2.2 GPA to a 3.75. If you did that then I think it speaks for itself

 

[kingofthehill]

If you pulled off a 3.75 at the end having started out with a 2.2, then you must have kicked some serious ass while in college. I think most med schools will forgive a "funky first year" if your academic record is stellar otherwise, which it sounds like it is in your case. As long as the reason for the original GPA wasn't due to excessive partying (which yours isn't), you should be in good shape. Good luck!

 

[austinap]

I did the calculation and you would need around 200 units of 4.0 GPA to go from a 35 unit 2.2 GPA to a 3.75. If you did that then I think it speaks for itself

That sounds about right. I think I graduated with something like 196 credits, mostly upper div science courses.

 

[YouNeverKnow22]

I have a quick question that I'd like to get a bit of feedback on.

I took some college classes in high school that I did not do well on, and also received bad grades my first ~year out of HS. I'm talking pretty ridiculous here: my gpa for my first ~35 undergrad credits was around 2.2.

I pulled myself together and ended up graduating with a 3.75 overall, 3.8 sciences, and will be finishing a PhD in the next year with a graduate GPA of 3.9. I'm obviously able to handle the course work, and my overall GPA isn't bad. My question is this: should I even address these old grades if given the chance, or should I forget about it and say something only if asked?

wow kudos to your great upward trend