Advice on secondaries, how to approach additional information section.

[hellocubed]

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On many of my secondaries, the following question is listed:

If there is anything your application does not include, but that you would like to bring to our attention, please share that.

I have somewhat of a rocky UG trend in which I hit a 3.0 cGPA during the end of my sophmore year, but then raised it to a 3.6 cGPA by the end of my senior year by hitting 4.0s (while taking advanced course loads).
The real reason for this was because I was overly ambitious during my first two years and took on way too much EC responsibilities than I could handle. I learned a lot about myself as a person and became a better student as a result.


I was wondering if I should mention this... or if it would be better to just leave it out because
1.) There is no legitimate excuse. I just F'd up, but learned from my mistakes.
2.) This puts a negative note on my application. I was told here to keep my application positive. I feel like there isn't took much for me to note other than "HEY I'm aware of how I F'd up, but I'm better now!"

 

[CodeBlu]

The adcoms will be able to see this trend. No need to bring up a negative.

 

[Laplace]

The adcoms will be able to see this trend. No need to bring up a negative.

👍 Never bring up negatives, but be prepared to have a good answer if they ask you about it during interviews.

 

[CodeBlu]

👍 Never bring up negatives, but be prepared to have a good answer if they ask you about it during interviews.

I should also mention though for anyone else reading with a similar issue... that you might want to devote a few sentences to it in your personal statement. State briefly why,how, and what you learned. But don't make it a focus of your PS. Just acknowledge it. Spin it positively.

 

[Laplace]

I should also mention though for anyone else reading with a similar issue... that you might want to devote a few sentences to it in your personal statement. State briefly why,how, and what you learned. But don't make it a focus of your PS. Just acknowledge it. Spin it positively.

I actually wouldn't bring it up at all. Or if you must, address it indirectly. For example if you had bad grades freshman year from work commitments and a heavy courseload, just include a sentence where you describe how busy your freshman year was but don't say "I got bad grades BECAUSE of this". You don't want to come off as making excuses.

 

[CodeBlu]

I actually wouldn't bring it up at all. Or if you must, address it indirectly. For example if you had bad grades freshman year from work commitments and a heavy courseload, just include a sentence where you describe how busy your freshman year was but don't say "I got bad grades BECAUSE of this". You don't want to come off as making excuses.

Maybe we disagree here... but I think it should be mentioned at least briefly. For example, if one had an illness, or someone in your family died, or you were on life support or whatever... all are pertinent.

It's fine to word it as such... (I did this and have gotten 5 IIs) "My academics suffered as a result of.... however I learned a valuable lesson. My recent academic performance is more indicative of my true ability."