anyone explain poor gpa?

[kootz]

Did anyone use the explanation area to explain and less than perfect GPA (we're talking a 3.0 here) and have success?

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[twelvetigers]

What would you say?

 

[zeebra44]

What would you say?

Yeah, I think it really depends on what you would say.

 

[oregonhopeful]

I talked about a less than stellar GPA - but my GPA was dragged down by (mainly) two terms that were bad because I was a bad student. And I said that. Then I said that I learned from my mistakes, and referenced the next year and a half where I improved and maintained nearly a 4.0 with an equally hard schedule.

(I think I also included a sentence about a commute and a farm job taking up a ton of my time - in reference to how I improved despite these obligations)

The thing is you can't be making excuses. Say why it happened, if you learned and being able to point to proof that you did learn.

 

[twelvetigers]

Have you improved dramatically, or was it just a bad semester or year?

 

[eventualeventer]

I think the most important thing is to show that you have improved dramatically (if it was early on) and/or that it was due to a fluke not consistent with the rest of your record showing your ability to handle tough course loads and/or that it was due to exceptional, extenuating circumstances (if this is true) if it happened recently. If you have an overall mediocre or inconsistent record, I think it will be harder to make a convincing argument that you are ready for the rigors of vet school, and it might be worth staying in college for an extra year to show that you can rock a full-time courseload and get good grades.

I had a 3.28 when I applied; it clearly hurt me at a number of schools but most of that was from a crappy year with mostly C's. I don't remember exactly what I said in my explanation statement (and, of course, I can't find the document where I saved it), but I mentioned that I had some medical issues that year (true) and I'm pretty sure I also pointed out that my cumulative GPA would be in the 3.6 range if you calculated it without that year, leaving them to infer that this was an aberration and not indicative of my overall ability to succeed under a heavy course load. It worked for me in that I got in but I had other things in my favor (strong interest in equine and research with thousands of hours of vet experience and hundreds of hours of research experience and really strong GRE) and I still only got outright accepted at 1 school (which I almost didn't apply to) out of 9 that I applied to, with 2 other schools pulling me off the waitlist. You can see my overall stats on the accepted applicants thread.

 

[Willowhand]

One of my semesters has a 3.0 gpa, largely due to an uncontrollable circumstance that ended in the permanent loss of many of my belongings -including my class notes- mid-semester. I had been taking Gen Chem I at the time, and this setback made it difficult to do well the second semester of chemistry, which also ultimately lowered my cumulative gpa. I explained the circumstances in the appropriate VMCAS box, and I also talked about how I had worked to overcome the setback: how I worked hard over the summer to fill in Gen Chem gaps, and went on to do well in organic and biochem, as evidenced by excellent grades in those courses.

Based on comments from a few of my interviewers, I think writing the explanation statement paid off. I would definitely recommend it as long as you have since shown improvement and can perhaps discuss something you learned or a new strength you gained from the experience.

 

[twelvetigers]

I can't really explain mine, so I don't think I'll even try. It would just end up sounding like an excuse if I tried, I'm pretty sure.

 

[Whyevernot55]

I can't really explain mine, so I don't think I'll even try. It would just end up sounding like an excuse if I tried, I'm pretty sure.

Ditto. Sucks for those of us with like, 7 years of undergrad grades. My best defense is probably just to get as MUCH experience as possible, and the fact that I have really amazing, killer eLORs.

 

[twelvetigers]

Seven years is exactly what I'll end up with! Haha not much changing a GPA with that many hours. Le sigh.

 

[crittergal]

I had success with it, although I'll never know whether it was the explanation statement that sealed the deal, or more likely, a cumulative effect.

At application I had ~2.50 cumulative GPA, so certainly has some 'splaining to do. In the first half of my statement I openly addressed the reasons behind my poor performance, being especially careful not to sound like I was making excuses. Second half was spent drawing the adcom's attention to my improvements since the poor performance and what I gained from the experience. I firmly believe one can gain something from every experience, no matter how good or bad.

I would say if you have something worth saying, write it. Unless you sound like you're making excuses or just drawing attention to your weak area, what can it hurt?

 

[ckgilabert]

i think geequd (cant remember how to spell her online name, but she's at davis now) made a packet of information and my essay is in there. i'm PRETTY sure that my explanation essay is there also. i did poorly, i talked about why, and then at the end i talked about how i was minoring in microbiology and that my upper division gpa was over a 3.5 and the same for my science gpa.

good luck!

 

[ckd816]

i think geequd (cant remember how to spell her online name, but she's at davis now) made a packet of information and my essay is in there. i'm PRETTY sure that my explanation essay is there also. i did poorly, i talked about why, and then at the end i talked about how i was minoring in microbiology and that my upper division gpa was over a 3.5 and the same for my science gpa.

good luck!

Just butting in to say that I have that packet and I checked for the explanation statement but it isn't there. There are two wonderful examples of personal statements in there though for anyone who is interested.

 

[fishbones]

Hi ckd816,

If you could post those example PSs somewhere, I'd be forever grateful! orz

 

[nyanko]

I wrote about my poor undergrad grades in my explanation statement. I'm not sure whether or not it made a difference.

 

[sumstorm]

I had a consistent mediocre GPA throughout undergrad. I wrote about my school's prohibition against grade inflation, my working 40+ hrs a week, and that I completed honors & our top students did NOT have 4.0s. I pointed out that my gpa a decade later in upper sciences is a 4.0 & that I would not need to work during vet school.

 

[PrimalMU]

I think that if you are going to make an excuse for low grades, then you shouldn't. However, if you have an actual explanation then it might be prudent to touch on it in your explanation section. Chances are if you get an interview they'll ask you about it anyway, so it won't hurt to start thinking of how you'll explain it now. I know they asked me about my poor freshman GPA (3.03) in my interview at Mississippi.

 

[kootz]

What would you say?

perhaps id talk about how i was obsessed with running xc and it took over my life in more ways than one?? that i was out of balance with school and running and life?? or is that too wimpy.

 

[luplodw]

perhaps id talk about how i was obsessed with running xc and it took over my life in more ways than one?? that i was out of balance with school and running and life?? or is that too wimpy.

I kind of think this sounds like you are making excuses. If you do talk about running...i'd say something about how you didn't prioritize what was most important in your life and now you have come to the realization of what you most want out of life or something like that. Just saying that you became obsessed with xc that took up too much of your time isn't a good enough answer

 

[david594]

perhaps id talk about how i was obsessed with running xc and it took over my life in more ways than one?? that i was out of balance with school and running and life?? or is that too wimpy.

And then your senior year you realized your priorities were all out of wack so you quit the team to throw yourself 100% into your academics and had a 4.0 for that whole year?

The explanation isn't going to be worth that much unless you demonstrated that you corrected the issue. Otherwise you doing cross country is no different than the kid who sat in his dorm room and played warcraft all day every day.

 

[Jamr0ckin]

For Tennessee, I know that the interviewers do not see your GPA or GRE scores. Dean Brace says don't bring it up because they have no access to your grades. If you have a lower GPA (mine is 3.24) do I say anything about it if I have a true reason? TN is my IS school, so that is where I'm banking on getting in. I just don't know what to do...

 

[BlacKAT33]

IMO- dont write about your GPA in the explanation statement, a sport is not a reason for bad grades just an excuse

David- WOW (the acronym) that is true though.

 

[nyanko]

Hey there is a huge difference between Warcraft and World of Warcraft!

The former is a strategy game that requires actual thought and problem solving skills and the latter is a glorified online networking service for obsessive nerds where success is measured by how much of a life you don't have to be able to sit and grind on it for hours and hours.

 

[StartingoverVet]

IMO, the "explanation" should always show you in a positive light... kind of like the old what is your weakness question on interviews that you end up making sound like a strength.

In my explanation of a "lower" GPA, I mentioned that my teaching responsibilities the last 3 quarters (before my bachelor degree was awarded) were the cause of my precipitous drop in GPA because I felt that when there was a conflict between my classes and my students I felt a responsibility to put my students needs first.

In this way, I showed how my priorities were not screwed up, and that I made a well thought out moral decision at the time. I recommend trying something like that.

 

[BlacKAT33]

Hey there is a huge difference between Warcraft and World of Warcraft!

The former is a strategy game that requires actual thought and problem solving skills and the latter is a glorified online networking service for obsessive nerds where success is measured by how much of a life you don't have to be able to sit and grind on it for hours and hours.

haha sryyy i didnt even notice i just skimmed the responses before i wrote mine

 

[fishbones]

Kootz, in your case I wouldn't put in an explanation unless you showed improvement.

As for myself: My GPA is not that stellar either but I have no intention of explaining why on my application. When I was younger, I had an anxiety disorder that affected my sleeping patterns. I wasn't treated until senior year in high school, and had difficulty maintaining a "normal" sleeping schedule until spring semester, senior year in college.

This is something I'd rather not bring to the adcom's attentions, since there is no true medical reason behind my difficulties falling asleep at the right times (I just happen to associate "sleeping at night" very strongly with the irrational feeling that "bad things will happen" if I do).

 

[kootz]

I kind of think this sounds like you are making excuses. If you do talk about running...i'd say something about how you didn't prioritize what was most important in your life and now you have come to the realization of what you most want out of life or something like that. Just saying that you became obsessed with xc that took up too much of your time isn't a good enough answer

I developed an eating disorder which rolled into depression. My grades slipped to a 3.0 sophomore and junior year and then jumped to a 3.5 senior year.

I'm not planning on using this as an excuse- but it does explain why I slipped. Also I don't want admin to judge me on what I feel is a character flaw on my behalf (not making generalizations about others- I just see myself as being weak for falling off the edge)

 

[annemal22]

I had a file review with Mississippi and they told me that I should explain some of my poor grades in the explanation statement and how I have changed so it won't happen again. They told me that if I leave it out, then the grades just speak for themselves. I had 2 D's in one semester because there was a traumatic event involving a family member. This really affected me, and I was advised to take the semester off from undergrad. But I was determined to graduate on time. So I told the admin that I was a stronger person because of what I went through and I was proud that in that situation I continued with school and kept on working my job as well. My grades did suffer, but the admin said it was important to mention this. So I would take certain illnesses into consideration when having reasoning for poor grades/GPA.

 

[Minnerbelle]

I developed an eating disorder which rolled into depression. My grades slipped to a 3.0 sophomore and junior year and then jumped to a 3.5 senior year.

I'm not planning on using this as an excuse- but it does explain why I slipped. Also I don't want admin to judge me on what I feel is a character flaw on my behalf (not making generalizations about others- I just see myself as being weak for falling off the edge)

I'm sorry to hear you had a rough time. I do agree that unless you feel comfortable talking about it, then it's best not to put it on your apps. One advice I heard from an advisor before about mental health issues (even if it's resolved or under control) is that you would be taking a risk putting it down. That though mental health awareness has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, you never know who is going to be reading your apps and what their biases are (conscious or not). There's a chance you'll have a person who reading it who will be empathetic, and a chance you'll have a person who might stigmatize it. If you really think it might help you, then by all means go for it, but it sounds like you're not personally comfortable talking about it... and it's just never a good idea to write about anything you're comfortable coming up in an interview. That being said though, don't be so hard on yourself! Mental health issues =/= character flaw IMHO.

Do you have a lot to say about your senior year in terms of what you did to correct your problems and stay on top of your school work? Did you take a tougher course load? Were you able to ace difficult courses? Do you have LORs from these courses? If you have good things to say about senior year, and how that is more indicative of what you're capable of (and is likely to be how you will perform in vet school), then you can write about that. You can be very brief about doing poorly prior to that. You don't even need a bunch of excuse if you don't want them. You can even be vague and call it "time management issues," which was the advice I was given. I personally wouldn't say it was because of cross country because that would show that you made the choice not to prioritize academics when you didn't scale back on your extracurriculars after one or two bad semesters. Bad first-year is forgivable because it's an adjustment period, but a bad 3 year streak due to sports doesn't sound good.

Anyhoos, good luck!

 

[moosenanny]

For Tennessee, I know that the interviewers do not see your GPA or GRE scores. Dean Brace says don't bring it up because they have no access to your grades. If you have a lower GPA (mine is 3.24) do I say anything about it if I have a true reason? TN is my IS school, so that is where I'm banking on getting in. I just don't know what to do...

Are you asking about saying something in the explanation statement area, or in an interview??? As far as the interview, I would definitely NOT bring it up if they're not gonna see it. Even at schools where they do see your grades and scores, I wouldn't say anything unless they do first (obviously be prepared, but don't go out of your way to mention anything).

And please don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't "bank" on getting into any school, even your IS. Even people with 4.0's and other great accomplishments get rejected from OOS and IS schools each year. Just don't be too cocky because you might be surprised just how grueling and random this process is.

 

[Jamr0ckin]

Are you asking about saying something in the explanation statement area, or in an interview??? As far as the interview, I would definitely NOT bring it up if they're not gonna see it. Even at schools where they do see your grades and scores, I wouldn't say anything unless they do first (obviously be prepared, but don't go out of your way to mention anything).

And please don't take this the wrong way, but I wouldn't "bank" on getting into any school, even your IS. Even people with 4.0's and other great accomplishments get rejected from OOS and IS schools each year. Just don't be too cocky because you might be surprised just how grueling and random this process is.

I'm asking about the explanation area because don't they see that? My interviewers (at UTK) have asked me about something put in the explanation area in years past.

I didn't take it the wrong way,because I wasn't clear in my post. This is my 3rd time applying and while I'm going to try OOS again, I do think because my GPA is lower my best chance is IS so that is what I meant by that, sorry. At this point my confidence is completely shot so I am so far from cocky...

 

[heylodeb]

Hey there is a huge difference between Warcraft and World of Warcraft!

The former is a strategy game that requires actual thought and problem solving skills and the latter is a glorified online networking service for obsessive nerds where success is measured by how much of a life you don't have to be able to sit and grind on it for hours and hours.

LOL. I have a maxed level character in WOW - it's what my husband and I do together because we're too poor to go out and do anything exciting. and I managed to graduate with honors, train my horse, and keep my friends. So not all of us are complete losers. And it takes incredible skill to push those buttons in a special order.

FOR THE HORDE!!!!

*picks up post and puts it back on the rails*

as for the GPA issue - I think what I have seen over and over on this forum is that the people with low GPA's tend to have FANTASTIC experiences. Either a whole lot of hours or very unique experiences. Generally.

 

[zeebra44]

LOL. I have a maxed level character in WOW - it's what my husband and I do together because we're too poor to go out and do anything exciting. and I managed to graduate with honors, train my horse, and keep my friends. So not all of us are complete losers. And it takes incredible skill to push those buttons in a special order.

FOR THE HORDE!!!!

*picks up post and puts it back on the rails*

as for the GPA issue - I think what I have seen over and over on this forum is that the people with low GPA's tend to have FANTASTIC experiences. Either a whole lot of hours or very unique experiences. Generally.

Ahaha, it does take skill! I used to play FFxi..not really a WOW fan, sorry. But I still managed to get accepted to veterinary school and keep my friends, had to quit the game Junior year of college though (my grades were slipping a bit).

 

[heylodeb]

Ahaha, it does take skill! I used to play FFxi..not really a WOW fan, sorry. But I still managed to get accepted to veterinary school and keep my friends, had to quit the game Junior year of college though (my grades were slipping a bit).

lol. yes - I have indeed taken some breaks in order to help out the GPA - school/getting into vet school always go first! but it's a whole lot of fun while I sit around working and waiting to get into vet school....'sidez my avatar is MUCH prettier than myself in real life.

 

[Llama Slug]

I can't really explain mine, so I don't think I'll even try. It would just end up sounding like an excuse if I tried, I'm pretty sure.

Thats the same boat I was in TT, my undergrad grades are pretty inconsistent (lots of ups and downs) and overall, not very impressive. Mostly it was immaturity and a lack of focus. I didn't write an explanation statement on the main app but if supps specifically asked I explained that I had some growing up to do and that since undergrad i've done that .

Mostly i just tried to make all the non- GPA aspects of my application as perfect as possible since raising my GPA substantially was going to be impossible.

 

[squibby]

perhaps id talk about how i was obsessed with running xc and it took over my life in more ways than one??

I'm wondering if I am the only one who knew what you were really talking about in this first post.

This is copied and pasted directly from my PS last year: "Midway through college I switched my major from biology to a focus in the humanities to free up time and energy to recover from an eating disorder. I told myself that if it was meant to be, I could always go back to school for the sciences."

I applied to four schools. In only one file review (Illinois) was it mentioned, and I was told that it was actually good, because they like to see that you have life experiences. Being there, and recovering was seen as a positive attribute. All of the schools said my PS was well-written, so it seems they didn't take issue with it.

However, this was 10 years ago now, so I am well-recovered. If it is more recent, it might look more risky from their side to "invest" in you, (which I believe is true, you will need to be solid in your recovery to make it through vet school). Now, this was in my PS, so it wasn't to explain poor grades, only to explain why I got an unrelated degree before going back to do prerequisites 4 years later.

I hope this helps. I really don't think they expect any of us to be perfect. IMO the more you've lived life, the better you will be able to handle big challenges.