Bad grades due to illness = excuse?

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QuinnTheEskimo

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Well that depends. What were your grades this year (3rd year?) If you were getting C your first and second year and you got As in your third year then i would DEFINITELY tell them about your sickness your 1st two years and how it really effected your ability to study. Has anyone asked you about your grades yet? If so, what have you told them?
 
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If you have had 8 interviews this cycle, there is something in your application that makes adcoms think that you are a reasonable candidate for admission.

Then you choose to lie and claim to have been immature and lacking in direction rather than telling the truth and telling interviewers that you were ill. How's that working out for you?
 
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If you have had 8 interviews this cycle, there is something in your application that makes adcoms think that you are a reasonable candidate for admission. Is it possible that an LOR addresses the struggles you had as an undergrad due to your health?

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Congratulations for your 8 interviews!
You should not say "I was sick" and expect that to be an excuse - I think if someone was undergoing intense chemotherapy but for health insurance purposes couldn't afford to withdraw from school [or some EXTREME situation like that] then maybe. The best thing to do, IMO, would be to be vague and say that you were facing some personal challenges, and exactly as you have said here, at the time you were neither mature nor insightful enough to withdraw from school until these problems were smoothed over. Then, cite recent examples of your strong work to show that these problems are indeed something of the past.

:) baconshrimps


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LizzyM was only trying to help... and I think you should listen to the advice. Telling an interviewer that you were immature is a completely different thing from saying that you got sick and were not mature enough to take time off/deal with the sickness....

Two different things....in this case I think you are airing only part of your dirty laundry in a way that is to your detriment...I think the full story would be much more helpful to an admit committee....

Obviously it is your choice and you know the situation best, but just know that admit committees may make assumptions about the situation that aren't necessarily true, that they wouldn't if you told them the whole story.
 
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LizzyM was only trying to help... and I think you should listen to the advice. Telling an interviewer that you were immature is a completely different thing from saying that you got sick and were not mature enough to take time off/deal with the sickness....

Two different things....in this case I think you are airing only part of your dirty laundry in a way that is to your detriment...I think the full story would be much more helpful to an admit committee....

Obviously it is your choice and you know the situation best, but just know that admit committees may make assumptions about the situation that aren't necessarily true, that they wouldn't if you told them the whole story.

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It's not an excuse if someone asks you "why the poor performance?". Lots of people get sick in college. But, your case DOES raise issue as whether you can make good choices.

My first 2 years of undergrad were awful (sub-3.0). The biggest factor was 2 really bad semester during which I was sick (infectious disease

Your own words in red.


Wait, what? I did not lie, and I resent that accusation. Wow.


I think 2 interviewers have asked about my grades so far, and I just said I was immature and lacked direction blah blah blah. I guess I feel like talking about the illness sounds like too much of an excuse, as if I'm not taking responsibility for my actions.[/quote
]
 
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You have a great future in politics.


Not sure what your point is. Like I said: omitting a detail does not = lying. My text in red is meant to represent a "generic" answer, which is what I gave, without focusing on the specific details of the situation. Immaturity and lack of direction were both part of the equation, and that's what I chose to focus on in the moment, because I didn't want to make excuses to my interviewer. Things like this are not so black-and-white.
 
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Well... That escalated quickly.
 
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I resent being called a "liar" and a "dishonest student." I am neither.
Welcome to the Internet, where everything is made up and opinions don't matter. :) take it easy.
 
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Anytime you focus on how something was not your fault, it is an excuse. There are good excuses and bad excuses, but at the end of the day, it's always best to include ways that YOU could improve your outcome in the future. You will get sick again at some point in your life. Accidents happen, family emergencies are sprung on you. That is life. So yes, explain the circumstances, but also take the time to explain how you will improve from here on.
 
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To be fair, OP, I have a similar strategy in mind for explaining my 2 semesters of poor grades. I won't lie, but I will focus on what I could have done better rather than going into detail about my own particular extenuating circumstances. People often judge others for the situations they find themselves in...and even if they don't, it's not something you want to be remembered by.
 
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Now I've seen it all. OP getting defensive from the opinion of not one, but two, adcom members.

Maybe they're seeing the situation differently than you or you're doing a poor job of portraying what exactly is going on.
 
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Okay, this is getting ridiculous. You don't know anything about me except one post I made on SDN.

I am not a dishonest student, and I will not be a dishonest doctor.

I have only been asked about my grades in 2 interviews. In the first one, I attempted to mention the illness, but it didn't go over well because my interviewer was a poor English speaker and I needed to simplify things quickly/move on.

In my second interview, I was asked about how I "adjusted to college." I talked about my immaturity. In retrospect, I SHOULD have mentioned the illness, not because I am somehow obligated by a covenant of truth to do so, but because I think it would have painted a more complete picture.

I am simply asking if this is something I should bring up. Are you suggesting that students air all of their past mishaps and dirty laundry in the interest of being "honest?" I am sorry, but if that's what constitutes honesty in your book, that is ridiculous. My professional colleagues do not need to know every detail about my past and my private life.

Calm yourself.

You made this thread explaining what happened and asked for input. You got input from two very experienced adcoms based on what you posted.

Personally, if I were interviewing you or reviewing your application and you explained the illness and the drop in grades, I wouldn't view it as an "excuse" or a "lack of maturity" for not withdrawing. It happened, you dealt with it, and by the looks of it, you have a good upward trend. I would actually view someone claiming immaturity as a worse explanation than that they were just ill. If you're comfortable talking about it, it's perfectly fine to talk about the illness in interviews. I've interviewed/seen apps of people who admit to having depression during college, which is a much bigger deal than mono not to mention a much bigger stigma, and they aren't looked down on because of that at all.

tl;dr It's not as big of a deal as you think it is. Talk about it.
 
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Picks fight with 2 adcoms in thread asking how to get adcoms to like them.....awesome
 
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