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I withdrew from five courses in fall of 2010, took spring of 2011 off, and now have the choice of going back with a full courseload this fall 2011 or extending the hiatus until fall 2012. If I return now, I feel I can pull at least a 3.7, but I'm in 6th year already and the point of my delaying my graduation is to boost my GPA. So getting anything less than a 4.0 (or 3.9 at the least) will defeat this purpose. I feel that I have a better chance of proving myself I can get a 4.0 with a full courseload and heavy ECs if I extend the hiatus until next fall to work on my own self-development/problems.
But I'm afraid this extended hiatus will raise eyebrows. I was advised that as long as I give adcoms a good explanation, I'll be okay. But I feel that the more I have to explain away during an interview, the fewer positive aspects of myself the interviewer will have time to hear. Also, even if I explain away something questionable satisfactoryily it will still weigh against me; that is to say that if they questioned it in the first place they will still consider it cause for doubts. Providing satisfactory explanation at that point may merely mitigate the negative impression.
Also, I will only get to explain it really if asked. If they don't ask about it, I can't be sure if they even considered it a cause for concern in the first place. They may, but if they don't then offering an unsolicited explanation for it will cause them to wonder why I'd feel the need to do so. In that case I'm either risking drawing attention to something they hadn't noticed as a negative in the first place and causing them to consider it as such or not mitigating a negative they simply did not get around to questioning.
Thinking about this makes me feel like I should just return with five courses this fall, because if something makes me look marginally worse or questionable in comparison to other enough applicants then it starts me at a disadvantage. So essentially, why would I want to saddle myself with a disadvantage from the get go?
But I'm afraid this extended hiatus will raise eyebrows. I was advised that as long as I give adcoms a good explanation, I'll be okay. But I feel that the more I have to explain away during an interview, the fewer positive aspects of myself the interviewer will have time to hear. Also, even if I explain away something questionable satisfactoryily it will still weigh against me; that is to say that if they questioned it in the first place they will still consider it cause for doubts. Providing satisfactory explanation at that point may merely mitigate the negative impression.
Also, I will only get to explain it really if asked. If they don't ask about it, I can't be sure if they even considered it a cause for concern in the first place. They may, but if they don't then offering an unsolicited explanation for it will cause them to wonder why I'd feel the need to do so. In that case I'm either risking drawing attention to something they hadn't noticed as a negative in the first place and causing them to consider it as such or not mitigating a negative they simply did not get around to questioning.
Thinking about this makes me feel like I should just return with five courses this fall, because if something makes me look marginally worse or questionable in comparison to other enough applicants then it starts me at a disadvantage. So essentially, why would I want to saddle myself with a disadvantage from the get go?
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