Explain Bad Grades?

[Ober3]

So my first two years were pretty bad with my science classes and I would like to explain that in my PS. Spinning it in a positive way by explaing how that experience haped me to be who I am and how much my grades improved over the last few years etc.

To DO or NOT to do, that is my question?

Thanks!

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[joonkimdds]

I think it's very hard to make a convincing excuse of getting bad grades.
Unless you have a really good way to convince them, don't do it.
You could only end up stating negative aspects about you in your personal statement and it can hurts you.

 

[Ober3]

But what if you have a dramatic upward trend?

 

[joonkimdds]

For me, I think dramatic upward would just mean you really didn't try even when you could. But I guess people can look at it in different ways.

what would be your reasoning? I think that really matters.

 

[Ober3]

Lack of motivation to study for science classes and excessive extra-curriculars taking up a lot of my time.

 

[joonkimdds]

Maybe you can say that you suddenly decided to become a dentist and that gave you a motivation to start studying harder. At the same time, say that your extra-curricular were very helpful when deciding to become a dentist....etc because otherwise extra curricular is same as having a party.

 

[preOMFS]

Maybe you can say that you suddenly decided to become a dentist and that gave you a motivation to start studying harder. At the same time, say that your extra-curricular were very helpful when deciding to become a dentist....etc because otherwise extra curricular is same as having a party.

I fail to see your logic.

 

[vlct0ria]

I have to agree with joonkimdds...I think adcoms have heard it ALL in terms of explaining poor grades, especially the whole lack of motivation and upward trend thing. In my opinion, don't bring attention to the negatives of your application UNLESS you make it to the interview and are specifically asked about it...at that point, obviously divulge the truth. I think the only time you might come out and explain poor performance would be if you have a serious excuse/reason- ie. you had mono for a month and failed a few classes, a family member died, etc.

 

[sakbar]

actually....when Dr. Healy (VCU admissions dean) came to talk to us last semester. And when he was speaking. And I had a bad semester sophomore year, and he specifically asked that I address it in my personal statement in some small way. Such as "I had a bump along the road in my academic career but have now gone past that to do better and persevere."....he said just avoiding it and not explaining it in some small way would look worse to him.

 

[littlemango]

Well, i havent written or submitted anything but since im in kind of the same situation you are, heres what i would say.
i can say that i didn't have the educational bg to tackle the "big" science courses: i used to be pre-nursing and when i switched to predent it was a lot harder for me... i think that can (for the most part) explain my bad grades pretty well..
then i can put my upward trend in a positive light: i struggled with classess after my switch but i was preseverent, motivated and hard working (you see what i did there) and now i have exelent grades, and i plan on keeping it like that.

its all about how you spin it.
(=

 

[phremius]

I was asked about my ****ty grades and I replied a simple: education happens outside the classroom and classroom grades weren't that high of a priority for me.

I got in to 3 schools, but this was 4 years ago, so who knows what has changed.

 

[Gbrando2]

I had a .24 GPA one of my freshman semesters and 1.XX the other. I basically just said in my PS that I was young and dumb and didn't care about grades or going to class. It's the truth so I felt like I should state it. Leaving those 2 horrible semesters on my app and completely ignoring them would have been a worse idea, IMO. Sure, I didn't have a respectable excuse but they needed to be addressed. Of course, I haven't been accepted anywhere so don't believe anything I say, yet.

 

[flampard]

there is no point of explaining ur past mistakes, they're gonna see all of your grades, and if u started weak and then showed significant improvement, they're gonna take that in consideration. PS is not about grades and other things that they already see in your application, u have to come up with some new stuff that they don't know about u. getting one or two F/D happens to alot of people including myself due to my dumb past, and god has forgiven me for that!

 

[doc toothache]

there is no point of explaining ur past mistakes, they're gonna see all of your grades, and if u started weak and then showed significant improvement, they're gonna take that in consideration. PS is not about grades and other things that they already see in your application, u have to come up with some new stuff that they don't know about u. getting one or two F/D happens to alot of people including myself due to my dumb past, and god has forgiven me for that!

God may have forgiven you but will adcoms?