Explaining very poor UG performance during interview?

[MDDO112]

I'm prepping for some interviews, thinking about how I want to spin things, and I was wondering what "strategy" I should take when discussing my very poor undergraduate performance.

I'm a nontrad applicant whose original career path was in engineering (attended one of the grade-deflated UC's). I did not take any courses related to biology/chemistry. My undergraduate transcript is a 4.5 years worth of mess consisting of low Cs, Bs, and 4 NP's (No Pass) and one F. I took about a third of my units Pass/No Pass. Since then, I took about 75-80 semester units worth of post-bacc coursework in Bio/Chem including prereqs and upper div. coursework, and maintained a 4.0. I also got a 520 on the MCAT. My UG GPA was a 2.7, and my combined post-bacc GPA is a 3.2 (3.4 science).

My honest answer to my UG performance is that I genuinely hated the subject matter I studied, and being the immature, fearful student I was back then I didn't have the guts to switch out earlier to premed due to sunk cost fallacy.

I'm guessing it's always better to be bluntly honest about these things, right? I don't want my reasons to sound like an excuse, like "oh poor me, I studied what I didn't enjoy and couldn't motivate myself," but the truthful answer is that I was an immature, scared idiot. Is a lack of passion and motivation a good enough reason for a poor UG performance if it is truthful, and I have good post-bacc performance to back up these claims? Thank you.

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[chemdoctor]

I think you could turn it around. Make it sound like you already did and then talk about an instance that made you passionate about it, how you’ve grown etc.

Trust me. With your MCAT score, you should be fine.

@Goro can weigh in.

 

[Med Ed]

I'm prepping for some interviews, thinking about how I want to spin things, and I was wondering what "strategy" I should take when discussing my very poor undergraduate performance.

I'm a nontrad applicant whose original career path was in engineering (attended one of the grade-deflated UC's). I did not take any courses related to biology/chemistry. My undergraduate transcript is a 4.5 years worth of mess consisting of low Cs, Bs, and 4 NP's (No Pass) and one F. I took about a third of my units Pass/No Pass. Since then, I took about 75-80 semester units worth of post-bacc coursework in Bio/Chem including prereqs and upper div. coursework, and maintained a 4.0. I also got a 520 on the MCAT. My UG GPA was a 2.7, and my combined post-bacc GPA is a 3.2 (3.4 science).

My honest answer to my UG performance is that I genuinely hated the subject matter I studied, and being the immature, fearful student I was back then I didn't have the guts to switch out earlier to premed due to sunk cost fallacy.

I'm guessing it's always better to be bluntly honest about these things, right? I don't want my reasons to sound like an excuse, like "oh poor me, I studied what I didn't enjoy and couldn't motivate myself," but the truthful answer is that I was an immature, scared idiot. Is a lack of passion and motivation a good enough reason for a poor UG performance if it is truthful, and I have good post-bacc performance to back up these claims? Thank you.

Honesty is the best policy here. If I looked at your transcript (non-trad with 4.5 years of mess followed by 4.0/520) it's not exactly a mystery as to what happened. You're a smart lad who grew up.

Don't bring this up on your own in an interview. But if it comes up just be ready to say what happened. Your post-bacc record and MCAT speak for themselves.

 

[Pagan FutureDoc]

Honesty is the best policy here. If I looked at your transcript (non-trad with 4.5 years of mess followed by 4.0/520) it's not exactly a mystery as to what happened. You're a smart lad who grew up.

Don't bring this up on your own in an interview. But if it comes up just be ready to say what happened. Your post-bacc record and MCAT speak for themselves.

Agreed.
Don’t draw attention to blemishes on your application.
Do have well thought out answers explaining them if they get brought up.

 

[chemdoctor]

Honesty is the best policy here. If I looked at your transcript (non-trad with 4.5 years of mess followed by 4.0/520) it's not exactly a mystery as to what happened. You're a smart lad who grew up.

Don't bring this up on your own in an interview. But if it comes up just be ready to say what happened. Your post-bacc record and MCAT speak for themselves.

Man... a 520 MCAT. That’s incredible OP! Trust me. Your bad, EARLY UG performance isn’t going to hold you back.

Some of us are trying to crack a 509 xD

Again, great job OP. I’m no adcom but your MCAT and post bacc do indeed speak for themselves

 

[LizzyM]

Most of us interviewers will make the assumption that Med Ed made and we'll find more interesting things to talk about. Don't give it another thought.

 

[jarednogeek]

if they expect more than 1-2 sentences about it I'd be surprised. your record speaks for itself