Other OT-Related Information Family problems lead to a rocky semester. Will I be able to defend myself?

[Reddington]

Hey, there!

I was hoping to get some advice on the admission process. This semester, a close family member of mine suffered through some severe illness, and it was quite a stressful time for me, having to juggle between looking after my family and trying to study for my classes. It was to the point that it severely hampered my ability to perform in one of my classes, and long story short, I failed it. Granted, it could've been worse - I managed to take the class P/NP so it didn't affect my GPA, but it aggravates me to see such a black mark on my permanent record.

Being a Californian resident, I was wondering, during the admission process, I will be allowed to explain the reason for the mark? I realize I'm making excuses at this point, but I hope that others could understand that it was a really tough time for me and not because I'm an awful, lazy student or anything. If I could do it all over again, honestly, I'd fail the class again if it meant being there with my family. But for an outside observer, I'd imagine it may not look this way, so I was hoping to get some answers.

Thanks!

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[CaliKnitter]

I'm sorry about your circumstances, but it sounds like you have your priorities straight. I applied and was accepted into Samuel Merritt this year. I told them in my interview about how I had failed my physics final (and thus the class) but I was allowed to re-take the exam, and I passed it the second time. I told them how I felt about the whole thing, why I thought I failed, and the changes I made in order to pass. The feedback I got back about that story was that I had shown a lot of personal insight, and I was a better candidate for having shared it with them.

I think if you address the situation in your personal statement and your interview (if the school conducts interviews), you'll be fine. It would be more of a problem if you don't know why you failed or didn't gain insight from failing. But for family, and for a situation like that, it's something entirely different. Good luck to you!

 

[Confusedandlostone]

Hey, there!

I was hoping to get some advice on the admission process. This semester, a close family member of mine suffered through some severe illness, and it was quite a stressful time for me, having to juggle between looking after my family and trying to study for my classes. It was to the point that it severely hampered my ability to perform in one of my classes, and long story short, I failed it. Granted, it could've been worse - I managed to take the class P/NP so it didn't affect my GPA, but it aggravates me to see such a black mark on my permanent record.

Being a Californian resident, I was wondering, during the admission process, I will be allowed to explain the reason for the mark? I realize I'm making excuses at this point, but I hope that others could understand that it was a really tough time for me and not because I'm an awful, lazy student or anything. If I could do it all over again, honestly, I'd fail the class again if it meant being there with my family. But for an outside observer, I'd imagine it may not look this way, so I was hoping to get some answers.

Thanks!

Did you fail this class during OT school, or are you still planning to apply to OT school with this failed class? A similar situation happened to me while I was in my original OT program, the teacher failed me for my final and as a result I almost failed one of my classes because of it(I still passed the semester). Teachers at my program were not sympathetic because they expect graduate students to handle their personal problems in a mature manner. Now if you are still applying then don't worry, admission committees know that events out of our control happen and sometimes affect our academics. You can explain your grade and what happened when you are interviewed and they will likely understand, however realize that once you are in, most programs are expecting you to push on despite personal events happening because they believe you are emotionally mature enough to do so(just speaking from my experience) .

 

[Reddington]

Thanks for the responses, guys! They've been very helpful!