Had One Bad/Tough Semester - How to Explain it and Jumping Back?

[RenegadeDoctor]

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Hi everyone!
(Happy New Year, hope you all had great holidays!)

I'm at an ivy league college (one of the HYP) and, plain and simple, I had a rough fall semester whilst taking a not-so-demanding course-load. Before the semester began, I was sitting on a 3.78 GPA with a sGPA around 3.6-3.7.
For anyone interested, it was: B+ in Evolutionary Bio, B+ in Intro Neuroscience, A- in Gen Chem lab (took the lecture last semester) and a B in Intro Psychology.

I'm being honest when I say I had a very rough time personally and went through some serious depression (didn't see a professional or anything, which only compounded it) due to being outed by my best friend and my family finding out. It's something I've never dealt with (and never wanted to) and when this happened my whole world kind of turned upside down.

So now I'm sitting with a 3.66 overall. What I'm concerned about is the complete dip in my sophomore year. I also did 4 classes abroad over the summer (4 credits) and so changing my GPA will be much harder moving forward with more difficult classes. I'm also an international student, which of course compounds everything lol.

I'm not using my personal issues as an excuse for my performance - I let something affect me so negatively that I dropped the ball on my academics, but I sincerely would love any advice on others who may have had a bad semester on how to bounce back and still be competitive to top schools (which are the only schools I can realistically apply to).

Thank you so much!

 

[nymd22]

You're fine.

 

[Kingsmen2018]

bruh

 

[Goro]

Hi everyone!
(Happy New Year, hope you all had great holidays!)

I'm a sophomore at an ivy league college (one of the HYP) and, plain and simple, I had a rough fall semester whilst taking a not-so-demanding course-load. Before the semester began, I was sitting on a 3.78 GPA with a sGPA around 3.6-3.7.
For anyone interested, it was: B+ in Evolutionary Bio, B+ in Intro Neuroscience, A- in Gen Chem lab (took the lecture last semester) and a B in Intro Psychology.

I'm being honest when I say I had a very rough time personally and went through some serious depression (didn't see a professional or anything, which only compounded it) due to being outed by my best friend and my family finding out. It's something I've never dealt with (and never wanted to) and when this happened my whole world kind of turned upside down.

So now I'm sitting with a 3.66 overall. What I'm concerned about is the complete dip in my sophomore year. I also did 4 classes abroad over the summer (4 credits) and so changing my GPA will be much harder moving forward with more difficult classes. I'm also an international student, which of course compounds everything lol.

I'm not using my personal issues as an excuse for my performance - I let something affect me so negatively that I dropped the ball on my academics, but I sincerely would love any advice on others who may have had a bad semester on how to bounce back and still be competitive to top schools (which are the only schools I can realistically apply to).

Thank you so much!

*sigh* A 3.7 -> 3.6 is NOT a bad semester. Please stop trying to be perfect, and a dip in grades as a loss of face.

i'm very sorry to hear of your woes, but do get some counseling. Med school is a furnace.

So how tdo explain it if asked? You tell the truth! Again, this is NOT a sign of weakness or a loss of face.

 

[Lemonlime98]

Fellow sophomore here from possibly the same college. I'm in the same situation with the grade dip fall semester. From what I heard from other premeds, this is pretty common, and one bad semester shouldn't be an issue if followed by a good one. You didn't make any C's or the like, so there's nothing to explain to adcoms. Enjoy the rest of break!

 

[TelemarketingEnigma]

You’re fine. For reference, I had a semester worse than that (3.23 for that semester, with every other semester 3.7+) and nobody has asked me about it at any of my interviews. The only times it has come up at all were when I volunteered it (there were other life happenings that semester that I mention in response to greatest challenge questions) but even then the interviewers didn’t seem to worry about that dip in the slightest.

Do better next semester and this dip may not even be apparent on your application (AMCAS shows GPA by year, not semester)

 

[LizzyM]

We only see GPA by academic year, not by term, so this is not likely to register on our radar. Furthermore, almost everyone has a dip in sophomore year so it generally comes as no surprise and is not a cause for concern.

Do get some help if you find yourself with mental health issues that could benefit from professional help. What you went through is difficult and I'm sorry you had to go through it but the real test is how you bounce back from such an ordeal.

 

[Insert Member Name Here]

@RegenadeDoctor Have you considered that you became depressed over a family issue because you place emphasis on external social acceptance factors? E.g. family respect, good grades, and Ivy League status. This is not to say that none of those things are yummy, but perhaps you are burning yourself out and need to reassess how you value your priorities.

 

[HomeSkool]

Have you considered that you became depressed over a family issue because you place emphasis on external social acceptance factors?

I echo this, and I'd like to know why you made this statement:

top schools (which are the only schools I can realistically apply to).

Please fill in the details on that. (I'm pretty sure I know the answer but I want you to confirm it.)

 

[Goro]

and still be competitive to top schools (which are the only schools I can realistically apply to).

I missed this, and this is also a red flag. Are you under family pressure to get into a Top School? Do your parents have a Harvard or Bust mentality? Is is this self induced. In either of these, you are displaying some very unrealistic, almost hubristic thinking. What if the only school that you can get into is Drexel or Albany?

 

[LizzyM]

I missed this, and this is also a red flag. Are you under family pressure to get into a Top School? Do your parents have a Harvard or Bust mentality? Is is this self induced. In either of these, you are displaying some very unrealistic, almost hubristic thinking. What if the only school that you can get into is Drexel or Albany?

International students are very limited in schools that are realistic options. Not sure if Drexel and Albany are friendly to internationals.

 

[Goro]

International students are very limited in schools that are realistic options. Not sure if Drexel and Albany are friendly to internationals.

14 DO schools are!

 

[RenegadeDoctor]

Hi guys, thank you all so much for replying, you've been very helpful. Obviously things just kept adding up this semester. Thanks for the sympathetic comments, but I know there are applicants so much worse off than what I went through this semester. I know I can move on next semester from this, its just having it happen is sophomore year sucked and I didn't know how to deal with it.

I missed this, and this is also a red flag. Are you under family pressure to get into a Top School? Do your parents have a Harvard or Bust mentality? Is is this self induced. In either of these, you are displaying some very unrealistic, almost hubristic thinking. What if the only school that you can get into is Drexel or Albany?

I echo this, and I'd like to know why you made this statement:

Please fill in the details on that. (I'm pretty sure I know the answer but I want you to confirm it.)

As @LizzyM stated, it is simply because I'm not a US citizen. I also come from a very modest background financially (on a very large amount of financial aid here as an undergrad) so I cannot afford to pay for any medical school that demands upfront tuition, and so the colleges that 1) accept intl students and 2) offer any kind of aid/help are very limited, and are mainly comprised of the best medical schools.

Thanks again so much guys