I did poorly in my undergrad. How can I explain it in the app?

[alasra]

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I went to community college (2 years) and living at home to transferring to a 4 year university (last two years) and moving out on my own. I became severely depressed due to the isolation/inability to meet people and so I stopped going to classes and doing anything. My overall GPA for undergrad is a 3.2 (with a bunch of C's and W's in the last two years).

Right now, I'm finishing up my Master's at a four year university, living out on my own, and doing great. I have a 3.96 overall GPA.

I talked to an admissions counselor at NYU Dental and she said I need to explain the situation in the app. How do I explain my undergrad? I don't want to give the impression that moving to a new city away from my family will cause me to do poorly, because I'm doing fine right now. I was just young and not ready. I was thinking I could say that I had health issues that prevented me from being able to go to class, which is true. Is that a valid explanation? If not, how do I phrase the truth? Thanks!

 

[WaveRace]

I went to community college (2 years) and living at home to transferring to a 4 year university (last two years) and moving out on my own. I became severely depressed due to the isolation/inability to meet people and so I stopped going to classes and doing anything. My overall GPA for undergrad is a 3.2 (with a bunch of C's and W's in the last two years).

Right now, I'm finishing up my Master's at a four year university, living out on my own, and doing great. I have a 3.96 overall GPA.

I talked to an admissions counselor at NYU Dental and she said I need to explain the situation in the app. How do I explain my undergrad? I don't want to give the impression that moving to a new city away from my family will cause me to do poorly, because I'm doing fine right now. I was just young and not ready. I was thinking I could say that I had health issues that prevented me from being able to go to class, which is true. Is that a valid explanation? If not, how do I phrase the truth? Thanks!

The most important thing is showing sustained change, which you have done with your 3.96 GPA in grad school. Be prepared to explain the ug grades in interviews! I've read differing opinions on whether or not to talk about your grades in your PS or on the section addressing academic issues on the AADSAS application. I've read several accounts of people doing neither and getting interviews. If you think about it, an admissions committee member primarily wants to see that you are capable of handling the rigors of a dental school education. With your killer grad GPA (and high DAT?), you are in a good position. If you do decide to talk about it on your application, be honest. Talk about what you have learned from your experience and how you have changed. Perhaps you became more mature and learned to handle adverse life events? I would hesitate to specify depression, because there is still a stigma surrounding it. Maybe leave it at vague "health issues" if you choose to go that route.

 

[alasra]

The most important thing is showing sustained change, which you have done with your 3.96 GPA in grad school. Be prepared to explain the ug grades in interviews! I've read differing opinions on whether or not to talk about your grades in your PS or on the section addressing academic issues on the AADSAS application. I've read several accounts of people doing neither and getting interviews. If you think about it, an admissions committee member primarily wants to see that you are capable of handling the rigors of a dental school education. With your killer grad GPA (and high DAT?), you are in a good position. If you do decide to talk about it on your application, be honest. Talk about what you have learned from your experience and how you have changed. Perhaps you became more mature and learned to handle adverse life events? I would hesitate to specify depression, because there is still a stigma surrounding it. Maybe leave it at vague "health issues" if you choose to go that route.

Thanks for your response! I honestly didn't even know there was a section for that in the app, until the NYU Dental admissions counselor told me about it. I would rather not say anything at all, because there is still a stigma around depression. But I'm glad to know it's fine to be vague about it! I probably won't mention it in my app or PS. If they bring it up in interviews, I can say exactly what you mentioned: it taught me how to overcome adversity, etc.
My DAT scores from last year at 18 AA and 19 TS. I am retaking it this June, so I'm really hoping to bring those scores up to at least a 20 (fingers crossed!).

 

[deleted696582]

How do I explain my undergrad?

I would be honest if you're asked in an interview. I would say that you handled social isolation poorly, suffered situational depression (that's what it sounds like, unless you were diagnosed clinical depression), let your grades slip, and then bounced back. That's pretty obvious with your M.S. GPA right now.

Make it clear you can handle adversity and that you've learned from the rough patch. You said that you're doing great and living alone now, so you must have learned how to handle isolation. Many dentists I've spoken to have said that they've learned so much from failing a patient and picking themselves back up.

I'm not a mental health professional, so if any read this please correct any errors. There's a difference between adjustment disorder with depression (what some consider "situational depression") and major depressive disorder, recurrent episode (what can be considered "clinical depression"). I think that the stigma people bring up is with regard to clinical depression, where people constantly deal with depressive symptoms. If you're uneasy about mentioning depression in a vague way to an admissions committee, you could explain how your dealt with situational depression specifically, and now you're all good and have learned from it.

Side note since this topic interests me: it's sad that any sort of stigma exists these days when we have scientific evidence showing that early losses and trauma, stressful life events, genetics, and fMRI-marked decreased neuronal function all contribute to depression in general.

 

[KoonS]

I went to community college (2 years) and living at home to transferring to a 4 year university (last two years) and moving out on my own. I became severely depressed due to the isolation/inability to meet people and so I stopped going to classes and doing anything. My overall GPA for undergrad is a 3.2 (with a bunch of C's and W's in the last two years).

Right now, I'm finishing up my Master's at a four year university, living out on my own, and doing great. I have a 3.96 overall GPA.

I talked to an admissions counselor at NYU Dental and she said I need to explain the situation in the app. How do I explain my undergrad? I don't want to give the impression that moving to a new city away from my family will cause me to do poorly, because I'm doing fine right now. I was just young and not ready. I was thinking I could say that I had health issues that prevented me from being able to go to class, which is true. Is that a valid explanation? If not, how do I phrase the truth? Thanks!

I was in similar situation as you, it took me 6 years to finish my degree, the first 4 years I think I got 2.5 BCP Gpa and sub 3.0 overall. However, I did surprising well my last two year that increased my gpa up to 3.4 overall and 3.2 BCP. I briefly and be honest explained why I got the GPA I got and move on, just get the message across. During one of my interviews, the interviewers actually praised improvement, my hard work and consistent. So, I think as long as you show improvements, which you did, you should be fine.
B.S I got 4 interviews 1 acceptance to my top 1 school 🙂. and i got super low RC too.

 

[WaveRace]

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[alasra]

I would be honest if you're asked in an interview. I would say that you handled social isolation poorly, suffered situational depression (that's what it sounds like, unless you were diagnosed clinical depression), let your grades slip, and then bounced back. That's pretty obvious with your M.S. GPA right now.

Make it clear you can handle adversity and that you've learned from the rough patch. You said that you're doing great and living alone now, so you must have learned how to handle isolation. Many dentists I've spoken to have said that they've learned so much from failing a patient and picking themselves back up.

I'm not a mental health professional, so if any read this please correct any errors. There's a difference between adjustment disorder with depression (what some consider "situational depression") and major depressive disorder, recurrent episode (what can be considered "clinical depression"). I think that the stigma people bring up is with regard to clinical depression, where people constantly deal with depressive symptoms. If you're uneasy about mentioning depression in a vague way to an admissions committee, you could explain how your dealt with situational depression specifically, and now you're all good and have learned from it.

Side note since this topic interests me: it's sad that any sort of stigma exists these days when we have scientific evidence showing that early losses and trauma, stressful life events, genetics, and fMRI-marked decreased neuronal function all contribute to depression in general.

This was such an awesome and helpful reply! Thank you! That is truly the perfect way to describe what happened and I will definitely be using that if it comes up.

I agree with you. I know so many people who are depressed (situational and clinical as you've described it), but they're afraid to speak out about it or get help. It is such a terrible situation to be in.

 

[alasra]

I was in similar situation as you, it took me 6 years to finish my degree, the first 4 years I think I got 2.5 BCP Gpa and sub 3.0 overall. However, I did surprising well my last two year that increased my gpa up to 3.4 overall and 3.2 BCP. I briefly and be honest explained why I got the GPA I got and move on, just get the message across. During one of my interviews, the interviewers actually praised improvement, my hard work and consistent. So, I think as long as you show improvements, which you did, you should be fine.
B.S I got 4 interviews 1 acceptance to my top 1 school 🙂. and i got super low RC too.

That is inspiring! Thank you! I'm glad that schools are open and forgiving about situations like these. It gives me a lot of hope!