If disadvantage statement explains bad grade(s), should personal statement also?

[Gauss44]

I have a student who is submitting a disadvantage statement that explains why his grades dropped for a year in college. Should his personal statement also explain that?

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[GodComplex]

You mean in the section where he states if and why he wants to be considered a disadvantaged applicant? This probably isn't the section where you want to explain a year of bad grades. It was my understanding when applying that the disadvantaged status was due to hardships throughout one's life (mostly years 0-18). For example, financial hardships, parents without an education, abusive family situations, you had to work as an adolescent to support your family, etc.

If what happened to cause the bad grades is significant to the applicant then this is probably better addressed in the personal statement.


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[Gauss44]

You mean in the section where he states if and why he wants to be considered a disadvantaged applicant? This probably isn't the section where you want to explain a year of bad grades. It was my understanding when applying that the disadvantaged status was due to hardships throughout one's life (mostly years 0-18). For example, financial hardships, parents without an education, abusive family situations, you had to work as an adolescent to support your family, etc.

If what happened to cause the bad grades is significant to the applicant then this is probably better addressed in the personal statement.


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Really? My understanding was that a disadvantage statement was suppose to be about how disadvantages from back when the applicant was 0-18 years old impacted their performance in college.

An example of that would be, "My family was so poor that I couldn't afford college textbooks, a winter coat (and kept getting sick), or housing and got evicted during finals week. I was a first generation college student and had no clue that some colleges cost less and give students more money, so I was going to one where they didn't give me enough money to eat or live properly...."

 

[Goro]

I find that no matter how these are written, they come across as excuses.

Save explanations for secondary prompts that specifically ask for this sort of thing.

Save the PS for "Why Medicine? and "Who Am I?"

I have a student who is submitting a disadvantage statement that explains why his grades dropped for a year in college. Should his personal statement also explain that?

 

[Gauss44]

bump

 

[NickNaylor]

I agree with @Goro's point. I wouldn't mention it. At some point you need to put on your big boy/girl pants and figure out how life works. I really wouldn't make that the focal point of the disadvantaged section - or, really, even mention it at all.

 

[hoihaie]

never use PS to explain bad grades.

UNLESS your reasons for med school is somethign along the lines of "pulling myself out of bad grades gave me a very rewarding experience and I believe the lessons I learned from this will allow me to be a great physician that also pulls patients out of their bad health grades."

 

[f4reignbeauty]

A disadvantaged statement can detail socioeconomic or educational hardship, but it can be spun into a story of triumph.

When I wrote my statement, I looked at it as another way to add to my overall story. Not to make excuses for why I did not do well.

 

[Petrichor1]

I find that no matter how these are written, they come across as excuses.

Save explanations for secondary prompts that specifically ask for this sort of thing.

Save the PS for "Why Medicine? and "Who Am I?"

I agree that these disadvantaged statements kind of act as excuses but it would be a good thing to insert when you are at the interview trying to humanize your essay and resume. Not everyone is priviledged and I feel that for how much trouble some students go through attaining their education, it would be important to inform and explain how you have molded your community through those experiences. However, by no means should you come across your interviewer with a sob story.

 

[LizLemongrab]

I think most people like the redemption narrative. I wouldn't advise addressing bad grades directly in the PS or disadvantaged section.

If you want help with this kind of thing, I'm happy to do so. I wrote one for dental school admission precisely because I thought it would be important to contextualize my achievements, motivations, charitable efforts through a more fleshed out backstory.

 

[SPionic]

I see what everyone means about not appearing to make excuses, but I do think that using the disadvantaged section to highlight 'distance traveled' might make sense for a first gen college student. 'I had to learn how to study at the collegiate level while supporting myself....I dealt with homelessness during finals week...I eventually learned how to balance these demands and excel in an environment where most of my peers had more guidance and support from their families.' The point shouldn't be excuses...it should be underlining the assets someone with those experiences adds to a medical school class.
BTW, one of those assets is sympathy for people who have had less luck in life. I see so much disdain for the poor among privileged med students/premeds.

 

[NickNaylor]

I see what everyone means about not appearing to make excuses, but I do think that using the disadvantaged section to highlight 'distance traveled' might make sense for a first gen college student. 'I had to learn how to study at the collegiate level while supporting myself....I dealt with homelessness during finals week...I eventually learned how to balance these demands and excel in an environment where most of my peers had more guidance and support from their families.' The point shouldn't be excuses...it should be underlining the assets someone with those experiences adds to a medical school class.
BTW, one of those assets is sympathy for people who have had less luck in life. I see so much disdain for the poor among privileged med students/premeds.

The problem is that on a platform like SDN, the advice being dispensed should be generalized because there will inevitably be people in the future who come across these threads when looking for their own advice. I would agree that highlighting "distance traveled," as you put it, is a worthwhile goal and would likely add significantly to someone's application. But there's a fine line between "distance traveled" and "whining," and there's a risk of people trying to make a "distance traveled" narrative out of things that really suggest nothing of the sort. Both of those things are bad ideas and will serve an applicant poorly, thus advice given here should be nuanced to account for those possibilities.

As far as "disdain for the poor," I have seen none of that in this thread. What I have seen is a realistic view of what the application process looks like.

 

[SPionic]

The problem is that on a platform like SDN, the advice being dispensed should be generalized because there will inevitably be people in the future who come across these threads when looking for their own advice. I would agree that highlighting "distance traveled," as you put it, is a worthwhile goal and would likely add significantly to someone's application. But there's a fine line between "distance traveled" and "whining," and there's a risk of people trying to make a "distance traveled" narrative out of things that really suggest nothing of the sort. Both of those things are bad ideas and will serve an applicant poorly, thus advice given here should be nuanced to account for those possibilities.

As far as "disdain for the poor," I have seen none of that in this thread. What I have seen is a realistic view of what the application process looks like.

I can definitely see your point about letting general advice erring on the side of caution. As far as my last comment, I was thinking of comments I've heard IRL and elsewhere on SDN that reminded me that kids from low-income or non-educated families are a minority in medicine, and can bring a valuable perspective. Didn't mean for that to come across as negative!

 

[LizzyM]

never use PS to explain bad grades.

UNLESS your reasons for med school is somethign along the lines of "pulling myself out of bad grades gave me a very rewarding experience and I believe the lessons I learned from this will allow me to be a great physician that also pulls patients out of their bad health grades."

No. Just no to the highlighted portion.

Never use the PS to explain bad grades is absolutely the right advice.

Use the disadvantaged section to paint a picture of your situation from 0-18 that might have placed you behind your classmates by the time you arrived in college or that delayed your attending college. Eg: you were the third child born to a 19 year old woman with a 10th grade education. Your father was incarcerated when you were born and you met him only once before he died of HIV when you were 10. You were close to dropping out of school at 16 when a counselor at school directed you to an after school program for at risk students. You entered the Marine Corps after HS graduation and went on to complete college after discharge from the military.

 

[hoihaie]

No. Just no to the highlighted portion.

Never use the PS to explain bad grades is absolutely the right advice.

Use the disadvantaged section to paint a picture of your situation from 0-18 that might have placed you behind your classmates by the time you arrived in college or that delayed your attending college. Eg: you were the third child born to a 19 year old woman with a 10th grade education. Your father was incarcerated when you were born and you met him only once before he died of HIV when you were 10. You were close to dropping out of school at 16 when a counselor at school directed you to an after school program for at risk students. You entered the Marine Corps after HS graduation and went on to complete college after discharge from the military.

I was being sarcastic haha. guess it didn't come across well