Pathetic Semester = Ex Girlfriend Problems

[Keepitclassy]

---

Members do not see this ad.

So with this year coming to an end I was wondering how best to explain this blatant decline in grades for the fall semester.

Long story short, my girlfriend of one year cheated on me and left me for my clustermate. She would always be in the cluster lounge or his room, and I could hear them flirting, laughing, giggling behind closed doors. With my room being less than 10 steps away I could hear all this from the comfort of my own room. I couldn't focus on studies, and it didn't help that they both consistently rubbed it in my face day in and day out. We had the same friends group as well so it was either; A) free time spent with everyone INCLUDING him & her, or B) Be alone. I made a couple of new friends, but most were already part of a clique and they were mainly study buddies. I wasn't technically "depressed", but for all you guys with girl problems my mind was racing on him & her and not on my studies.

As a result my grades took a huge dip, straight C's across the board with an F in Organic Chemistry and academic probation for a sub 2.0 GPA.

In the spring semester I was able to pick up whatever dignity I had left even though they were still dating and doing everything described above. I focused more on school (Winter break did wonders, but I still fell into a slump of sorts when I saw them again afterwards), I retook Organic Chemistry with a solid A (Top 5 percentile in the class, rank 3/250 on the final exam), landed an A in Latin IV (Got a C in Latin III the previous semester) but also got the short end of the stick in Ecology & Evolution and Physics I (89.0 and 89.1 respectively, B's in both classes) and ended the semester with a 3.5 cGPA.

If addressed during interviews, how should I best explain this pathetic Fall semester performance? I don't want to get too personal with the whole "girlfriend cheated on me" ordeal and frankly I don't think adcom will buy it as a viable excuse for poor performance. Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them? Certainly I can't be the only one 🙁

 

[AestheticGod]

hmmmm...i think this deserves a TL&DR. Can you provide cliffs?

 

[HH Holmes]

This is my personal opinion, but I wouldn't mention any relationship drama as the source of bad grades. What happens when you have life problems? Is your work on human beings as a physician going to suffer?

Food for thought.

Good job on the retakes, and best of luck with your application. Almost every negative can be turned into a positive with a little creative thinking 😉

 

[FattySlug]

Use some common sense man. Don't need to explain it. If asked just say illness or overworked. Make up something that doesn't sound dumb.

 

[Keepitclassy]

hmmmm...i think this deserves a TL&DR. Can you provide cliffs?

It's two paragraphs long but here's a more condensed version;

-Girlfriend of one year cheated on me with my clustermate who lives 10 steps away. Could hear them giggling, flirting, etc. from my own room when trying to study.
-Watching, hearing, seeing them affected my schoolwork, received Straight C's with an F in Orgo. Academic Probation.
-Retook Orgo in spring semester, got an A. Latin IV = A (Latin III = C prior semester). B's in Ecology & Evolution/Physics I (89's in both classes, ugh). 3.5 GPA, probation lifted.

Inquiring on how best to explain the poor performance during fall semester.

This is my personal opinion, but I wouldn't mention any relationship drama as the source of bad grades. What happens when you have life problems? Is your work on human beings as a physician going to suffer?

Food for thought.

Good job on the retakes, and best of luck with your application. Almost every negative can be turned into a positive with a little creative thinking 😉

Yeah I was thinking along those same lines too. Love is definitely a live & learn process, and I got a full dosage of that Fall semester. Hoping to further cement my capability by nailing A's in Orgo II & Physics II. On track for an A for my first summer course (Ecology Laboratory), and should have no trouble landing A's in the remaining two courses (Genetics & Genetics Laboratory). Hopefully an upward trend of 3 semesters (~55 Credit Hours) will soften the blow

 

[Keepitclassy]

Use some common sense man. Don't need to explain it. If asked just say illness or overworked. Make up something that doesn't sound dumb.

Is it common to make up stuff to explain poor performance? Surely faking a semester-long illness could come back to bite you in the ass.

And citing "overworked" doesn't seem to be the best plan either, since med school is 4 years of being able to thrive in rigorous coursework

 

[Ironmandoc]

I got 99 problems...

 

[AestheticGod]

So with this year coming to an end I was wondering how best to explain this blatant decline in grades for the fall semester.

Long story short, my girlfriend of one year cheated on me and left me for my clustermate. She would always be in the cluster lounge or his room, and I could hear them flirting, laughing, giggling behind closed doors. With my room being less than 10 steps away I could hear all this from the comfort of my own room. I couldn't focus on studies, and it didn't help that they both consistently rubbed it in my face day in and day out. We had the same friends group as well so it was either; A) free time spent with everyone INCLUDING him & her, or B) Be alone. I made a couple of new friends, but most were already part of a clique and they were mainly study buddies. I wasn't technically "depressed", but for all you guys with girl problems my mind was racing on him & her and not on my studies.

As a result my grades took a huge dip, straight C's across the board with an F in Organic Chemistry and academic probation for a sub 2.0 GPA.

In the spring semester I was able to pick up whatever dignity I had left even though they were still dating and doing everything described above. I focused more on school (Winter break did wonders, but I still fell into a slump of sorts when I saw them again afterwards), I retook Organic Chemistry with a solid A (Top 5 percentile in the class, rank 3/250 on the final exam), landed an A in Latin IV (Got a C in Latin III the previous semester) but also got the short end of the stick in Ecology & Evolution and Physics I (89.0 and 89.1 respectively, B's in both classes) and ended the semester with a 3.5 cGPA.

If addressed during interviews, how should I best explain this pathetic Fall semester performance? I don't want to get too personal with the whole "girlfriend cheated on me" ordeal and frankly I don't think adcom will buy it as a viable excuse for poor performance. Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them? Certainly I can't be the only one 🙁

Well, I'm not gonna comment on your school stuff since I'm not very educated in that area, but as for your GF problem..
I honestly would've just went to the library or dumped her instantly. Sorry, but no girl is going to flirt with another guy AND interrupt my study time, they're just not worth my time. The girl would be instantly dropped by me if i even found her flirting with another guy. Just let this be a life lesson for you.

 

[Neurosis]

sounds to me that you allowed yourself to be emotionally and mentally crippled by the ex. i personally don't understand how this could happen, i mean you could have just confronted them and told them it was bothering you, or just you know, get reassigned to another hall?

 

[Neurosis]

I honestly would've just went to the library or dumped her instantly. Sorry, but no girl is going to flirt with another guy AND interrupt my study time, they're just not worth my time. The girl would be instantly dropped by me if i even found her flirting with another guy. Just let this be a life lesson for you.

all of this.

 

[AestheticGod]

sounds to me that you allowed yourself to be emotionally and mentally crippled by the ex. i personally don't understand how this could happen, i mean you could have just confronted them and told them it was bothering you, or just you know, get reassigned to another hall?

My thought exactly, i would've dumped the sloot instantly. Or at very least go to study in the library.

 

[FattySlug]

Is it common to make up stuff to explain poor performance? Surely faking a semester-long illness could come back to bite you in the ass.

And citing "overworked" doesn't seem to be the best plan either, since med school is 4 years of being able to thrive in rigorous coursework

Yes it is. Especially when the real reason sounds pretty weak or too personal to say. It doesn't have to be a semester long illness. It can be like missing a couple of weeks and had to play catch up till the very end. What I meant by overworked was that maybe you signed up to work too many hours or something along that line not being drowned in a regular course load.

 

[Keepitclassy]

Well, I'm not gonna comment on your school stuff since I'm not very educated in that area, but as for your GF problem..
I honestly would've just went to the library or dumped her instantly. Sorry, but no girl is going to flirt with another guy AND interrupt my study time, they're just not worth my time. The girl would be instantly dropped by me if i even found her flirting with another guy. Just let this be a life lesson for you.

The lesson was definitely learned, but unfortunately, at the expense of my grades.

sounds to me that you allowed yourself to be emotionally and mentally crippled by the ex. i personally don't understand how this could happen, i mean you could have just confronted them and told them it was bothering you, or just you know, get reassigned to another hall?

I tried a number of both aggressive and passive aggressive "confrontations" to no avail. This all took place about 3 weeks before final exams, and room reassignment requests typically take 2-4 weeks (I submitted one the year prior which took 2 months, facebook'd my roommate and the search came up as a racist skinhead who just smoked weed/drank all day. Thank the lord that was the wrong profile.) At that point in the semester I was at ~Flat B's, with the final exams as the make-it-or-break-it in terms of grades, but I tanked all of them and ended up with all C's and an F in Orgo. I was struggling all throughout Orgo since the professor deviated from the textbook and I'm not the best at paying attention during lecture 😏

 

[Keepitclassy]

Yes it is. Especially when the real reason sounds pretty weak or too personal to say. It doesn't have to be a semester long illness. It can be like missing a couple of weeks and had to play catch up till the very end. What I meant by overworked was that maybe you signed up to work too many hours or something along that line not being drowned in a regular course load.

Makes sense, I was technically still under payroll for research that semester, although I hadn't yet started volunteering, I'll have to figure something witty to say if and when the time comes. I think the common consensus here is to keep the real reason under the wraps, thanks guys.

 

[AestheticGod]

Ok i thought about it OP, and i think you should make a fake story up. And have some backups to any questions they might ask so you don't get caught in your lie. Your excuse is just terrible, so i would just lie honestly.

 

[Neurosis]

i don't think it's really necessary to lie, just say you were having personal issues which made you lose focus. they probably won't go further into it. lying just makes everything so difficult.

 

[Thego2guy]

Ok i thought about it OP, and i think you should make a fake story up. And have some backups to any questions they might ask so you don't get caught in your lie. Your excuse is just terrible, so i would just lie honestly.

Not terrible, but could definitely be better, so I agree with you man.

Physicians deal with ridiculously emotional situations (on the job, and at home, when they don't see their loved ones, and sacrifice their personal lives), so they have to know that they can academically depend on you even when **** hits the fan. Its all about endurance and perseverance.

You can talk about an illness, and really accentuate how you tried to catch up for more than half of the semester, but to no avail. Yet you still didn't quit, and you went back, and rocked those classes (or upper division ones), and that you learned that perseverance and endurance really does pay off. So you can say something along those lines.

 

[AestheticGod]

i don't think it's really necessary to lie, just say you were having personal issues which made you lose focus. they probably won't go further into it. lying just makes everything so difficult.

mmm, he could possibly say personal issue. and then if they ask more, say the lie 😀

 

[Neurosis]

mmm, he could possibly say personal issue. and then if they ask more, say the lie 😀

well at that point, i'd have to agree, OP your excuse really isn't going to cut it

 

[MedPR]

tldr; First world problems for the OP killed his GPA.

Days before junior year started I found out my girlfriend of ~16 months had been cheating on me for a while. First thing I did was get tested. Everything negative; phew. It sucked, and I was pretty distraught for several months, but first semester of junior year was one of my best semesters GPA wise.

We all handle pain and bad news differently. You curled up in a ball and died, and I kind of just did my best to ignore it and move on. Either way, "my girlfriend cheated on me" is absolutely an inadequate excuse and you're better off saying that you lost sight of your goals and were not focused on school. Play the immaturity card and never... never mention your girlfriend situation to an ADCOM.

I mean, if you can't handle your college girlfriend cheating on you, what's going to happen if your wife divorces you or if your long-term med school/residency girlfriend leaves you? Instead of your grades suffering, your patients will suffer. At least that's the seed your plant in the mind of an ADCOM member. It's natural to let your grades slip due to personal reasons, but I wouldn't admit to an ADCOM that it actually happened.

Say you were immature and unfocused. Find some event that happened around the time you turned things around and spin it as to make it seem like that's what made you regain interest and focus on school. Say that you've grown from the experience and continue to use it as a reminder of how far you've come and how important pursuing medicine is for you. That's what I'm doing to explain my bad freshman and sophomore semesters. Only difference is for me it's the absolute truth.

 

[lobo.solo]

I am sorry you went through that! Don't talk about the specifics with adcoms; just say something very general. After going through this, I bet it won't happen to you again....[from personal experience]

 

[GreenStyle]

Well, I'm not gonna comment on your school stuff since I'm not very educated in that area, but as for your GF problem..
I honestly would've just went to the library or dumped her instantly. Sorry, but no girl is going to flirt with another guy AND interrupt my study time, they're just not worth my time. The girl would be instantly dropped by me if i even found her flirting with another guy. Just let this be a life lesson for you.

If she is a not very serious girlfriend, I TOTALLY agree with this. Should have just dumped her. She obviously didn't take your relationship seriously, so why did you? Not making a stab; that is a good question for anyone who has been in that situation.

However, if you are both serious, you both would have talked and worked things out. And if she continued doing it, refer to the above quote again. Just dump her ass and get a better girl.

If she is your wife, then things obviously become much more difficult. But, luckily, yours was just a mean girl you could have just dropped and let be.

Your situation sucked man. I am sorry to hear it. You can definitely get a better girl.

As for the situation: Great job on the classes. Keep up the good work.

As for the future, if this was your first semester ever, then I don't think you will have a difficult time explaining it to ADCOM. If your second year, it will be a little more, but still plenty manageable.

Just say you had family issues, and you were able to overcome them even though they were still lingering in the semester after in which your grades went up.

Keep the grades high, rock the MCAT, and see you in med school brother.

 

[TriagePreMed]

I know that feel, bro. I remember when I got cheated on for the first time back in High School. It sucks, but I hope you learn to move on from this. The moment a woman fails you like that, a friend and these other people, they should all become instantly dead to you. Trust me, solitude is pretty damn awesome if the alternative is two-faced people.

I suggest you don't lie on your interviews about this stuff. Just let them know the truth. You became hurt during a relationship. Tell them what you learned and have your new grades speak for themselves. Yeah, it would suck to have to share this in interviews, but I think people will appreciate the honesty. Nobody's gone through life without a massive love life fail.

 

[sunflower18]

So with this year coming to an end I was wondering how best to explain this blatant decline in grades for the fall semester.

Long story short, my girlfriend of one year cheated on me and left me for my clustermate. She would always be in the cluster lounge or his room, and I could hear them flirting, laughing, giggling behind closed doors. With my room being less than 10 steps away I could hear all this from the comfort of my own room. I couldn't focus on studies, and it didn't help that they both consistently rubbed it in my face day in and day out. We had the same friends group as well so it was either; A) free time spent with everyone INCLUDING him & her, or B) Be alone. I made a couple of new friends, but most were already part of a clique and they were mainly study buddies. I wasn't technically "depressed", but for all you guys with girl problems my mind was racing on him & her and not on my studies.

As a result my grades took a huge dip, straight C's across the board with an F in Organic Chemistry and academic probation for a sub 2.0 GPA.

In the spring semester I was able to pick up whatever dignity I had left even though they were still dating and doing everything described above. I focused more on school (Winter break did wonders, but I still fell into a slump of sorts when I saw them again afterwards), I retook Organic Chemistry with a solid A (Top 5 percentile in the class, rank 3/250 on the final exam), landed an A in Latin IV (Got a C in Latin III the previous semester) but also got the short end of the stick in Ecology & Evolution and Physics I (89.0 and 89.1 respectively, B's in both classes) and ended the semester with a 3.5 cGPA.

If addressed during interviews, how should I best explain this pathetic Fall semester performance? I don't want to get too personal with the whole "girlfriend cheated on me" ordeal and frankly I don't think adcom will buy it as a viable excuse for poor performance. Has anyone else had anything like this happen to them? Certainly I can't be the only one 🙁

I just want to say that I am so sorry for what you've been through. That sounds really painful and aggravating and awful; nobody should have to deal with that kind of behaviour from someone they once trusted and loved. Seems like you're better off without her, though, if she is that selfish and guilt-less.

The way I see it: she's already ruined a year or more of your life. Don't give her the opportunity to mess up one more second! It's great that you have started to pull your grades back up from the dip, so keep that up and then rock the MCAT. Explain the bad semester away however you can -- you should probably stray from directly mentioning a romantic relationship being involved, but a vague response may satisfy their inquiries as well as enable you to be honest. Best of luck!! 👍 🙂

 

[HipChick]

Hey!
I'm going to guess done of the negative comments... Nm.

I am currently going through divorce. Obviously not a bf/gf situation. But love is love and doesn't recognize a piece of paper. My grades suffered slightly, and I'm still effected now (sometimes a song on the way to class throws me off). I'm not going to say the obvious BS about sucking it up and weak excuse, instead I'm going to say, grow older and wiser and remember the feeling. You still pulled a 2.0 where some people would have just given up. Especially if you were that involved.
As for explanation? Id simply say life stresses. That's general enough to convey the message and if they want more information they 'll ask. Even then I'd say relationship issues.

Remember we've all been there, we've all succeeded and failed a little. At least you learned how to cope now and bounce back rather than as a MS2. Good luck and nice recovery 🙂

 

[SnowyRox]

It's threads like this that make me skeptical when people say "SDN is full of great advice!"

Don't lie. Seriously. But it's not a jury so you don't have to tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth. Just condense your answer to explain how you were underprepared for balancing university level coursework with college life and you got everything pulled together after that semester. Done. Now just pull everything together ;-)

Stop making excuses and blaming your failure on someone else. Stand up and take ownership. *I* did not make good grades because *I* allowed myself to get distracted. It's not your girlfriend's fault. Move rooms, make better friends, and get over it.

You have plenty more semesters left to prove yourself.

 

[GreenStyle]

Hey!
I'm going to guess done of the negative comments... Nm.

I am currently going through divorce. Obviously not a bf/gf situation. But love is love and doesn't recognize a piece of paper. My grades suffered slightly, and I'm still effected now (sometimes a song on the way to class throws me off). I'm not going to say the obvious BS about sucking it up and weak excuse, instead I'm going to say, grow older and wiser and remember the feeling. You still pulled a 2.0 where some people would have just given up. Especially if you were that involved.
As for explanation? Id simply say life stresses. That's general enough to convey the message and if they want more information they 'll ask. Even then I'd say relationship issues.

Remember we've all been there, we've all succeeded and failed a little. At least you learned how to cope now and bounce back rather than as a MS2. Good luck and nice recovery 🙂

Well put HipChick. I hope things soon become pretty again in the world of relationships for both of you.

 

[theseeker4]

Hey!
I'm going to guess done of the negative comments... Nm.

I am currently going through divorce. Obviously not a bf/gf situation. But love is love and doesn't recognize a piece of paper. My grades suffered slightly, and I'm still effected now (sometimes a song on the way to class throws me off). I'm not going to say the obvious BS about sucking it up and weak excuse, instead I'm going to say, grow older and wiser and remember the feeling. You still pulled a 2.0 where some people would have just given up. Especially if you were that involved.
As for explanation? Id simply say life stresses. That's general enough to convey the message and if they want more information they 'll ask. Even then I'd say relationship issues.

Remember we've all been there, we've all succeeded and failed a little. At least you learned how to cope now and bounce back rather than as a MS2. Good luck and nice recovery 🙂

Yeah, you don't want to lie.

Interviewer: Can you explain the dip in your grades here?
You: Sure, I got sick so I wasn't able to focus on my studies as much.
Interviewer: Why didn't you petition your school to withdraw from those classes, and just start fresh the next semester when you were well?
You: ...
Interviewer: Most schools will honor medical withdrawal requests if you have documentation. Why didn't you try that?
You: ...

Point is, there is no advantage to lying. Adcoms know crap happens, and making up a lie about your grades won't help your admissions chances. Just be honest without offering unnecessary detail, take ownership of the bad grades, and you should be OK.

 

[SpecterGT260]

This will all seem silly once you graduate middle school and look back on it 👍

too harsh? sorry... ive been through some breakups as well and the ONLY thing I learned was not to let it bring you down and not to start acting like an idiot over it. People come and go, and you will always kick yourself for letting your hormone and endorphin-induced mental state keep you from obtaining a goal.

This sort of thing is practically the norm in UG, and I suppose if I am going to be sympathetic the best I can say is that it is unfortunate that such freedom always coincides with such raging hormones and lack of clearly defined life goals.

 

[tankgunner]

if asked, just tell them you were involved in a messy breakup but you got over it. that's all.

 

[vayntraubinator]

Well, I'm not gonna comment on your school stuff since I'm not very educated in that area, but as for your GF problem..
I honestly would've just went to the library or dumped her instantly. Sorry, but no girl is going to flirt with another guy AND interrupt my study time, they're just not worth my time. The girl would be instantly dropped by me if i even found her flirting with another guy. Just let this be a life lesson for you.

Bro, right on👍 The problem is that some don't have the experience like you or I may have and set it in their minds as too serious. When you're serious, and new to such a relationship, you like to ignore some facts and believe the ideals.

OP I don't blame you for the situation with your gf. But I would think it risky, as an ADCOMM, to accept you because of the grades and not handling yourself under whatever comes (what would happen in med school if someone close to you DIED? knock on wood). Personally, I went through something similar; it was a longer, serious relationship. But I came out on top-- with a 4.0 somehow. I like to think it's because I knew I was stronger than that. The B*** cheated on you. That's disrespect. When your disrespected, you respect yourself in return, and grow. Don't let the B take anymore away from you than she already has. Move on with yourself and realize that your way better than being treated like that.

Since I've been in your situation (and the crappy feeling lasts) this is what your priorities should be:
1) ACADEMICS (don't let the B stop you! I bet when you were Acing that final for ORGO it felt pretty good, didn't it. You thought and said to yourself, "B****!" You were doing you, or however Rocko would say it.) But seriously though, you want to get into medical school right? How hard are you going to work for it?

2) New School of Fish. Make some good friends (maybe, maybe not the study buddies) that you want to be like, and who bring out your best. These guys will be your greatest advisers and closest partners. They will propel you growth, especially during this time you are still rebuilding your internal framework.

3) New experiences. Do these with your New school of Fish.

4) Don't be so serious with these girls. Most of them don't know what they want. Go around, date, dance, meet new chicks, but realize that the serious girl is going to come by chance. Stay focused on numbers 1-3

 

[ingramw1202]

Man trust me. I've been there. The same thing happened to me but I dated the girl for two years. Somehow, I still managed to pull straight A+'s that semester when I was going through that. I became a heavy drinker too. I really have no explanation as to how I managed the grades. Mostly I just told myself over and over, "one day I'm gonna be a doctor and that bitch is gonna regret what she did" haha. That's motivation. As far as what to say to adcoms, I'd just tell the truth. Maybe this is a bad approach but personally the truth has worked out for me. Don't go Into detail. Just mention that you were having very serious problems in your personal life that affected your ability to perform at your top level. If asked further questions in an interview or anything, just say it how it is.

Doctors are people. People feel emotion. It's normal to go through things like this in life. But the important thing is that you learned from it and grew as a person. You learned that allowing personal problems to severely impact your performance has detrimental effects on the more important aspects in life, and since then, personal life and professional have become separate.

 

[kestralray]

This might be a terrible idea, but would it be so wrong to turn this into a story where you grew and learned? Everyone makes mistakes. Maybe this was your first real encounter with betrayal/interpersonal problems, so you stumbled (a lot). But it sounds like you regrouped and did very well your second semester.

Why were you able to concentrate better the next semester? Did you learn something about how to deal with betrayal and handling your emotions? My impression (from talking to all of one med school adcom member) was that med schools understand that you make mistakes, and they don't want to hear excuses. Instead, they want to hear about your mistakes in the context of how you learned from them and became a more mature person, etc.

Oh, and make sure you can convince them that, should the situation arise again, you will meet it more prepared and won't make the same mistake again.

um. so that's my two cents.

*edit* erm. so essentially what ingramw1202 just said.

 

[alerk323]

That's really rough man I feel you're pain. Similar thing happened to me, (with the guy and girl living next to me too). I don't think most people understand the difference between that happening, and then not seeing the guy/girl ever, to actually living with them so don't get down on yourself for feeling crappy. As soon as you get away from the situation you'll start to feel better, its hard when its constantly rubbed in your face.

As for your grades, it sounded like this happened at an incredibly bad time, as you didn't have any time to deal with it before needing to preform. I don't really have great advice for you, just wanted to say that I understand what you had to go through and really sympathize. Know that in the long run these people won't even be a blip on your radar.

 

[calvnandhobbs68]

Yeah, you don't want to lie.

Interviewer: Can you explain the dip in your grades here?
You: Sure, I got sick so I wasn't able to focus on my studies as much.
Interviewer: Why didn't you petition your school to withdraw from those classes, and just start fresh the next semester when you were well?
You: ...
Interviewer: Most schools will honor medical withdrawal requests if you have documentation. Why didn't you try that?
You: ...

Point is, there is no advantage to lying. Adcoms know crap happens, and making up a lie about your grades won't help your admissions chances. Just be honest without offering unnecessary detail, take ownership of the bad grades, and you should be OK.

Bad advice. I would accept the fact that the student was overworked (even though it's not the most awesome reason in the world), especially if it looked like he didn't take a courseload similar to that semester previously. There are a lot of people that don't realize how much work they have to do until after drop dates are past and then try to struggle through it instead of taking a W. Does it show you don't know how to cut your losses? Sure, but if you rebounded from it I can see that you buckled down and tried to make it better.

I wouldn't accept the fact that your girlfriend cheated on you and it made you so sad you bombed your classes. In fact, an interviewer would probably make a note about how you can't handle your personal life and your academic obligations. It makes you look like an immature high school kid who can't handle yourself. Really, this is one of the worse excuses besides "I spent all semester partying". Nobody in your family died or got sick, you weren't diagnosed with some illness and took medical leave, nothing drastic happened to you besides your breakup.

Nobody is gonna drill you on whether there was really "something else going on" besides you being unable to handle that courseload. A strong upward trend after it shows that you were able to pull yourself together.

 

[SpecterGT260]

how early was the grade slump? you could always just go with "I didnt realize medicine was my calling until then and once I figured it out I knew I had to get my act in order". I dont see a downside to this. Contrary to SDN dogma, you do not have to be born with a stethoscope around your neck in order to pursue medicine. in fact I tend to be more critical of the "ive always wanted" stories or the ones about some Lifetime drama-style illness of a loved one or yourself. Comes across as drummed up and cliche

 

[neuro nephrons]

what is a cluster mate?