Question about “Other Impactful Experiences”: explaining bad, but not horrible semester.

[calcuttaho]

Alright, so I’m preparing for a reapplication. I’ve had the fortune of getting feedback from a school, who mentioned one of my semesters as a red flag on my application in my senior year. I did dual enrollment, so I really only had two years of undergrad, and my AMCAS GPA reporting looks like this:

BCPM:
High School: ~3.7 GPA,
Freshman: 4.0 GPA
Sophomore: (blank)
Junior: (blank)
Senior: ~3.4 GPA

Apparently, because that school really doesn’t consider community college as traditional undergraduate work, they ONLY see the 4.0 and 3.4 GPA, which obviously isn’t great.

My poor senior GPA is from one bad semester. I took 17 credits of science courses, restudied for my MCAT, started some new volunteering, then had the death of someone in the family and fell behind on work. At 18, I simply was not mature enough to handle all the work, had to make some sacrifices (focused too much on the MCAT instead of pushing it back and focusing on class work) and got a semester of all Bs/one A-. My 2nd senior semester was straight As. Now, on one hand, in the school feedback, she said that it made sense and was some context that explained the bad semester that otherwise just looked bad. On the other hand, some other advisors at my Alma Mater said that a semester of Bs simply isn’t catastrophic, and trying to explain it comes off as not self-aware and humble-brag-y, especially in a section that is meant for genuine struggles people faced.

If I were to use this section, I would word it along the lines of “I had overly planned out my educational pathway, and when life happened (personal death in family), I didn’t give myself any room to fail. I learned that 1) overly planning my path means I lose the forest for the trees, so I cannot tunnel vision on one path I made years earlier and 2) part of success is planning for unforeseen circumstances”. But I’m still not sure if I want to use this section or not.

Thoughts? Is this something where I’m going to have to alienate some schools with either decision?

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[Mr.Smile12]

Other Impactful Experiences Essay: Exploring Your Unique Story - SDN

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[LunaOri]

Some schools have an "anything else you'd like us to know" essay in their secondaries; this would be appropriate for such an essay.

 

[wysdoc]

Some schools have an "anything else you'd like us to know" essay in their secondaries; this would be appropriate for such an essay.

I agree that the secondary essays often provide a space to describe temporary setbacks

 

[Dr.Freedman MedEdits]

I would not recommend using the "Other Impactful Experiences" section to detail poor academic performance. This section replaced the self-reported disadvantaged section of the AMCAS application and should be used to discuss challenges related to family background, financial background, community setting, education, religion, or other significant life experiences that have shaped your journey. Here is a link to the AAMC information about this section.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Check the secondary prompts. Some may ask about context about your academic record/difficulties.

 

[calcuttaho]

Check the secondary prompts. Some may ask about context about your academic record/difficulties.

I guess that’s why the school that gave me feedback mentioned the AMCAS section in particular. The school doesn’t have that question, and she said that dual enrollment/graduating at 19 *is* a pretty unique situation that puts my undergrad in context. Other schools did ask me why my grades looked like the way they were reported in AMCAS.

That being said, I think I’m going to follow the advice in this thread. Another question - how should I approach the secondary questions? I usually left them blank last year because I didn’t think a semester of Bs was catastrophic enough to explain, but I’m reconsidering now that I’ve got the feedback. Do I focus on the semester and that I overloaded myself, or the whole two years thing? Do I mention that I was 18 at the time, and I wasn’t mature enough to handle it (different now), or is that not taking responsibility?

 

[LindaAccepted]

I think you take responsibility for making the mistake of overloading yourself. You can also point out that you were 18 at the time. If you do write about that semester, make sure you also point out that you did well the following semester when you weren't dealing with a death in your family and studying for the MCAT and had a normal load.

I agree with those who said that the place to address that semester is in secondary essays that ask about academic difficulties or request context. I also recommend against using the the Other Impactful Experience essay to provide that context.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Apparently, because that school really doesn’t consider community college as traditional undergraduate work, they ONLY see the 4.0 and 3.4 GPA, which obviously isn’t great

I'm coming back to this in the original post. I don't understand this sentence: Does this school use AMCAS? The AMCAS application does calculate GPA's by year, and I think it includes high school/dual enrollment. Are you saying the school will overlook high school GPA's?

I don't think "taking dual enrollment courses" is a great pitch for "other impactful experiences" without more context.

Another question - how should I approach the secondary questions? I usually left them blank last year because I didn’t think a semester of Bs was catastrophic enough to explain, but I’m reconsidering now that I’ve got the feedback. Do I focus on the semester and that I overloaded myself, or the whole two years thing? Do I mention that I was 18 at the time, and I wasn’t mature enough to handle it (different now), or is that not taking responsibility?

We have articles on writing your secondary essays, and just had a live Q&A session. I agree that catastrophizing B's on a transcript may likely work against you.

 

[LunaOri]

The only context for including this in an “other impactful experiences” essay would be to use that essay to discuss what it was like to be a young teen in college, and how that experience affected and changed you. But I still think it’s all best discussed in an “anything else” essay.

 

[calcuttaho]

I'm coming back to this in the original post. I don't understand this sentence: Does this school use AMCAS? The AMCAS application does calculate GPA's by year, and I think it includes high school/dual enrollment. Are you saying the school will overlook high school GPA's?

I don't think "taking dual enrollment courses" is a great pitch for "other impactful experiences" without more context.

We have articles on writing your secondary essays, and just had a live Q&A session. I agree that catastrophizing B's on a transcript may likely work against you.

Yes, they said that a semester of Bs looks much worse because I only had two years total (but I had another two community college years, taken in high school) AND it was in my senior year, so they didn’t have a larger trend to know if it was reflective of my performance or not.

So when they saw on my AMCAS that my yearly GPA was 4.0 —> 3.4, they had concerns that I couldn’t handle college work. When I explained the context, she said that it made more sense.

The only context for including this in an “other impactful experiences” essay would be to use that essay to discuss what it was like to be a young teen in college, and how that experience affected and changed you. But I still think it’s all best discussed in an “anything else” essay.

Sounds good! Thank you so much for the feedback! Thinking back to my interviews, it was ALWAYS brought up, followed up by the interviewers basically saying that I made a mistake by rushing… one my interviewers even asked if it was my mom that forced me to graduate early because I’m Middle Eastern haha. Maybe I’m going to just lay it out and say that I’ve learned from the experience just to avoid those interview questions. Save academic issues for secondaries, but just clarify how I graduated early to reduce confusion. Still on the fence though.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Yes, they said that a semester of Bs looks much worse because I only had two years total (but I had another two community college years, taken in high school) AND it was in my senior year, so they didn’t have a larger trend to know if it was reflective of my performance or not.

So when they saw on my AMCAS that my yearly GPA was 4.0 —> 3.4, they had concerns that I couldn’t handle college work. When I explained the context, she said that it made more sense.

That is understandable. It's curious that the school said they wanted you to use OIE for THEIR purpose rather than they point out a chance where you can disclose this context in their application. There is a lack of a strong consensus about this there, and it also depends on execution (many applicants could use it to describe the problems they had while studying for the MCAT to explain a low score, which I would consider an application faux pas).

Sounds good! Thank you so much for the feedback! Thinking back to my interviews, it was ALWAYS brought up, followed up by the interviewers basically saying that I made a mistake by rushing… one my interviewers even asked if it was my mom that forced me to graduate early because I’m Middle Eastern haha. Maybe I’m going to just lay it out and say that I’ve learned from the experience just to avoid those interview questions. Save academic issues for secondaries, but just clarify how I graduated early to reduce confusion. Still on the fence though.

I'm not sure avoiding the questions would be the right thing either. They are saying you should take more time or have a gap year or a DIY postbac to understand what it's like to work in an academic environment. I've worked with plenty of mature "younger" applicants, and there are plenty of immature "older" applicants. Understand the faculty have institutional memory about "the last time" someone like you got admitted (and wound up not doing so well).