Quoted: Medical school admission after dealing with difficult family situation

[Doodledog]

I'm finishing up my undergraduate degree this spring, and applying next cycle. I'm wondering how to address questions about some spots on my academic record, all pretty much confined to my sophomore year.

I was married going in to college, and my husband was extremely supportive and going to school himself to be a teacher. We had, by all accounts, a very happy marriage. However, the summer before my sophomore year he started to have serious anxiety difficulties, blackouts, and not remembering where he had been. He started to have hallucinations and would not remember things he had said. He was assessed by the doctors as schizophrenic, with seizure induced dissociative episodes.

I was the primary caretaker after it became apparent that he would need supervision, and his family refused to support him. He was prescribed heavy doses of Thorazine and it was determined by his psychiatrists that he would do best if he wasn't inpatient.

However, after a while he became non-compliant and extremely aggressive, culminating in a series of violent physical attacks. We're no longer together, and I ended up going into victim's protection. As a result, my schoolwork suffered (I went straight through, even during summer, with no breaks), and I got a few C's and a D in some of my science pre-reqs. My non-science GPA is near 3.9, so it certainly looks odd.

I'm maintaining a 4.0 in higher level classes now with a double major and a research position at a hospital so I'm not too concerned about upward trend, but do I even mention this if asked why my performance declined at that point in time? It certainly seems fantastical, even if there is documenting paperwork. It was the largest challenge of my life, and I learned more than I think I ever want to know about dealing with aggressive patients, professional levels of detachment, and overcoming difficult circumstances. At the same time, I don't want to be defined as a victim, and I think that there might be a certain stigma if I declare it.

Thanks for any replies.

This is a difficult decision to make. My general inclination is to simply indicate that you had serious family issues to deal with. If you are comfortably with telling an "abbreviated" version of the story at interviews, then you should do so. I think that completely leaving it out would be unfair to you and your application unless you really feel that you are uncomfortable saying anything.

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[Goro]

Lots of high caliber applicants have life changing events blow up on them, causing a depression of their grades. As a testiment to them, they recover and life indeed goes on. When we on AdComs see a dip, it is fair game to ask, so expect to explain it. Your explanation is rationale, compelling and eloquent. You have NOTHING to be ashamed of, and there definitely is no stigma to your events.

This is a difficult decision to make. My general inclination is to simply indicate that you had serious family issues to deal with. If you are comfortably with telling an "abbreviated" version of the story at interviews, then you should do so. I think that completely leaving it out would be unfair to you and your application unless you really feel that you are uncomfortable saying anything.