Sexual assault for secondary question?

[Solaris100]

Hi,

I know this is a bit premature, but I saw that a lot of secondaries are going to ask about explaining anything in your grades. I chose not to mention anything in my PS because my grades did not drop that much, but it goes like this:

Freshman fall - 3.55
Freshman spring - 3.6
Assault during summer, had to get a lot of therapy
Sophomore fall - 3.5
Sophomore spring - 3.9
Junior fall - 4.0

So it didn't really drop that much, and I'm not sure if it did have that much of an impact on me, but I did feel I was in a daze for much of my sophomore fall and had to get a lot of therapy. Think I should mention it in my secondaries? I don't want to talk about it in my interview.

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[NotSur]

Well, as a rule of thumb, don't mention anything in your application that you don't want to talk about in your interview. However, if you feel like it's necessary to explain your grades (which seem fine to me) then you might want to call individual med schools and ask about their confidentiality protocols regarding sensitive application material and ask what their opinion is regarding whether it's worth mentioning...do you have a career counselor that you would feel comfortable discussing this with?

 

[MsKrispyKreme]

I agree with Not Sur. You should definitely not discuss anything in your personal statement that you can't discuss in your interview.

Your gpa is very solid. No explanation needed.

P.S. *hugs* I'm sorry that happened to you.

I hope that s.o.b. is in jail.

 

[pietachok]

There is nothing in your grades to indicate something happened...unless those GPA's include W's, since they don't factor into your GPA. Most 2ndaries ask you to use that spot to discuss artifiacts in your GPA/MCAT/EC's due to hardship. You had a hardship, but apparently no academic consequences (good for you!).

But you should also be consider whether this even could have impacted your LOR's or your EC's. Before you decide not to mention it, are you confident that instructors from that time may have thought you aloof/withdrawn or otherwise socially less recommendable to be a physician? Did you withdraw from non-academic activities, which can be key to portraying yourself as a well-rounded, successful applicant? If your answer to either is YES, you may still want to mention it even though your grades weren't impacted.

If you want schools to know about this incident without having to mention it yourself and effectively blow your own horn (I find it kind of weird to write "but I did wonderfully considering the tragedy I went through"), you can ask a recommender who knew you during that time to discuss your incredible perseverance, etc., and how your decent grades are exceptional considering the circumstances, or whatever they find appropriate. (I did this with regards to my illness, and it worked out).

Another option you have is to mention it, but simply to call it "Assault" and to call your therapy "medical treatment," and clarify that there are no residual medical issues that you expect to detract from your ability to successfully complete medical school. I had a medical issue mar my pre-med years, and I was fairly vague about it. No interviewers pried further than to ask if I felt the issue was ongoing or chronic or likely to effect my ability to learn/practice medicine.

 

[whimsical]

i hope that s.o.b. Is in jail.

qft.

 

[sarahg]

You could always say you were the victim of a crime that left you upset and you needed therapy to get over it, and they won't know whether it's a sexual assault, mugging, home invasion, or whatever. But if the interviewer has no social tact and decides to ask about the nature of the crime I guess it could set a bad tone for your interview -- totally unfair to you because the fault would lie in the interviewer (anyone knows that being general about something like that means you don't want them to know the specifics), but I could see it creating an awkward moment. IMO a 3.5 doesn't need explaining, it's still an A/A- average, but of course I'm not an adcom member.

 

[Caprica6]

This question makes me think of some of the secondaries that ask you to discuss an obstacle or hardship you have overcome (I'm not talking about the optional ones for claiming disadvantaged status). Is something like this every okay to talk about, I also am an abuse victim. Or would this come of as a sob story to ADCOMMs?

 

[chillyphilly]

This is something I desperately wanted to ask when I was applying but was too chicken, so hopefully this will help someone else.

I had a very similar experience (even the same time- summer before sophomore year) but my grade drop was signficant, from a 3.6 freshman year to a 2.8 for fall quarter and a 3.2 for the year. I pulled up my total gpa to a 3.5 having exceptional junior and senior years but this is obviously a glaring drop. I think I only wrote about it in 1 secondary, however it ended up coming up in 2 of my 3 interviews. Most of the time it was related to a "any red flag or anything you think needs explaining" question but let me warn that you have to make sure can talk about it if it comes up. It took me a LONG time to be able to talk about my assault. You definitely don't want to burst into tears or something in the middle of your interview.
I also made sure I showed that I had moved past the experience (I'm a firm believer this is something you don't 'get over') and became stronger from it. I've been a volunteer rape crisis counselor for 2 years now, found it to be incredibly empowering, and spoke about that at all of my interviews.

So to sum up, you don't need to mention it because you really didn't have a large drop in gpa, but if you want to make sure its something you are prepared to talk about, and be able to show how you've either moved past it or used the experience to make you stronger/help others etc.

Side note- I was accepted this year at a school where I DID discuss it at my interview. For what its worth...