Should I address grade problems in my personal statement?

[ifonlyifonly]

---

Members don't see this ad.

So I'm working on my personal statement and I'm trying to decide whether I should talk about my poor undergraduate performance or not. I had a few rough semesters in the beginning, which did improve during my sophomore and junior years. Although I did improve I never became stellar, and mostly received B's. I made a HUGE change and got a 39 on my MCAT, and a 3.93 last semester. I'm trying to write a personal statement for my SMPs, and I have my extracurriculars and stuff down, but I'm not sure if I should mention the grades. If I were to mention them all I could say would be that I was lazy and didn't study well, but that I made a huge personal improvement and became super dedicated to school (which is what happened). I don't have any sort of excuse like a death or illness, so I'm not sure if calling myself "lazy" will be bad.

Thanks!

 

[masaraksh]

"... I had some rough grades early on in college but I've sorted that out now and have nearly a 4.0 and scored 39 on my MCAT. I've shown that I can work hard and improve myself, I've got my ECs down, and thats why I think I am ready to be a doctor. I would really like to go to medical school".

Thats probably how you'll sound if you address non-stellar grades in you PS. Your PS should ideally be about YOU. That means who you are as a person and why that person is driven to pursue a career in the medical field.

Let me put it this way, when the interviewer asks you "So... tell me about yourself?". You're not going to be like "Well I've always been good at psych, but I used to be a B-student overall. But, right now, I've become a harder worker and am a straight-A student."

 

[T3ckFr3s]

I definitely think you should address your GPA as long as you explain what you've learned from your mistakes. Owning up to mistakes shows character in my opinion.

 

[ninjaman22]

In my opinion, I don't think you should address grade/MCAT problems on your PS. There will be plenty of other opportunities (secondaries, interviews, etc) to address those issues. PS should be about you, why you want to become a doctor, and things like that. Just my opinion though.

 

[Goro]

Do NOT do this. It will only come across as you're making excuses. Save explanations for interviews.

So I'm working on my personal statement and I'm trying to decide whether I should talk about my poor undergraduate performance or not. I had a few rough semesters in the beginning, which did improve during my sophomore and junior years. Although I did improve I never became stellar, and mostly received B's. I made a HUGE change and got a 39 on my MCAT, and a 3.93 last semester. I'm trying to write a personal statement for my SMPs, and I have my extracurriculars and stuff down, but I'm not sure if I should mention the grades. If I were to mention them all I could say would be that I was lazy and didn't study well, but that I made a huge personal improvement and became super dedicated to school (which is what happened). I don't have any sort of excuse like a death or illness, so I'm not sure if calling myself "lazy" will be bad.

Thanks!

 

[masaraksh]

I definitely think you should address your GPA as long as you explain what you've learned from your mistakes. Owning up to mistakes shows character in my opinion.

... I'd say that thinking that your "mistakes" in life have been getting Bs instead do As shows a lack of maturity.

 

[Narmerguy]

I think this is the place to make a strong case for why you'll be a good doctor, which means focusing on what you do well. If overcoming obstacles is a significant part of that narrative (and the low GPA better not be the obstacle, but rather a symptom of some greater, mitigating problem you were dealing with) than sure, perhaps it makes sense to talk about the obstacle. But more likely, it doesn't really fit into a strong narrative and you'd be better off just leaving it out.

 

[T3ckFr3s]

I mean you shouldn't ignore any red flags on your application either. I've found myself getting past screens because of the way I acknowledged my lower gpa and how i've grown from having to fix that flag. I think its prompted the reader to look deeper at my GPA (difficulty of major, course load, etc) rather then passing it off as simple ineptitude.

I agree that you should keep the focus on why you want to be a doctor but don't ignore obvious weaknesses in your app because it gives the impression that you don't care. The key is not to emphasize the weakness but the positives that have come out of moving past it.

 

[T3ckFr3s]

... I'd say that thinking that your "mistakes" in life have been getting Bs instead do As shows a lack of maturity.

I saw OP's mistake as their early academic "laziness" and OP obviously fixed this as shown by their recent grades/mcat. Now they can work into their PS what they learned to make this dramatic change and how it'll make them a better doctor.

 

[Narmerguy]

I saw OP's mistake as their early academic "laziness" and OP obviously fixed this as shown by their recent grades/mcat. Now they can work into their PS what they learned to make this dramatic change and how it'll make them a better doctor.

Just stating that you were "lazy" before and now work hard is not exactly a change that needs to be in the personal statement. They can see that the grades changed and they can see the MCAT. If you're going to delve into it, tell them something they don't know (i.e. my father was struggling with cancer, etc). Keep in mind that plenty of other students were motivated and performed well from freshman year. They will be writing about why they were so motivated and how they've explored that motivation to convince them about medicine. Stick to your strengths and to your narrative. If you're going to spend precious space talking about your shortcomings, the end result needs to be worth it.

 

[funniful]

As long as there's an uphill trend, they usually get it especially if the poor grades were in your freshman year. I'd say if there's better story and explanation of the poor grades that fits with your narrative other than laziness, I would tie it in but it doesn't seem like it in your case. Secondaries are a better place to explain the poor grades and the turnaround and most schools have specific questions along the lines of "is there anything in your application that was not explained/red flags/etc"

 

[PHellmuth]

I would address it in the context of "I've matured and am now very focused on becoming a doctor and here are some examples of that (grades, ECs, etc.) I wouldn't specifically cite poor courses but acknowledge that you know you messed up but have changed now.

The focus should be very positive though... Don't dwell on mistakes but talk about achievements and what makes you successful now and what would make you a caring / good doc

 

[274631]

I say don't put it in your PS. I had some poor grades and a poor sgpa as a result and didn't mention it in my PS. After that it only came up twice at interviews I had. I think your transcript and MCAT score will speak for itself. Use your personal statement to highlight why medicine.