Should I answer the academic challenges / poor grades question?

[letstwist]

TUFTS: Because your academics (grades and MCAT scores) will not be shared with interviewers until after you complete your interview, we encourage you to use this space to elaborate on any academic challenges you have overcome since completing high school. We understand that many applicants encounter academic hardships along the way. We believe that such difficulties offer an opportunity for growth and would appreciate learning how your experiences have affected your approach to academics. If you have not encountered any difficulties, you may answer 'No.'
VCU: Please briefly explain any low GPAs or poor grades.

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[Mr.Smile12]

It's a great opportunity for adcoms to eliminate candidates who are tonedeaf to true academic struggles.

 

[wysdoc]

As I've been writing secondaries, I've seen optional questions that allow discussion of adversity that interrupted academic achievements.
For example:



I am conflicted about whether to answer this question because I'm worried that it would draw more attention to:
1. Unbalanced MCAT (125 / 131 / 131 / 131).
2. Lower senior year GPA (3.9 / 3.8 / 3.9 / 3.5). In particular, my sGPA took a bump (B average).

I do feel like my life experiences impacted both of these situations. The MCAT C/P section was affected by taking those courses online + home circumstances during COVID. The senior year GPA was impacted by being a caretaker for a grandparent with cancer and dealing with the grief of their passing. I had a lot on my plate taking them to appointments, translating for them, etc because my family was not very comfortable interacting with the healthcare system.

So, would appreciate any advice from Adcoms or anyone else experienced about whether I should write these essays or if it seems like I'm making excuses for my performance or making a negative impression. My overall MCAT score is 518 and my overall GPA is ~ 3.8 so I don't know if it would split hairs or help explain these inconsistencies in an ocean of other qualified applicants. Thank you for your time.

With your stats and level of achievement it may have been very hard for you to get there, but you did. I don't think you should respond to academic struggle/glitch prompts.
I hope you wrote about the difficulties in COVID related essays instead.

 

[letstwist]

With your stats and level of achievement it may have been very hard for you to get there, but you did. I don't think you should respond to academic struggle/glitch prompts.
I hope you wrote about the difficulties in COVID related essays instead.

Thank you, I was getting into my head about how Adcoms tend to look at the last section of your credits and whether the downward trend should be addressed.

The reason I was curious about talking about the COVID related issues here is that I noticed many schools removed that prompt this year. I'll just address it for the schools that do still mention COVID.

 

[letstwist]

It's a great opportunity for adcoms to eliminate candidates who are tonedeaf to true academic struggles.

Agreed, I've supported friends that have taken LOAs due to being a caretaker because they attended college far away from their hometown or dealt with personal health struggles. I can see now that my situation doesn't fit the prompt / would be inappropriate here.

 

[Goro]

As I've been writing secondaries, I've seen optional questions that allow discussion of adversity that interrupted academic achievements.
For example:



I am conflicted about whether to answer this question because I'm worried that it would draw more attention to:
1. Unbalanced MCAT (125 / 131 / 131 / 131).
2. Lower senior year GPA (3.9 / 3.8 / 3.9 / 3.5). In particular, my sGPA took a bump (B average).

I do feel like my life experiences impacted both of these situations. The MCAT C/P section was affected by taking those courses online + home circumstances during COVID. The senior year GPA was impacted by being a caretaker for a grandparent with cancer and dealing with the grief of their passing. I had a lot on my plate taking them to appointments, translating for them, etc because my family was not very comfortable interacting with the healthcare system.

So, would appreciate any advice from Adcoms or anyone else experienced about whether I should write these essays or if it seems like I'm making excuses for my performance or making a negative impression. My overall MCAT score is 518 and my overall GPA is ~ 3.8 so I don't know if it would split hairs or help explain these inconsistencies in an ocean of other qualified applicants. Thank you for your time.

Neither of them merit answers.

If your senior year GPA went to 3.1, then it would be fair game.

Not picking on you op, but I'm amazed how many perfectionists seem to think that this prompt applies to them.

 

[letstwist]

Neither of them merit answers.

If your senior year GPA went to 3.1, then it would be fair game.

Not picking on you op, but I'm amazed how many perfectionists seem to think that this prompt applies to them.

Haha that's why I was asking, because it felt so neurotic! I think after comparing my stats to the stats of the matriculated students, I started to second guess myself and interpret the question as "justify the reason for any academic weaknesses" instead of addressing academic hardships.

Understood, my senior year science GPA was 3.3. For the MCAT, I kept seeing that a 125 was below the 10th percentile in that section for a ton of schools on my list, maybe I'd brush it off if it was CARS because that seems more common.

Overall I'm kind of relieved the consensus is not to write the essay—it sounds like this essay wouldn't have been strong anyway and I would rather share the challenges during Covid / senior year in a prompt that directly asks for that.

 

[GoSpursGo]

I echo others that there is no reason to respond to this. No reason to draw attention to something that most reviewers won't even notice.