Submitting Grade Explanation on ERAS

[jansport]

---

Members don't see this ad.

If I want to explanation conditions that led to poor performance during a particular semester, where do I do this? I can't fit it into my personal statement, so I was thinking of one of the two options:

1) Attaching it in the Document of my personal statement as a new page labeled "addendum"

2) clicking yes under "has your medical school ever been interrupted on the ERAS application" and saying, "It has not been interrupted but I would like to use this opportunity to clarify an aspect of me application..." The problem with this is that perhaps some programs will automatically through out an application if you click this.


What do you guys think? Any better way to do this? Don't want to integrate into my personal statement essay itself because there isn't too much room and it throws off the flow.

 

[Winged Scapula]

If I want to explanation conditions that led to poor performance during a particular semester, where do I do this? I can't fit it into my personal statement, so I was thinking of one of the two options:

1) Attaching it in the Document of my personal statement as a new page labeled "addendum"

Don't do this. if you wish to discuss your grade problems, your PS is the place to do it. I do not want to read another page.

2) clicking yes under "has your medical school ever been interrupted on the ERAS application" and saying, "It has not been interrupted but I would like to use this opportunity to clarify an aspect of me application..." The problem with this is that perhaps some programs will automatically through out an application if you click this.

Doing this looks like you can't follow instructions.


How to do it? See above. Either talk about it in your PS, have one of your letter writers mention it in an LOR, or talk about it if it gets brought up during an interview.

The fact of the matter is that if your grades are an issue, then your explanation will probably not make any difference. If they are not an issue (i.e., other things outweigh them), then you can talk about them when you get an interview (should you chose to do so).

 

[GoSpursGo]

talk about it if it gets brought up during an interview.

This is the only thing that makes any sense to me. As WS said, the personal statement is the only place where it's reasonable to talk about this. If you can fit it in as a part of a paragraph and spin it in a "here's how I overcame struggles in med school" way, that's fine; if you actually need a full page to describe what happened, no one will ever actually read that and you're better off just leaving it out entirely and talking about it in an interview where space is less at a premium. Anything else just makes you look weird, and in a bad way.

Also, if grades are an issue, you really need to get this app in yesterday. Putzing around with finalizing a personal statement is not going to magically make those grades disappear, so you might as well get your application in early enough to at least get looked at.

 

[235009]

2) clicking yes under "has your medical school ever been interrupted on the ERAS application" and saying, "It has not been interrupted but I would like to use this opportunity to clarify an aspect of me application..." The problem with this is that perhaps some programs will automatically through out an application if you click this.

definitely don't do this because if a program decides to screen on this variable or set those applications aside to look at later (i'm assuming they are able to, not 100% sure) you will be screened for no reason. you don't want to put a red flag on your application when there shouldn't be one.

what kind of bad grades r we talking about here? did you fail a class or two? i dont think an explanation is going to change anyone's mind and usually these explanations tend to sound like excuses. i think the only place you can put it is the personal statement. if you think it's important make it fit.

 

[firewire]

Which semester are we talking about here?
If it's one of the first 2 years, don't sweat it. Nobody cares.
If you really want to say something about it, put it in your PS, keep it to 1 or 2 sentences and move on. Don't dwell on it because your readers will dwell on it, too. And that's not what you want. Believe me, your Step is the single most important factor in getting you interviews, esp. competitive specialties. Numbers don't lie. 2nd factor is your letters.
Based on my past interviews, nobody talked about my grades. As long as you don't have failures, you're ok. They talked about my steps, letters, and interesting stuff on my application. Awesome letters from multiple writers will get you very far.

 

[jansport]

thats for the advice. PS is where it belongs. Do letters really matter? For the few very small specialties (ie Derm) I know they do if you are getting a letter from somebody the program director knows or if you are getting a letter from the program director, but i thought they barely matter at all for larger specialties... from my understanding everyone gets great letters. attendings don't write bad ones, especially in larger specialties where the readers have zero idea know who the writers are and the writers have no credibility they need to uphold and can write "best medical student ever" every single time

 

[gutonc]

thats for the advice. PS is where it belongs. Do letters really matter? For the few very small specialties (ie Derm) I know they do if you are getting a letter from somebody the program director knows or if you are getting a letter from the program director, but i thought they barely matter at all for larger specialties... from my understanding everyone gets great letters. attendings don't write bad ones, especially in larger specialties where the readers have zero idea know who the writers are and the writers have no credibility they need to uphold and can write "best medical student ever" every single time

This is a common misconception and completely false. Letters do matter. PDs do read them. A great letter is good, a very good letter is better than nothing and anything less is a red flag.

And to speak to your original question, put it in the PS, but only if it's a clinical grade that somebody will care about. If you're going into IM and you got a crap OB grade, forget about it, write about why you're going to be an awesome internist.

If you're going into OB and you got a crap OB grade, you'd best explain it...in fact, your entire PS should be pretty much nothing but an explanation of why you stunk up the joint in the specialty you want to go into and how you turned it around.

If it's a pre-clinical grade, it will be explained in your MSPE and you should just get on with your life.

 

[hikikomori]

This is just anecdotal... I applied to two specialties, one was more competitive than the other. I could tell the quality of the letters from the caliber of interviews that I got. I got better invites from the more competitive specialty. Later I found out that my letters were indeed much much better for the more competitive specialty. How did I find out? The interviewers told me... some actually read them to me... both specialties. So yea, bad letters could kill your application. So, follow your instinct!

 

[jansport]

What is a "bad letter"? And how do you guys get "bad letters"? I just don't understand how you would end up submitting a "bad letter," when you choose who writes them, and basically have seen how these people write based on their clinical evaluations on you in the past. And who would write a bad letter anyway, unless they really hated you? There is a range obviously... "worked hard, took good H+Ps, would make a great resident" vs "best medical student ever in my 40 years as an attending, you should be thrilled to have him/her in your program", but both are good right?

 

[hikikomori]

What is a "bad letter"? And how do you guys get "bad letters"? I just don't understand how you would end up submitting a "bad letter," when you choose who writes them, and basically have seen how these people write based on their clinical evaluations on you in the past. And who would write a bad letter anyway, unless they really hated you? There is a range obviously... "worked hard, took good H+Ps, would make a great resident" vs "best medical student ever in my 40 years as an attending, you should be thrilled to have him/her in your program", but both are good right?

If you are applying to psych, for example, and your letter says 'jimmy is quiet and shy, but his medical knowledge is above that of his peers..", it is probably not a strong letter for psych. It is not necessarily bad, but it doesn't highlight your good quality as much. Likewise, if you are applying to surg, your letter says you need a lot of instructions in the OR but otherwise smart, it's not a bad letter, but you kind of want to be perceived dexterous for surg. And you waive your letters, so you have no clues whats in there.