Those of you with poor"er" grades. Did you explain them on your PS?

[hellocubed]

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My grades are, unforunately, subpar.
cGPA: 3.55
sGPA: 3.48
With a large upward grade trend: 3.0 first two years, ~3.88 last two years with rising GPA every semester.


I was wondering if it was preferable to discuss my poor performance on my PS. I was told that a PS was a place for a "positive illustration" of yourself, and just am afraid this will muddle it (but not like it isn't already muddled).

It was just immaturity on my part from taking too many responsibilities in the beginning. I learned a lot from the experience, and it shows in my subsequent grades.

 

[gmcguitar4]

The PS gives you the opportunity to explain the lackluster parts of your application. If you feel you will be able to give a good explanation than it would be worth briefly mentioning. Honestly, a ton of people have the same excuse and it is pretty obvious. I wouldn't think it would be necessary to mention dips in GPA unless it was a more significant/unique reason.

 

[theseeker4]

My grades are, unforunately, subpar.
cGPA: 3.55
sGPA: 3.48
With a large upward grade trend: 3.0 first two years, ~3.88 last two years with rising GPA every semester.


I was wondering if it was preferable to discuss my poor performance on my PS. I was told that a PS was a place for a "positive illustration" of yourself, and just am afraid this will muddle it (but not like it isn't already muddled).

It was just immaturity on my part from taking too many responsibilities in the beginning. I learned a lot from the experience, and it shows in my subsequent grades.

Don't waste your PS space talking about why you have below-average numbers. Talk about why you want to be a doctor, and what led you to that. If your grades have something to do with why you want to be a doctor (something happened that no only led you to pursue medicine, but also hurt your grades) address that, but don't dedicate any space to "this is my zit. It is an ugly zit, but despite having this ugly zit on my face, obvious to everyone, my skin is clearing up, as evidenced by all these spots that DON'T have zits, so you shouldn't use this zit as a reason to reject me, despite how ugly it is, and you shouldn't weight it too much in your decision, despite how much I am talking about it here..." etc. You get the point.

 

[Oxygen206]

Don't waste your PS space talking about why you have below-average numbers. Talk about why you want to be a doctor, and what led you to that. If your grades have something to do with why you want to be a doctor (something happened that no only led you to pursue medicine, but also hurt your grades) address that, but don't dedicate any space to "this is my zit. It is an ugly zit, but despite having this ugly zit on my face, obvious to everyone, my skin is clearing up, as evidenced by all these spots that DON'T have zits, so you shouldn't use this zit as a reason to reject me, despite how ugly it is, and you shouldn't weight it too much in your decision, despite how much I am talking about it here..." etc. You get the point.

lol love this analogy.

I had bad grades + solid upward trend. It worked out in my PS that there was a perfect spot to say, "although I sucked, I stopped sucking" (obviously not those words haha). One sentence was PLENTY. Its obvious to them when they see your grades that you improved, so if it doesn't flow well in your essay don't bother.

 

[theseeker4]

lol love this analogy.

I had bad grades + solid upward trend. It worked out in my PS that there was a perfect spot to say, "although I sucked, I stopped sucking" (obviously not those words haha). One sentence was PLENTY. Its obvious to them when they see your grades that you improved, so if it doesn't flow well in your essay don't bother.

LOL, me too, but LizzyM deserves the credit

 

[JCTWP46]

We have very similar gpa's OP, except one bad semester is what brought my averages down. I did not discuss my grades at all in my PS. Like others have advised, I discussed the experience that led me to wanting to become a physician. Hopefully secondaries will have opportunities to explain average grades.

 

[hiyaman]

I applied with almost exactly the same stats and GPA trend as you OP. I chose not to explain them because I didn't really have a good excuse. I went with the general advice to make my application a positive application, and didn't reflect on my negative traits. Plus a lot of secondaries have questions that let you explain about your grades/circumstances.

 

[BoondocksDoc]

I chose not to explain them because I didn't really have a good excuse.

I think this is the key. I'm a non-trad so there's a bit more of a story behind the grades, but if you mention it, you must focus on why you're doing so much better now and why you will do better in med school.

Bad: "This is why I sucked." - focuses on negative attributes.
Good: "After a specific transition (deciding to be premed, experience, maturity) I have stopped sucking." - explains yet also focuses on why you will be successful in the future.

 

[NickNaylor]

The PS gives you the opportunity to explain the lackluster parts of your application. If you feel you will be able to give a good explanation than it would be worth briefly mentioning. Honestly, a ton of people have the same excuse and it is pretty obvious. I wouldn't think it would be necessary to mention dips in GPA unless it was a more significant/unique reason.

I strongly disagree with using your PS to do this except in truly extraordinary situations. Using your very limited space to try to explain away poor academic performance for what amounts to not working hard enough for most people - yes, I know you had "all that stuff" going on, but that's still the root cause - is a poor decision. The PS is about the experiences you've had that have driven you to medicine. One's reasons for getting poor grades very seldom has anything to do with that.

Some people had legitimate life events that are worth explaining. Even then, though, I'm not sure that the PS is the place to do it.

 

[alexrgross]

Never. Poor grades and being a physician are mutually exclusive, so do not cite that anywhere writing an essay about "why medicine?" Interviewers of secondaries will ask about poor performance directly, if they want to know. NEVER write anything about grades in the PS, if you want to discuss disadvantages and hardship, okay, leave grades out of it.

 

[darkjedi]

A 3.55 is not terrible enough to warrant being addressed in your PS. If anything it will draw unnecessary attention to it. Don't worry about it, just make sure the rest of your application is strong.