Will schools understand a drop in grades due to interview season (reapplication)

[TheShaker]

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So I have to face the very real possibility that I will have to reapply. The problem is that this semester I have missed a good chunk of classes due to inconveniently scheduled interviews so my grades dipped a bit during the last round of midterms. I am around the B range in most of my classes and I foresee my cGPA lowering a good bit as well as a dip in my GPA trend. If I reapply, will schools understand this damage or will they still count this as a negative?

 

[bluestreaks]

I think the explanation may help, but I don't think it'll cover entirely for it, unfortunately. But that's just my opinion, and I hope I'm wrong.

 

[music2doc]

So I have to face the very real possibility that I will have to reapply. The problem is that this semester I have missed a good chunk of classes due to inconveniently scheduled interviews so my grades dipped a bit during the last round of midterms. I am around the B range in most of my classes and I foresee my cGPA lowering a good bit as well as a dip in my GPA trend. If I reapply, will schools understand this damage or will they still count this as a negative?

How big of a drop? They're not going to excuse you for interviews, but if it was only, say a .2-.3 drop, probably not a big deal. >0.5, you may have some 'xplaining to do. Keep your grades up. Do whatever it takes to keep them up if you might have to reapply.

 

[TheShaker]

How big of a drop? They're not going to excuse you for interviews, but if it was only, say a .2-.3 drop, probably not a big deal. >0.5, you may have some 'xplaining to do. Keep your grades up. Do whatever it takes to keep them up if you might have to reapply.

I don't see it dropping more than 0.1. It won't wreck my GPA but may leave a conspicuous dip in my grade trend and I see that hurting my future application.

 

[Mt Kilimanjaro]

I don't see it dropping more than 0.1. It won't wreck my GPA but may leave a conspicuous dip in my grade trend and I see that hurting my future application.

I don't see 0.1 as conspicuous.

 

[music2doc]

I don't see it dropping more than 0.1. It won't wreck my GPA but may leave a conspicuous dip in my grade trend and I see that hurting my future application.

I'm not talking about a change in cum GPA >0.5. I mean a change in semester GPA. So if you've been at 3.7 consistently for 7 semesters and your last recorded AMCAS semester is a 3.1, they're going to notice that and likely expect some explanation. On the other hand, if you've been at a 3.6 the whole time and this is a 3.4, that's a relatively minor change and likely to go largely unnoticed.

 

[TheShaker]

I'm not talking about a change in cum GPA >0.5. I mean a change in semester GPA. So if you've been at 3.7 consistently for 7 semesters and your last recorded AMCAS semester is a 3.1, they're going to notice that and likely expect some explanation. On the other hand, if you've been at a 3.6 the whole time and this is a 3.4, that's a relatively minor change and likely to go largely unnoticed.

Oh, I see. I've been floating around ~3.8 for all of my semesters but a ballpark estimate for this semester would be around 3.4-3.6.

 

[Narmerguy]

Oh, I see. I've been floating around ~3.8 for all of my semesters but a ballpark estimate for this semester would be around 3.4-3.6.

That depends a lot on what you've gotten. If you've had a 3.7 before, and get a 3.6 this semester, probably no comment. If you've always gotten above a 3.75, and this semester you get a 3.4, that will probably be noticed. Even if they want an explanation, you don't necessarily have to say that it was because you applied unsuccessfully before the previous season. You can just talk about the specific difficulties of the course or something else along those lines.

 

[galaxyx]

A lot of schools will weigh your first three years more heavily anyway if you're still within the "traditional" time range. Because most of the applicants will only have 3 years of school, to get the most objective look at you, they'll compare the first 3 years of everyone then look into more detail as needed.
Some schools like University of Washington have an actual weighted metric that they use.