PEOPLE!!!
It's not hard/conflicting to be straight and very religious. Please check your privileges before you make insensitive comments.
Nothing about my sexual orientation or anything remotely relevant is written anywhere in my application. I'm just saying if they ask me about some performance on my records that didn't meet their standards, I am probably not going to hide my reasons. I'm just trying to figure out a way to disclose it professionally.
I support the LGBTQ community as I am part of it, but I don't know if I feel passionately about being an activist within the dental community, so saying that I would try to advance our community within dentistry would be a lie. I feel that passion with women and people who can't afford dental care.
Think this: someone who is depressed. They go through depression- they know what it's like, and how much it can affect all aspects of their life. They want to be dentist. Is dentistry related to mental health? Perhaps remotely, but this person just went through it, and that doesn't mean that this person would want to be a hardcore activist for mental health. They just understand how hard it is and can be very supportive of people who are seeking treatment.
I don't know why I am responding to your comments, but based on what I understand,
You had a bad year in school, bad grades....
You had a moment in your life where you got to know yourself, and matured and became one. And because of this self finding you had to look away from school.
This is what I understand about the problem.
Now,
Since you are applying to a professional graduate program, where background checks are done and best applicants are chosen as the next role model in a community,
Dental programs will wonder why the drop of grades, duh.... But simply putting down what you wrote before "good stuff" is not enough.... You are not the only person who went through self-reflecting moments in life which distracted ones self from school.....
How has your problem and resolution made you a better person for society.....
We all go through problems in life, but we must find a peaceful resolution, and learn from that experience, and hopefully share that valuable experience one day with someone who is going through the same/similar scenario.....