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School Statement Strategies |
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Explaining
Blemishes
Certain parts of your application
may call for an explanation. Such aspects might include any of the following:
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Undergraduate grades
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Entrance exam scores
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Deficiency in the number of letters
of recommendation submitted
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Lack of work experience
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Lack of extracurricular activities
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Why you are applying again after
being denied previously
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Gaps in the chronological account
of your education or employment
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Disciplinary action by an institution
of higher education
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Criminal record
Under what circumstances should you
use your personal statement to explain a particular deficiency, weakness, or
other blemish? First of all, the application might explicitly invite you to
explain deficiencies, weaknesses, aberrations, or any other aspect of the application
that might not accurately reflect your abilities or potential and fitness for
graduate study. Almost without exception, schools ask specifically about the
last two items above (see Disclosing Skeletons in Your Closet below).
Although most applications do not explicitly provide room for such explanations
of the other items, the schools nevertheless permit and generally encourage
applicants to provide brief explanations. Most schools suggest that you attach
an addendum to your personal statement for this purpose, reserving the personal
statement itself for positive information about yourself. If you are in doubt
about the policy and preferred procedure of a particular school, contact the
school directly.
Another point you should keep in
mind is whether you have a valid reason. Staying up late the night before the
GRE is not a legitimate reason for a bad performance, while documented sickness
could be. A particularly bad semester could be explained by a death or illness
in the family. If you lack research experience, you might point out the number
of hours you had to work to make college more affordable for you and your family.
There are many more gray areas. For
example, is it worth noting that you simply have a bad history of standardized
testing? Doing so tactfully (in other words, don't rail against the arbitrariness
of tests or demand the right to be considered for your grades alone) can help
the schools understand your exact situation, but it most likely won't have
a substantial effect on their perspective, since they know to take into account
the imprecision of standardized tests. What about the class for which you simply
did not grasp the material, or a subpar GPA during your freshman year? Again,
what you have to say won't constitute an extenuating circumstance, since everyone
has weaknesses and faces the same challenge of adjusting to college. Your best
approach might be to try to transform such blemishes into something positive
by pointing out particular courses in which you performed well, especially
those that were more advanced, more relevant to your intended career path,
or more recent.
Finally, make sure that you do not
take a contentious tone. Don't accuse your teachers of unfair grading standards
or complain about lack of extracurricular opportunities at your school. Be
clear that you're not trying to excuse yourself of responsibility, but emphasize
that you simply want the schools to have the complete picture.
Disclosing
Skeletons In Your Closet
Perhaps you were once the subject
of disciplinary action at your undergraduate college. Should you inform the
school about this in your application? If so, should you include this discussion
in your personal statement? In all likelihood, the application will inquire
about academic discipline as well as a criminal record. You will undoubtedly
be denied admission (or expelled if you are already matriculating) if the school
discovers that you have intentionally concealed disciplinary action or criminal
conviction. The admissions committee may very well overlook that indiscretion
of youth (i.e. during your freshman year of college) if you bring it into the
open and explain the circumstances. Many applicants do not fully appreciate
that admissions officials make every effort to afford applicants the benefit
of the doubt in such cases.
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