Decent grades for the first time in 2 years and transferring

<p>Hey guys, </p>

<p>I was originally a biochemistry major for 2 years at a top 100 liberal arts college, nothing too special. I had a horrible gpa of a 2.7. I started to take antidepressants and also changed my major to finance. I just got a 3.68 for my gpa as my first semester as a business major and would like to transfer ideally to umass (isenberg).</p>

<p>I was wondering how colleges would look at this situation. </p>

<p>My grades this past semester were</p>

<p>Microeconomics A-
international business A-
Financial accounting A
Quantitative analysis (Business Stats) A
Environmental Ethics B</p>

<p>Should I talk about my depression situation in my essay? My life has really changed since I got help with my situation. Thanks, any insight is welcome.</p>

<p>No. After the Virginia Tech incident...Cho's depression....I think it would be VERY unwise to write an essay that focuses on how you need medication to control your depression. It may seem horrible...but if I were an admissions counselor, I would rather reject someone with a 4.0 from Princeton than constantly wonder if they might "crack"</p>

<p>that is a completely unnecessary and hypocritical assumption! the simple fact that someone has depression doesnt mean they will get rejected or looked down upon. you think out of a student population of about 30,000 people that cho was the only one that had depression? you can walk around any big campus (even tech after the shooting) and you will see people like cho and simply because they have depression doesnt mean that they would have been rejected or looked less upon if the adcoms knew about it.</p>

<p>to the OP write the essay on whatever you like and be sure to fully convey your situation to the adcom and how the antidepressants helped your grades.</p>

<p>hokie2008, thanks for the reply. There are many people in college with depression and it doesn't mean that they are going to "crack." I just wanted to get some opinions on the topic of writing about it as a college essay.</p>

<p>better to be safe that sorryy you know....people will judge you on a whim</p>

<p>who else is going to judge him instead of the adcoms? telling him that is just the same as telling him that if he is black then the adcoms will look down upon him because statistically black people commit more crimes. or saying that if he is from a middle eastern country then the adcoms will look at him as some terrorist because statistically many modern day terrorists are middle eastern.</p>

<p>the simple statistic that people with depression may be more dangerous than one without depression isnt grounds to judge the character of that person. and if hes looking at a public university then the adcoms are required by law not take that into consideration when viewing his application. theres plenty of essays that people send that has controversial material on it (sexual orientation, political views, etc.), do you think the adcoms will reject them because they are different? especially when its a condition out of his control? ive known people with criminal records that have been accepted to college. dont you think the adoms would have judged them and thrown out their app if your "theory" was true?</p>

<p>the simple fact that other people tell the ones affected to hide their emotions only fuels the misunderstanding that the unaffected people have towards those affected.</p>

<p>i think that if the OP truly believes he can portray himself in the essays then he should be fine. depression is a struggle and the fact that the OP is trying to overcome (and from the looks of it he is doing a good job) is something that should impress the adoms, not make them pass judgement on the OP.</p>

<p>I'm not saying he will crack...and I know a LOT of college students have/had depression. A lot of people are just on a little bit of a heightened alert now, and it may reflect negatively. I didn't say it SHOULD reflect that way, because by all means I seriously seriously doubt that would happen with the OP, but it's just kinda something that happens, even subconsiously.</p>

<p>When I applied for transfer I included a supplementary essay about recovering from my eating disorder. I was concerned about what some of the other commenters were saying; I wondered whether they would think that I would "crack" eventually. I NEEDED to explain it though, because a lot of things would have seemed odd and unaccounted for otherwise. I basically focused on overcoming things. At the end of the essay I explained that I am more appreciative of life and the little things now. I think that if you can explain that you have learned what was wrong and fixed it, showing that you are cognizant in regards to your emotions and experiences, it won't hurt you. The one thing that MAY hurt you is that you haven't been "recovered" for very long. One semester doesn't show them that you have been consistant. You don't really have a choice though, since most schools won't allow transfers who are already juniors.</p>

<p>The truth is that, if you really want to transfer, you too need to explain your situation. It WILL hurt you more if you don't. If I were an adcom sitting in front of an app from a person who jumped from a 2.7 to nearly 3.7 gpa, I would vote for a reject just because I would assume that the one semester effort was for the sake of transferring alone. Without any extra info, I would assume that this was the same as "extracurricular padding," but with academic effort.</p>

<p>So my advice is to explain the situation, but focus on showing them that you really learned from it and know yourself and what makes you depressed now.</p>

<p>Message me if you need a copy reader/editor. =)</p>

<p>Perhaps you may want to research what the transfer rate is for those who wish to attend the program at UMass. This would mean learning the ave. GPA and number of tranfers applying/accepted for the school. You may be ok. Also, it might be helpful to concentrate on the fact that you have changed to a major which is more suited for your interests and goals. Also, imho, biochemistry is a difficult major and the gpa you earned while taking such coursework is respectable. As often, transferring involves showing why the school/program is a good fit for you.</p>