<p>Ok, my oldest has decided to apply to graduate school. She made the decision for a variety of reasons, some of which I approve of, others which I'm not so sure about, but as it's her decision, of course I intend to do my best to support her. She has asked me to read her letters of intent and SOP and asked for my opinion. I saw some similar discussions about high school grades last year when my son and I were working on his college applications, but I'm not sure how this plays out at the grad school level. Here's the deal. Up until her last semester, my daughter had a very high GPA, both in her major and all around. Her last semester she was involved in a relationship that didn't work out and it got bad. When I say bad, I don't mean emotionally, I mean scary bad, the kind of thing you see in those Lifetime movies. By the time she decided that maybe it would be a good thing to tell mom, the grades had dropped to the point that she could not bring them up to her usual level. This caused her overall GPA to drop, although she still has a 3.4. With the exception of one class, that was a Pass/Fail grade (and she passed) none of these classes were required for her major or to graduate. </p>
<p>When I found out, I convinced her to talk to the assistant dean of her department (a woman) who talked to the dean, and then we visited the Campus Police and spoke to a detective there. She could have dropped the classes, but she's never quit anything before and wouldn't consider it. The department told her she could retake the classes the following semester and replace the grades, but while she did finish the semester (and the school made sure she could do so safely, so while I have had some issues with the school, here they did their part), there was no way anyone could talk her into returning for another semester. This is something she is not comfortable in talking or even thinking about, she wants to forget it ever happened and I think on one level she feels she's to blame, that she overreacted and should have handled the whole thing better. </p>
<p>She feels she will have amazing LOR's, this is not just her thought, but is based on the conversations she had with them when she asked them. She has an internship, is working in her undergrad field and was a semi-finalist in an undergraduate research symposium. She believes her over-all record will speak for itself and is hesitant to include any explanation. I think a 2 or 3 sentence explanation without a lot of detail, ending with, the issue has been resolved and I trust the rest of my record will speak for itself, is called for. I'm afraid that if she just ignores it, the schools will wonder why. I'm interested in hearing the thoughts of some other parents as to what they would advise their child. Thanks in advance.</p>