<p>I've always heard that its a bad idea to use your college essay as a place to "make excuses" or explain why you got bad grades, but I'm kind of thinking about doing so in mine.
As a freshman and sophomore I got mainly As with only one or 2 Bs. But this year (junior year) that has switched to one or two As and mostly Bs. Its not that i find the work much harder or anything like that, but there's been a lot of family trouble for me this year. I'm not going to get too much into it but basically my sister said that she was suicidal and spent a period of time in a hospital for it. Because of it I was really distracted. Do you think it would be worthwhile to mention such events in my application so that they understand I had a difficult this year?</p>
<p>My advice is to use the personal statement to be personal, detailed, and revealing about yourself. If you wish to speak about your grades this year, my advice is to write a supplemental statement. Usually there is a question along the lines of “Is there anything else that you wish the Admissions Committee to know about you?”. That is the place, imo, for you to speak about your grades or family situation, if you wish to speak about them.</p>
<p>THanks! I dont know exactly what they ask you on a college application, so i didn’t know if there would be any other avenue to explain the situation other than through the essay. Id like to dedicate my essay describing myself/what kind of student I am, you know the typical stuff rather than explaining everything</p>
<p>bump…
does anyone else have any suggestions?</p>
<p>Personally, I think the family situation and how you managed to get through it could be a great essay topic. </p>
<p>You can also ask your GC to mention the special circumstances around your grades in her recommendation (assuming you are applying to schools that require recommendations.)</p>
<p>For your personal statement, focus on the prompt that they give you. Explaining grades and such are for a supplemental paper that they should ask you for as optional. Unless you can connect your family problems to the prompt well, then don’t do it. FOCUS FOCUS FOCUS on the prompt and make sure what you write is directly related to the prompt. </p>
<p>If you would like an example, I can send you my personal statement that I wrote for NYU-SCPS. I know you can’t take it because it’s not generic at all, but you can get a really good sense of how everything in my personal statement connects with each other and the prompt.</p>
<p>This seems like something to put under the “Additional Information” section. That’s what I did, to explain why my freshman and sophomore grades were low (though I did say that it was still my responsibility, regardless of circumstance, and that I was dedicated to doing better, which I think helped).</p>
<p>would it be a good idea to mention my family troubles to my guidance counselor who could then relay the information in the recommendation letter he has to write for me?</p>