Mention reason for poor semester?

Graduate School
1

Hello everyone.

I’m a senior MS student in CS and I want to apply for a PhD. My GPA for the first semester of my master’s studies was around 3.7, but a family emergency during my second semester caused my grades to fall closer to 3.2-3.1. I’m looking to finish my last two semesters with good grades, but the deadline for PhD applications is approaching, so I thought about putting a mention of the reason for my poor performance that one semester.

Is it worthwhile to do this? If I do, what’s the best place to mention this? Also, one of my professors is aware of the troubles I was having at that time—should I ask him to mention this in his recommendation letter?

2

Yes, and yes. You can mention it briefly in one to two sentences in your personal statement, explaining that a family emergency caused your grades to dip but pointing to an upward trend in performance or your excellent performance beforehand or whatnot. ANd yes, you can ask your recommender to cover it in his letter - lends it more credence.