<p>Hi. Because of some personal problems I was having in the beginning of college (anxiety and depression), I didn't do as well in some of my classes. Is it ok to include this information in my personal statement for graduate school as an explanation or will the information worry the graduate schools? Thanks!</p>
<p>These issues are certainly understandable but they have no place in personal statement. This is your chance to communicate to the admissions committee what brought you to this point in your life where you want to pursue a graduate degree in their department. I suggest you include descriptions of formative experiences and identify specifics that make you want to pursue research in their department.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I’ll add in a quick note that “formative” means “no earlier than undergrad”. They don’t care that an apple hit you on your head when you were 8 and so you were inspired to dedicate your life to physics</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply guys, but how else to explain the bad grades?</p>
<p>Don’t bother</p>
<p>Focus on the positives.</p>
<p>I’d point out, as well, a somewhat critical consideration that others appear to have missed: many graduate programs require not just a “personal statement,” but a personal essay AND a short piece called a Statement of Purpose. There’s a pretty substantial difference between the two.</p>
<p>The Statement of Purpose tends to run more along the lines of what belevitt described in his/her response: it’s a short essay describing what (specifically) interests and excites you within your proposed field of study, and why you feel that University X is the best place to pursue those particular interests. In this piece, admissions committees are looking for evidence that you have planned for your future at their university–NOT for information about the challenges you may have faced in the past. Accordingly, information about your prior hardships would be out of place, here. </p>
<p>The Personal Statement, however, is another thing entirely. In your personal statement, you’re prompted to describe the circumstances that led you to apply for graduate programs in the first place. This, unlike the Statement of Purpose, is an IDEAL place to reflect upon the challenges you may have faced in former years. Did your struggle with depression and anxiety help you to narrow your focus, in preparation for graduate study? Did it help you to isolate a specific area of interest? Did it transform you, as an individual, in a positive way?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t use the depression and anxiety as an explanation for the grades. No admissions committee is looking for you to make excuses, and they already know that the grades are there: they’ve seen your transcript, and if you made any improvement grade-wise after the period you’re describing, they already know about it. Instead of trying to lessen the impact of your grades, I would emphasize the positive changes that have taken place since that period–NOT the positive changes in your grades, but the positive changes within yourself. How did you decide what you wanted to pursue, as a graduate? What inspired you to dedicate your life to your field? If your depression and anxiety contributed to those decisions, by all means, include them; if not, you should feel free to leave them aside.</p>
<p>The Statement of Purpose and the Personal Statement, together, represent the trajectory of your intellectual growth: the Personal Statement illustrates your past, while the Statement of Purpose works to outline your future. Leave the depression and anxiety, as well as any other details of your past, out of the Statement of Purpose–they have no place there. In the Personal Statement, however, as long as they’ve exerted some degree of influence upon your intellectual and social development–and as long as you include them as evidence of a positive transformation, rather than an attempt to soften or excuse the grades–I’d say they’re fair game. Good luck!</p>