I’m applying to several schools as a fall transfer and I have two extenuating circumstances that have both had a noticeable and anomalous impact on my GPA. I was hospitalized for a suicide attempt in spring of my junior year, and my grandmother (the only other person I lived with and my sole caretaker) was diagnosed with cancer fall of my freshman year of college and passed away in spring. During and after my hospitalization, I went from a 3.8 in a rigorous program to failing four classes (though those Fs shouldn’t show on my high school transcript due to academic accommodations put in place by my school, it’ll either show as no grade or look like I only took a half load of classes). When I was taking care of my grandmother my freshman year, my GPA was lower than a 3.0, but every subsequent term I’ve gotten at least a 3.5.
I feel the admissions committee will be unable to make an accurate assessment of whether I’m a good candidate for admission without this information, especially the hospitalization in high school because the drop (and subsequent rise in grades my senior year) is so dramatic. I could focus on these circumstances in my essay, but I feel there are more important aspects of my personality and my fit with the school that should be addressed in a transfer essay. I’ve considered briefly putting a note at the end of my essay, along the lines of “just so you know, I was hospitalized in 2014 and my grandma died in 2016”, but I don’t know if that’s a big no-no in a college essay.
I’m sure there are other students filling out applications who have experienced similarly extenuating life events. There is no place on these applications where students are invited to share such circumstances (unless there is one and I’m just missing it). Is providing an explanation for my two GPA drops as important as I think it is? Where is the most appropriate place to include this information in the application?
I’m not the one to give you advice but I want to say that I am very sorry for your loss and all that you have been through. I hope you are surrounding yourself with people who love and care about you. >:D<
What year/how many credits will you have when you transfer? What is your overall college GPA? Your post is very hard to follow. Are you at a community college and have to transfer to a 4year? Depending on where you are in college, they may not care about your HS GPA.
I don’t think telling schools you were hospitalized for a suicide attempt is a good idea. It will make them less likely to admit you. I’d stick with having been hospitalized for X period of time without giving the specific reason, and also be fairly general with illness of a close family member. TMI doesn’t get you points in this situation. Be sure you also apply to schools that match your actual stats, not just ones that match the stats you’d aspire to if these things hadn’t happened.
You could put a note at the end of the essay, or if there is an Additional Infornation section, put it in there. But you can’t realistically expect it to boost your chances much, if at all.
@intparent that’s a really good point, thanks. Could mental illness really affect the admissions decision? Disability is a protected class, right? In any case, better to not open that door to begin with, since you never know who will read the essay. Being less specific is a really great way to avoid having the explanation sound more like an excuse.
Do you (or does anyone else) think putting a short note at the end of the essay could negatively influence the decision, even if it was short, formal, and not overly specific?
Oh, yes, it could affect it for sure. Colleges are VERY nervous about admitting students who might be suicide risks on campus. Even if you think you are past those issues, colleges do not want to take chances. I don’t think a short, general note would hurt.
For clarification, are you in college (after high school graduation) now, and what class level do you intend to transfer at (i.e. will you be a sophomore (30-59 semester credits) or junior (60+ semester credits) at the time of transfer)?
The higher the class level you will transfer at, the less important your high school record (versus your college record) will be. Some colleges do not consider high school records of junior level transfers.
I agree not to mention your mental health issues. While some schools offer excellent mental health resources for students, others are very budget-conscious in regards to who might cost more to educate.
Unclear, as others are. So you are already in college? You shouldn’t say anything about high school grades. I’m sorry for your loss and hospitalization. However, this information isn’t going to be of much concern to a college, except in a negative way, sorry to say.
It seems that your grandmother’s health issues occurred in college, in which case perhaps an advisor at your current college could add this info as an additional statement. I feel it’s reasonable to mention that you were your grandma’s caregiver, but not your own struggle. It is not a selling point.
Yes, I’m in college at present. I’ll probably be admitted as a junior–I have 120 credits already but they won’t all transfer. I see what’s causing confusion in the first post: the second sentence should read “spring of my junior year of high school”.
My intention is not to discuss these issues at length in the application, and I only elaborated on them in this post because otherwise the responses would all question whether my circumstances were truly extenuating or if I was just lazy. At least since I elaborated nobody is trying to claim I’m a bad student. I hope I’ve made it clear that I’m not interested in sympathy or pity points from the colleges I’m applying to, and I feel mentioning the circumstances is relevant only in the sense that it shows the grades received during the affected semesters were anomalous and due to factors largely outside my control. Of course it’s not a selling point. I’m not trying to make it one.
The tip to not mention mental health issues at all in the application is a good one, because I would have otherwise thought mentioning it briefly without much detail would be fine.
In any case, I think my situation is generally applicable to a lot of students who are applying to schools and have experienced similar GPA-affecting life events. If the school does not provide a place to mention exceptional circumstances, where is the most appropriate place to include them in the application? Or should an applicant never elaborate unless given the opportunity to do so?
Is your current college a community college? If so, then you presumably would be applying to transfer as a junior, since upper level courses to complete a major for a BA/BS degree would be found at four year schools.
If your current college is a four year school, could you complete a BA/BS degree there without transferring?
I’m at a four-year. I’ve already decided to transfer and I have compelling reasons to do so, which are completely irrelevant to this thread. If I wanted advice on whether it’s a good idea to transfer, I would make a thread about that. This thread is about a couple of specific questions, which I asked in the first post and again just above: If the school does not provide a place to mention exceptional circumstances, where is the most appropriate place to include them in the application? Or should an applicant never elaborate unless given the opportunity to do so?
The answers have been given above. There is no most appropriate place to include the mental health problems and ideally a recommender could mention the caregiving role you had during freshman year.
So here’s my take. If your situation affected your college grades can you meet with the AO at the school your transferring to? To me this is a question to ask someone in admissions. Like “this is what happened (talk generally) and it affected my grades. How do I express this when applying to your school”
I think this is a very fair and mature question to ask.
Then follow what they tell you to do.