Should certain things be explained in SoP?

[CallieTrichid]

I'm currently attempting to start writing a few of my statement of purposes--if anything, just for a rough draft or two to get something out and ready for the real thing and do it in advance so I can provide it to my letter of recommendation writers.

I had two bad semesters my duration of my undergraduate career; my second semester sophomore year, I transferred in from a private college (which was way smaller)--I'm not so worried about this because while it was a 2.4 GPA (yikes!), it was, again, the semester I transferred in and it was my sophomore year which they don't seem to really look at.

However, I'm more concerned about my first semester senior year. While I was doing fieldwork in Costa Rica the summer previous to the semester starting, my cousin was hit by a drunk driver and I flew back home (I don't have siblings, so he's about as close as it gets for me). I had to quit my research job at school and I wasn't even sure if I'd be back for that semester (other medical issues kept popping up for him), but things panned out and I was able to. Unfortunately, I was going home quite often and that had a poor effect on my grades. I wound-up getting three B's and two C's, one of which was in my major and really brought it down.

The next semester, he got better and I didn't have to worry as much, and consequently, I did a lot better. I'm hoping that shows that while I did struggle, things got resolved and I was able to pick myself up and carry on.

Without the first semester senior year, my CGPA would be at a 3.37 rather than a 3.1, and my major GPA would be about the same as well. Is this something I should include in my SoP? Or is it better left out? I understand that if I were to include it, I'll have to be careful about how to word it, but if anyone else has been in a similar situation, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on what to do about it.

Edited August 3, 2011 by CallieTrichid

[qbtacoma]

It is always better to include brief mention of why your grades faltered - no more than a sentence or two. Otherwise the adcomm will have no way to know that you were struggling with something legitimate (as opposed to, say, laziness), but if you discuss it too much it winds up sounding like an excuse. And too much space also takes away from the real point of your SOP, which is to outline your fit and future academic research path.

[dimanche0829]

I'm currently attempting to start writing a few of my statement of purposes--if anything, just for a rough draft or two to get something out and ready for the real thing and do it in advance so I can provide it to my letter of recommendation writers.

I had two bad semesters my duration of my undergraduate career; my second semester sophomore year, I transferred in from a private college (which was way smaller)--I'm not so worried about this because while it was a 2.4 GPA (yikes!), it was, again, the semester I transferred in and it was my sophomore year which they don't seem to really look at.

However, I'm more concerned about my first semester senior year. While I was doing fieldwork in Costa Rica the summer previous to the semester starting, my cousin was hit by a drunk driver and I flew back home (I don't have siblings, so he's about as close as it gets for me). I had to quit my research job at school and I wasn't even sure if I'd be back for that semester (other medical issues kept popping up for him), but things panned out and I was able to. Unfortunately, I was going home quite often and that had a poor effect on my grades. I wound-up getting three B's and two C's, one of which was in my major and really brought it down.

The next semester, he got better and I didn't have to worry as much, and consequently, I did a lot better. I'm hoping that shows that while I did struggle, things got resolved and I was able to pick myself up and carry on.

Without the first semester senior year, my CGPA would be at a 3.37 rather than a 3.1, and my major GPA would be about the same as well. Is this something I should include in my SoP? Or is it better left out? I understand that if I were to include it, I'll have to be careful about how to word it, but if anyone else has been in a similar situation, I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on what to do about it.

Hi,

I can definitely relate to your situation. At the end of my sophomore year, my mentally unstable sister threatened to kill herself and her daughter (I always knew my family was nuts!) and then two days later pulled her daughter out of school and disappeared. My grades suffered temporarily, but a detective found them three months later in another country, so I was able to quickly get myself back on track.

I recently spoke at length with a number of professors who participate on my school's adcomm: Basically, if your grades were good before the incident and have improved since the incident, then this will reflect favorably for you and show the adcomm that this was an isolated problem. They will wonder about the temporary decline, though, so you definitely want to mention it in your SOP.

Do talk about what happened and what you learned from the incident, but don't make it the primary focal point. You want to be able to demonstrate the incident as a slight hiccup in your history (after all, you won't be the firt person to have to explain yourself) without making it sound like it still controls your life. Use the rest of your SOP to highlight your achievements and qualifications for your intended grad program, and to discuss your future plans; make it move forward, not backwards.

I hope this helps, and good luck!

Edited August 3, 2011 by dimanche0829

[kiddo]

I would bring up briefly, but in a positive light. Perhaps somewhere in your SOP you have a part discussing your passion or dedication for your proposed course of study? Near the end of that you could mention it and then use it to show you rebounded and overcame the circumstance.

I think the most important thing you can do, however, is let your recommenders know exactly what is going on and ask them to explain this away in their letter. This way you don't have to and you can spend more time in the SOP bringing up good things. "So and so displayed a remarkable ability to rebound after his family travesty, and I noticed his grades jumped right back to where they were before... etc"

Lastly, some applications have space for an addendum. If yours does, consider leaving it out of the SOP entirely and just bringing it up there.

[ThePoorHangedFool]

I think the most important thing you can do, however, is let your recommenders know exactly what is going on and ask them to explain this away in their letter. This way you don't have to and you can spend more time in the SOP bringing up good things. "So and so displayed a remarkable ability to rebound after his family travesty, and I noticed his grades jumped right back to where they were before... etc"

I think this is excellent advice. Your SoPs are your only real first-person opportunity to show adcoms how prepared you are NOW and how determined you are NOW to succeed in their programs, both of which being things that, as other posts have already explained, only need to be supplemented with a brief explanation for any unavoidably noticeable slip-ups in your transcript. If any of your LoR writers had you in class during the period you underwent this experience, they particularly would be able to buffer your temporary slide with more specific examples of how you did the best anyone could have done in your situation while it was all going on, etc., etc.