To speak of illness or not?

[asleepawake]

I'm currently in an MA program and in the process of applying to PhD programs.

My undergraduate GPA is not very good. It is about 3.15 and slightly lower in my majors and minor. I am doing much better in my MA program.

During my time in undergrad, I struggled with health problems which caused my attendance to suffer. Some grades suffered a lot from this while others did not (it depended mostly on how seriously the instructor took this issue). I did not tell professors of my illness. However, there is no clear-cut break on my transcript. It isn't like I had one bad semester during which I was in treatment. Rather, I had chronic problems that made regular attendance difficult, and I felt okay at the time with my mediocre grades because I hadn't yet figured out what I wanted to do. The low grades are sporadic.

I'd really rather not mention this to adcoms, as I don't really think it is their business and I'd prefer not to be pigeonholed as sick or unstable, but I do believe that my GPA would be very different if I had never had the disorder. As much as I don't want to explain this, I also don't want anyone looking at my undergraduate transcript and thinking that it is a reflection of my drive, intelligence, or capabilities.

Should I mention these struggles briefly somewhere, or should I simply avoid the topic? I choose to avoid the topic when I applied to master's programs, but I still do not really know how my GPA may have hurt my applications.

Edited September 6, 2011 by asleepawake

[dimanche0829]

When did the bad grades occur in undergrad? Most programs are primarily interested in grades received during your junior and senior years of undergrad; however, if you've completed a master's degree since then, they will be more interested in the grades received during your graduate studies. How have your grades been since your struggle? If you are able to show that your grades improved since the issue, you should be able to slide by without going into explicit details. If, on the other hand, your grades have been consistently up/down, or just down, then you might want to elaborate on the problem. You shouldn't have to say "I had XXXXX diagnosis and XXXXX symptoms," but you should address that there had been medical circumstances beyond your control. You should also be prepared to explain the steps you are taking/have taken to ensure that you will be able to successfully complete a PhD program. I hope this helps - even just a little. Good luck!

[dimanche0829]

Also, FWIW, just remember that most Lit programs take a holistic approach with applications; in other words, your GPA alone isn't necessarily going to be enough to either reject/admit you. Make sure you are able to provide strong LORs, a solid writing sample, and clear SOP. Your GRE scores, ideally, will be better than average, but that's a given!

[Kitkat]

My question is this, are your issues with your health an issue that has either gone away/ something that you have learned to deal with in relation to your studies? I am assuming that it is, since you are doing better with you masters studies. If that is the case, then I would say very briefly, you had some health issues in undergrad, but part of it was also that you were not as focused as you should have been in the future. That you are doing your masters now, as they can see you are much more focused now with your studies, and what you want to do. I think that if you put it in those terms, you should not be pigeonholed in anyway. If the health problems and lack of focus are something that have been dealt with, and are now no longer a problem now, then they shouldn't be an issue with adcomms.