The "Disastrous" Semester

[kinokochan]

How many of you have one horrific semester that's become an eyesore on your transcript? I sure do. The spring semester before I went on study abroad, I had a terrible time at home. (The semester before I had straight As...sigh.) My parents were threatening divorce and told me if they did divorce I would have to quit school. I had a nervous breakdown, dropped two classes and failed two more, and it brought my GPA down to 3.1 from a 3.6. Thankfully, my parents worked things out and I managed to go abroad, but the grades I got (straight As, no less!) didn't transfer, just the credits, so my sordid GPA didn't go up. D'oh!!

I've heard so much conflicting advice on how to deal with that one terrible semester, from explain it before they ask, to ignore it completely....I went with the latter route and didn't address it at all in any of my essays. I figured, well, if they look at it, the semester before I had straight As, and the year after I had straight As...maybe they'll realize what happened?

[Dreams]

Many students have the terrible semester or few classes in college. And some choose to explain it while some don't. I think either way you are fine as long as your grades after that period were consistently improving. The graduate admissions committees are smart enough to see this. The only time where I would think it very necessary to provide an explanation would be if you have several Fs on your transcript, which it sounds like you don't.

And just to note, I had two bad semesters on my transcript that I did not explain and am doing just fine this admissions cycle.

[UnlikelyGrad]

I had two disastrous years, and it didn't seem to stop me from being admitted...

[rae]

I had an entire disastrous year (followed by a few more disastrous quarters...) and I still got into a program I am excited about. I did not explain my grades in any way, I let my letters of recommendation and my research experience speak for itself. I figured if an adcom wanted to know more, they would ask. I think you'll be okay.

[liszt85]

I had a more than disastrous semester I ended up with 2 Fs and a few Ds and one C, and a dismal 3.6/10 Semester Performance Index (due to many reasons, family troubles, plans to drop out of college to do music, etc). My Cumulative after that semester was a horrible 5.2/10. My grades then improved steadily and am on a respectable (for my university) 7.0/10 and was admitted into quite a few nice grad schools, mainly due to the research work I'd carried out independent of my undergraduate coursework. As long as you have improving grades and have demonstrated *ample aptitude for research*, you should do fine.

[boneh3ad]

I had two consecutive bad semesters and briefly addressed it in my personal statement. A couple profs advised me to do that, one of whom was on the admissions committee at UIUC until a year or two ago. Basically, if you can explain the semesters and put a positive spin on it somehow, or explain how it made you a better person or somehow fits into your journey towards grad school, then go for it. Just don't dwell. That was the most important thing that my profs told me. Don't focus on it, just mention it in passing if you choose to mention it at all.

[was1984]

I had a very bad semester and a mediocre one at the end of my degree, unfortunately, and it is what I constantly worry about for the last 3-4 months. I started working 30 hours a week in my field and wasn't capable of managing my time, which I explained in my SOP, but my GPA dropped from ~3.6 and finally settled at around 3.3.

The first of the two semesters I had like a 1.8, with 2 D's, the second semester (my last) I had a 3.0 with a C, a couple of B's, and an A. But, I took a graduate course last summer at a highly ranked school and got an A in it while working 50 hours a week, so I hope this is at least some consolation for my position. I put a positive spin on it in my SOP as a learning process that I've competed and used the improvement over time (bad, mediocre, excellent) as evidence.

Before those last two semesters I had only made 1 C in my entire degree plan.

People always give that clause "as long as it is improving" and I cringe. I took the meat of my coursework my junior year, and was just taking additional credits my senior year that I didn't really enjoy. That may explain some of it.

I also have 2 years of full time work experience, so I hope that helps some too.

Anyone want to make me feel better? Has anyone in a similar situation gotten in a grad school?

[fuzzylogician]

I had a disastrous semester my last semester of undergrad that made it seem as if I had bad skills in a certain area that's very relevant to my research. Fortunately I took a fourth year in which my grades improved back and I was able to show that I actually *can* do research, so I chose not to address this lapse in my SOP. I am doing just fine this application season so I would say the one bad semester didn't hurt me that much.

Thankfully, my parents worked things out and I managed to go abroad, but the grades I got (straight As, no less!) didn't transfer, just the credits, so my sordid GPA didn't go up. D'oh!!

The same situation happened to me. I decided to include original transcripts from my year abroad even though the credits transferred, so the programs I applied to could see my grades. It didn't affect my GPA, but it seemed to do the trick.

[liszt85]

McGill however let me know that my grades hurt my chances at getting financial aid which is why I was unsuccessful in my application.. So they do hurt you depending on the university. There are places which have not given importance to my grades due to the other parts of my application which are strong and professors have written to me saying that I've been one of their best applicants. So its been a mixed response so far. So the idea for people like me would be to apply to various different places and hope for the best.

[shannonista]

My grades are somewhat inconsistent ... I got 4.0 in first year, but I had my "disastrous" and horrendous 2nd year when I went abroad to a non-English speaking country . My GPA after I getting back has been pretty solid. Thankfully, only the credits from abroad were transferred to my transcript. I am now worried however that admissions committe might demand the transcript from my exchange year(the original copy from the school abroad) since it is clearly indicated on my transcript: "CR- exchange program....". Did this happen to anyone? I am having nightmares about this....

[IRdreams]

My undergrad abroad office told me to submit my grad transcript in general. Not that this was very useful because the British Uni I was at just sends a list of tutorial topics and not many comments on my work on those topics. As far as bad semesters, I had a friend who had a tremendously bad year and now has been admitted fullride into the program of her dream. She improved after that year, took courses that demonstrate her strength in her field, did some research. All the usual things that make you a good grad applicant also make up for a bad semester or even a year.

[wildcatsfan86]

None of my grades were bad per se, but there were 3 semesters in a row where they were lower than other semesters. During those semesters I experienced the death of a friend I'd known literally since birth, and we were dealing with significant family health issues at home that required me to go home pretty much every weekend to help. I covered this in 2 sentences in the closing paragraph of my personal statement, summing up the fact that I'm a hardworking student and had achieved a pretty high GPA while balancing various things I'm involved in on campus, despite these situations. I don't know that those slight deviations in my grades would have worsened my chances, but I felt it should be covered, just in case.