Flunked out of college/explaining bad grades

[rubyslp23]

Hey guys! I've been lurking for a year hoping I'd find someone who has been in a similar situation as I have, butttt I haven't, so I thought I'd post and open it up for discussion.

 

Sooo here's my dilemma. I flunked out of college my freshman year - pretty spectacularly, too. My cousin passed away halfway through my first semester, and I stopped caring about anything education related almost immediately. Second semester I attended classes for MAYBE two weeks before I just stopped going altogether - obviously was dealing with some pretty bad depression, and after all was said and done I ended up with a .5 GPA. Yikes. I took some classes the following year as well and shouldn't have gone back - I ended up with either A's or F's. Basically if I felt I wasn't going to get an A I would stop doing the work, since at the time getting an F for stuff I wasn't doing was better than getting a C for something I worked at...if that makes sense. Perfectionism and depression is a funny mix, hah.  

 

In 2011 I  decided it was time to get my sh*t together and practically started over at a CC. I've maintained a 4.0 GPA since and have a years worth of SLHS classes under my belt with one year to go. Even with my last 85 credits being a 4.0, my cumulative GPA is JUST hitting minimum requirements - 3.0003 or something like that. I've done the math and even if I get a 4.0 for this coming year, I will still end (at max) with a 3.1. RIDICULOUS. I just took the GRE and my scores are decent - not wonderful, but not horrible either. 160 V, 153 Q (haven't gotten writing back, yet).

 

I feel like I've been able to get some decent work experience under my belt - I actually spent 2 years in high school working as a PCA for the cousin that passed away - he was 11 and had a chromosome disorder (and was awesome). After the massive college fail I spent 2 years as a traveling medical assistant in the nursing home/assisted living setting, and after that worked for 1.5 years as a nanny to two young girls. I'm currently an activities assistant at a nursing home (I want to work in mainly geriatrics/adult care). All of these work experiences have led me to speech pathology - I'm sure this is what I want to do! 

 

The thing is, I'm just not sure how to go about explaining myself when it comes time to apply to grad school. I know a lot of people say to quickly skim over your shortcomings and focus on the positive in the SOP, but I'm not sure how to even do that since I was in such a crappy place for such a long time - my instinct is to write a two page explanation before I even begin to discuss WHY I want to be an SLP, but obviously that's out of the question. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice as to how they specifically approached bad grades/scores/anything? 

 

The field is obviously ridiculously competitive and the majority of applicants I've seen have been excelling since high school, and while I feel confident about my abilities now I'm just terrified that my past is going to bite me in the butt. I've yet to hear of someone attempting to get into grad school for SLP after flunking out, so I'm curious what everyone thinks or if anyone else is in the same boat! Any help or advice would definitely be appreciated! THANKS!

 

 

 

[MMRS218]

You will be just fine. I am so very sorry to hear about your cousin, my situation was not the same, but grade-wise I did very poorly in my undergrad as well (failed at least one entire semester and half of several others due to depression). I finished my undergrad with a 2.81 and did close to 4.0 work in my year and a half of post bacc work. I think at the time I applied for grad school, I had a 2.96. I finally got above a 3.0 (3.01!!) following my last semester of post bacc coursework. My GRE scores were similar to yours. I think I had a pretty strong personal statement (I didn't address the specific reason for my poor grades, but just said I had matured and found something I was passionate about and committed to, and that my post bacc grades were evidence I could be successful in this field) and LORs.

 

I will not say the application process was pleasant-I applied to 9 schools and was only admitted to 1, and it was one of the last ones I heard from. I spent a lot of time from late February to late March ugly-crying, wondering how I could have ever been so stupid to even try this, and hating myself for not having my sh*t together in undergrad, but it really only takes one school to say yes for things to work out for you. Good luck and feel free to PM me!

[daisynic]

Hey guys! I've been lurking for a year hoping I'd find someone who has been in a similar situation as I have, butttt I haven't, so I thought I'd post and open it up for discussion.

 

Sooo here's my dilemma. I flunked out of college my freshman year - pretty spectacularly, too. My cousin passed away halfway through my first semester, and I stopped caring about anything education related almost immediately. Second semester I attended classes for MAYBE two weeks before I just stopped going altogether - obviously was dealing with some pretty bad depression, and after all was said and done I ended up with a .5 GPA. Yikes. I took some classes the following year as well and shouldn't have gone back - I ended up with either A's or F's. Basically if I felt I wasn't going to get an A I would stop doing the work, since at the time getting an F for stuff I wasn't doing was better than getting a C for something I worked at...if that makes sense. Perfectionism and depression is a funny mix, hah.  

 

In 2011 I  decided it was time to get my sh*t together and practically started over at a CC. I've maintained a 4.0 GPA since and have a years worth of SLHS classes under my belt with one year to go. Even with my last 85 credits being a 4.0, my cumulative GPA is JUST hitting minimum requirements - 3.0003 or something like that. I've done the math and even if I get a 4.0 for this coming year, I will still end (at max) with a 3.1. RIDICULOUS. I just took the GRE and my scores are decent - not wonderful, but not horrible either. 160 V, 153 Q (haven't gotten writing back, yet).

 

I feel like I've been able to get some decent work experience under my belt - I actually spent 2 years in high school working as a PCA for the cousin that passed away - he was 11 and had a chromosome disorder (and was awesome). After the massive college fail I spent 2 years as a traveling medical assistant in the nursing home/assisted living setting, and after that worked for 1.5 years as a nanny to two young girls. I'm currently an activities assistant at a nursing home (I want to work in mainly geriatrics/adult care). All of these work experiences have led me to speech pathology - I'm sure this is what I want to do! 

 

The thing is, I'm just not sure how to go about explaining myself when it comes time to apply to grad school. I know a lot of people say to quickly skim over your shortcomings and focus on the positive in the SOP, but I'm not sure how to even do that since I was in such a crappy place for such a long time - my instinct is to write a two page explanation before I even begin to discuss WHY I want to be an SLP, but obviously that's out of the question. I was just wondering if anyone had any advice as to how they specifically approached bad grades/scores/anything? 

 

The field is obviously ridiculously competitive and the majority of applicants I've seen have been excelling since high school, and while I feel confident about my abilities now I'm just terrified that my past is going to bite me in the butt. I've yet to hear of someone attempting to get into grad school for SLP after flunking out, so I'm curious what everyone thinks or if anyone else is in the same boat! Any help or advice would definitely be appreciated! THANKS!

 

I am so sorry to hear about your cousin and your difficult experience, but it looks like you are doing wonderful things now. I think I have read around that some people have done this - contact the schools you are interested in and explain everything you wrote on here to them. I think if you tell them that you wanted to take the time to explain your grades, they will give you an option to write in an extra letter (that doesn't take away from you SOP) or you will get the opportunity to tell someone on the phone or e-mail and they will put it in your record. I don't think it is possible for you to just gloss over this part of your life in your SOP; it was a huge part of your life and affected you in numerous ways. Also, the schools that take the time to listen to you and give you a chance to explain yourself are the ones you will want to work with anyway! Good luck to you!

[twinguy7]

I want to first say I am sorry about your cousins passing.  I am also glad you have fought through it and have found ways to cope.  

 

Like Daisynic said, Email program directors now and basically copy and paste what you just shared with us in this thread and ask for advice.  Be completely honest and ask the program if they would look favorably on an applicant with your circumstance, stats, etc.  The programs will be straight up with you and I'm sure you will find that even the "harder to get into" programs would look VERY favorable on your last 60-90 unit GPA and your GRE's are even better than average.  Your experience is another thing that seems favorable as well.  By emailing programs you can also eliminate programs who feel you wouldn't stand a chance in their applicant pool.  

 

I ended my B.A. in Communicative Disorders with an overall GPA of 2.77.  My last 60 GPA was 3.35.  My SLP GPA was 3.28.  I got into 2 schools and wait listed at 3.  

 

MY only question would be....  If you got many F's those first 2 years.....  wouldn't all of those F's been replaced by your A's that you got since returning to school in 2011?  A's and D's can be retaken and eliminated from a transcript/Overall GPA.  I had 2 or 3 in my CC days.  The C's and B's normally cannot be retaken for better grades(depends on the school).  

 

Either way, you will get into a school if you start emailing them now and show your passion and determination early on.  Good Luck!

 

[rubyslp23]

Thank you all so much for all of the advice/kind words! I appreciate it so, so much  I will definitely start narrowing down my list of potential schools and begin getting in touch with the program directors - hopefully it goes well! 

 

@twinguy7 - Thanks so much for the suggestions, and CONGRATS to getting in!! So excited for you

I'm actually really quite confused when it comes to my transcripts. When figuring out my cumulative, I just looked at the transcripts for each school I've taken classes at (four, which is a huge pain in the butt!) and added it up using the all credit points/all attempted credit hours=GPA formula. I'm just not sure if my classes that I retook will count? For example, in that awful freshman year I had a general psych course and wound up with a D, and an intro to sociology course that I got an F in - both of these were worth 4 credits. I eventually retook both and got A's, but it was at a different college and they were only worth 3 credits there. All of my other classes were ones that I ended up not touching again since I was an education major at the time - philosophy, geology, media and society...really random stuff. I'm actually a little excited for the CSDCAS applications just because I'm curious as to what they make of my mess, haha.  

[dSLP]

Hi, I was wondering if you did email program directors and what was the outcome?

[bibliophile222]

@rubyslp23 hasn't posted anything since 2015 so probably still is not an active member, but I did find this post (sorry, don't know how to copy/paste the thread itself):

"I got interviews at Pacific, Utah State, and GVSU (I declined the interview offer because I didn't have the time to travel to Michigan). I got accepted to U of Maine, Utah State, ASU, and MSUM with a wait list at Western Washington. Rejected from all Oregon schools. "

So looks like it turned out okay!  

[hopefulfuturespeechie]

I'm not sure if you are trying to stay in an area, but I know Baylor will let you submit an extra letter explaining a flaw in your application such as your grades from before. Keep your head up!