How to explain past failures in personal statement

[kpr002]

I'm wanting to return back to graduate school and finish up my degree.  I was enrolled in a program, but I had a horrible advisor who didn't do his job of being my research mentor.  He left me to struggle and I had to end up leaving his lab and left the university altogether.  I decided that I want to return to another program/school and start anew.  The problem I'm having is how to formulate my past experience without blaming my professor or cutting him down too much?

[sjoh197]

If the reason for you leaving was in fact that your mentor left you to float.... perhaps you could mention this extremely briefly... (don't go on and on) and then state that you believe, after talking with "such and such" professor at "such and such" program, "such and such" program is much more dedicated to its student... and so on.

The lack of involvement from my previous advisor left me attempting, but unable to continue my pursuit of blah blah blah. After talking with Dr. X, I can see that this department puts more effort and care into the mentoring of their students, and I believe that I would be a much better fit. 

 

Or something :/

[fuzzylogician]

19 minutes ago, sjoh197 said:

IThe lack of involvement from my previous advisor left me attempting, but unable to continue my pursuit of blah blah blah. After talking with Dr. X, I can see that this department puts more effort and care into the mentoring of their students, and I believe that I would be a much better fit. 

I would definitely advise you not to cast blame on anyone else, however justified it might be. It never reads well. I would say you left because of a compatibility issue with your advisor and/or program, and keep it vague. I would not say anything about being unsupported or poorly advised. The people you are talking about are colleagues (and perhaps friends) of the people who would be reading the SOP, and you don't want to put them in an awkward position. Especially if some time has passed between the previous experience and this application season, I would just stick to a short vague statement, followed by a "since then I've been doing [awesome things], and more recently I've decided to again pursue a graduate degree, with renewed resolve. I am confident that Uni X has the kind of supportive environment that will allow me to succeed" or some such. (Also, make sure that this is true, and the kind of advising at the schools you're applying to really is what you need, so you don't end up with an advisor like you had before!)

[sjoh197]

Despite my previous statement, i agree with fuzzy that it is best not to blame others, even if you believe it is their fault... it reflects poorly on you. However, some people on here can be stubborn and will indeed blame. 

[fuzzylogician]

You can, and sometimes you will be entirely correct. But even if everyone around *knows* someone is a bad advisor, being the one to say it will almost never do you any favors. It's better to remain vague, and as much as possible find a way to talk about what happened that sounds like an objective problem and was solved in a reasonable way and isn't likely to be a problem again in the future. So things like change in interests so that they are no longer supported by the department, a personal issue that's since been resolved, or a general compatibility issue with the department might work best. 

[babur]

I had a lot of stuff that I felt was glaringly awful about my application, and the first draft of my SOP was like 75% groveling shame and apologies for my terrible performance.  With each person who gave me feedback on my SOP, the percentage of it devoted to explaining myself got shorter, and in the final draft it was literally one sentence that went something like  "I had some health problems as an undergraduate, so I took time off school for treatment before returning to classes."  All the bad grades and withdrawals and extra time, etc. ended up being adequately explained by one vague sentence, I had great results, and no one ever asked for details.  I honestly think it's less important what you say than how much space you devote to it.  If it's a large part of your statement, it will be a large part of how they see you.  Keep it short and positive, and say something like "Unfortunately the fit with my previous program and adviser was not as good as I had hoped, and I ultimately withdrew from studies.  This experience gave me a lot of valuable information about the kind of program that would be right for me.  I want to work in a lab with a high level of cooperation and collaboration, which is why I'm excited by the work being done at X lab on blah blah."  People can read between the lines.

[Crucial BBQ]

On December 7, 2015 at 4:47 PM, babur said:

People can read between the lines.

Exactly why only one or two vague lines are sufficient.