5 Ws on transcript... how badly am I screwed on grad school prospects?

[madasahatter]

Hello! I'm a Religious Studies major/Philosophy minor hoping to apply to Harvard Divinity School and several other grad schools when the time comes.

The second half of my freshman year was difficult in terms of mental health and due to severe depression, I ended up in the emergency room and had a hard time recovering afterwards. During Winter term, when the depression began, I withdrew from three classes. During Spring term (shortened classes), I withdrew from two more for a total of five. Summer term, I took some time off to rethink things and I came back Fall term ready to face things and turn it around. None of these were classes having to do with my major, but still: five withdraws is five withdraws, and that can't be good.

My GPA is 3.72 with a 4.0 for my major classes and I have some experience as a TA/RA that I'm hoping will allow for good letters of recommendation to make up for it. I have also never failed a class and the lowest grade I ever got was a C+ in Psychology the semester I had the breakdown. Do the five withdraws pretty much sink my ship as far as grad school is concerned, though? Should I explain what happened, or would it be worse if they knew I was hospitalized for depression? Any of you guys have similar situations?

[drivingthoughts]

In my opinion, you will be fine as long as you tell your story well in your statement of purpose and maybe even have your letters of rec. speak to your tremendous recovery.  I had a disastrous undergrad GPA - 2.55, with my freshman year pulling out a 1.01 GPA. But both of my major GPAs were good, and I had excellent, specific, detailed, letters of recommendation. I was admitted to an M.Div program under "academic probation" with the requirement that I pull off my first semester higher than a 3.3, which I easily accomplished, and I went from there to where I am now, which is a nice place.

Again, I don't think that being hospitalized for depression is something against you, especially if you can present it as part of your story of how you got to where you are today and what you want to do with your studies in the future. Definitely don't hide anything, you don't want interpretive transcript reading to be happening. 

Either way, blessings to you; as a bonus, most divinity schools / seminaries I know of have access to good self-care options.

[xypathos]

I have a similar UG background - disastrous Freshman year, better Soph, and then Jr-Sr I kept a 3.9 GPA. I was offered academic fellowships to all of the M* programs I was accepted at. Admittedly it helps that divinity schools tend to have a 50%'ish acceptance rate but also rebounding your final years of UG show that you're adapting well. As long as you apply broadly and explain your situation when needed, you'll do well.

[Averroes MD]

I think you're OK but you may want to polish your story about what happened. What you don't want to do is look unstable in any way, shape, or form. So, it should be clear that this a one-time difficult time you went through and it was a long, long time ago, and you are now a changed and successful person. Just my opinion.

[madasahatter]

Okay that makes sense. I'll definitely try to explain in the statement of purpose--would it be good to mention specifics or just say it was a medical issue and leave it vague? Also: as far as grad school prospects go, which ones would you recommend applying to that are in reach. Eventually I would like to go into teaching and am particularly interested in studying at Harvard Divinity School but maybe that's a bit of a "wishful thinking" option. What would be some more realistic places to consider? If it helps, my degree's emphasis is in Greek New Testament so I wanted to continue studying something in that ballpark, maybe early Christian history or something.

[11Q13]

I had 5 or so Ws, a 3.72 GPA, and major in Bible. I attended HDS. If you say your Ws were due to health issues, you'll be fine if the rest of your app is strong.