How open should I be about this in SoP?

[chrisps1992]

My first few semesters of college were full of WFs, Fs, Ds, and Cs. Thereafter, all semesters since have been A's with a few B's. All of those classes from the first few semester, save a few, have been retaken with a grade of A. I know I need to explain what happened these first few semesters in my statement, but it's complicated. During those semesters (and for a while before) my mother was a severe alcoholic and abused prescription medication. There were multiple hospital visits for overdose and alcohol poisoning. Obviously I didn't take it well and that's what happened with my grades. My only hesitation is that it sounds a little "put-offish" to me if I were an admissions member and I saw someone had home with substance abuse in it, but I don't know. Obviously my mother is fully recovered and sober ever since. I just don't know how descriptive I should be about this. Should I say "medical issues" or should I put it all out in the open?

[TakeruK]

6 minutes ago, chrisps1992 said:

My only hesitation is that it sounds a little "put-offish" to me if I were an admissions member and I saw someone had home with substance abuse in it, but I don't know. Obviously my mother is fully recovered and sober ever since. I just don't know how descriptive I should be about this. Should I say "medical issues" or should I put it all out in the open?

I don't see why an academic would be "put off" with a student that had troubles at home in the past. It's not your fault and it has nothing to do with your ability to pursue your program. That said, I can't speak for every person and there could be bad people out there that would unfairly hold this against you. But I don't think you should worry about it.

At the same time, details aren't necessary in a SOP. I would probably recommend writing one or two sentences about this and describe it as "family medical issues" that were affecting your academic performance in your first few semesters but have now since been resolved. It would also be nice if you have a LOR writer that knew you well enough to say something about how they do not think your early grades represent your current academic abilities.

I think this balance would hopefully provide enough details so that the committee knows that the first few semesters were abnormal for you, but not provide too many details to make the statement too personal (after all, a SOP is a professional document) and also avoids details that might cause someone to be biased or prejudiced against you. I think you don't have much to worry about because you repeated those courses with As and have mostly As and Bs. I think that speaks more strongly than anything you can write in a SOP anyways, so just 1-2 sentences is enough.