Hi,

I do not understand why you would want to cover someting like that up. (First of all you should never have posted this )

Coming to the real point, you took a year off and you did not get any credits for the exchange program you did. But isnt it a great experience you can build your essays on? Accept this as a genuine failure which challenged you and what you learnt from it. It sounds like a good essay story for me. I have seen some essays which specifically asks for your biggest failure what you learnt from it etc. This could make a great story for that essay.

Of course, I am no one to judge you or your profile. I am merely suggesting.

If you don't show the 1 year then how would you explain the gaping hole in your resume? I mean it is worse to say you were goofing off for a year than to say you were in China taking a course.

I would recommend to look at this positively and mention it in your application essays. If there is a huge discrepancy in the scores you got in your home country and in China then there is a good reason why. Was it culture? Was it language? Was it a different examination system? Was it adjusting to a different circumstance (new friends etc like in the "Karate Kid" movie)?

I strongly suggest not to hide anything from the admission committee but use this as a story to reflect how this experience helped you grow in that 1 year.

Arun

Hijinx85,

Arun and Vineesh have given you great advice. Your year in China is likely a goldmine of potential essay content. If you try to hide this experience, you will likely get backed into a lie when your interviewer says "Walk me through your resume," and you have nothing to talk about for that year. You never want to lie in your application or interview, so just be upfront in your application, where you have the ability to frame and discuss the China situation rather than having to bashfully reveal it later, where it will inevitably make you look less than stellar--and less than honest.

Go and prosper!

Kaneisha