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Low GPA in Undergrad: Should I give an excuse in my essay?

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Low GPA in Undergrad: Should I give an excuse in my essay?

by TooLowGPA » Sun Aug 11, 2013 9:53 am
Hey,

I have a 2.3 GPA from undergrad at a Top 50 University. I am not one to make excuses for the low GPA, but I know that it needs to be addressed if I even want the smallest chance to get into a Masters in Real Estate program.

The question I have is would it be appropriate to talk about the following life events that I had during college (I do not talk about them with anyone, thus it is weird for me to write about them for an MBA program):

My GPA was above a 3.0 my freshman year of college. It started to tank sophomore year.
My sophomore year of college, I found out that my dad was not being faithful to my mom, squandered most of their savings, and was not going to pay for my schooling any longer. I had to put my remaining semester bill on my credit card in order to sign up for classes that year.

My junior year is when my brother, who was a year older, passed away. I spent a month back home while he was on life support. Heck, I got back in time for finals and I just completely blanked on the date of one of my finals and missed it. No good.

So, as stated above, I dont talk about these life events to really anyone and I dont know how appropriate, if it is even appropriate at all, to talk about them in an MBA essay.

Would it be beneficial to lay those two events out there, or just awkward/weird for all those involved?
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Mon Aug 12, 2013 8:29 am
Hi there,

Firstly, I'm terribly sorry you had such a rough time during your undergraduate year. Each of those events in and of themselves is a lot to take and both, one after another, is terrible. I'm very sorry to hear that.

Now, I'm going to be as honest as possible because I feel that's what you're looking for in posting this.

You're going to have to be careful how you position each of these events.

1) The first event (your father) is definitely a difficult family situation but, from what you've written, may be difficult to utilize. The impacts, while significant, were primarily psychological, correct? And how could they not be - no one will question this. However, by saying you had to put your tuition on a credit card in and of itself isn't enough. Now, if that meant in the following years you had to work a full time job to sustain your education, then THAT is definitely a reason. Do you see the distinction? One has a tangible impact on your availability to study while the other, even though it is no less real, is more difficult to communicate. Thoughts?

2) I have an older sister and I can't imagine what you went through. That's an absolutely awful situation and I'm really sorry. This, however, is much more straight forward to explain. You were at home, you weren't physically present, and you had to be there for your mother. It makes perfect sense how this would have destroyed your semester.

A lot of people want to provide reasons for low GPAs in their optional essays and more often than not, they're generally just excuses. In your case, you have significant life events but you'll need to communicate their impacts precisely and honestly.

The other thing to include is to call attention to your other semesters. For example, your freshman year or your senior year if that GPA was also on its way up.

I hope that helps and let me know if you have any questions,

Bhavik
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by TooLowGPA » Tue Aug 13, 2013 4:14 pm
Hey Bhavik,

Thanks for the reply. I did work about 10-20 hours a week as an intern and another 10-20 hours a week as a server for most of my college career. The money I made as a server went to pay for my day to day activities, not my schooling. I took out loans for that.

Would the 20-40 hours a week of work outside of school be significant enough to write about, or is that typical of most college students?
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by CriticalSquareMBA » Tue Aug 13, 2013 5:36 pm
Hey there,

You're quite welcome. School costs are more than just tuition, and if your jobs helped you pay for any of it, then that's worth mentioning. Most college students don't work to pay for their living expenses. Also, it was something you did during difficult times in your life. It's about all of it together and I think you should definitely mention it.

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by MBAPrepAdvantage » Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:11 pm
I am also sorry about what you went through. I almost dropped out of my second year of MBA school to care for my mother as she withered away from lung cancer.

Bhavik made some excellent points. I agree that your availability is the key so mention in the optional essay that due to your family financial troubles (do not go into much detail at all) you worked to help pay for your schooling (living expenses are part of overall expenses). Working while attending school is an accepted reason for lower academic performance. Your tone is important as well. You want to be rationally explaining why other commitments became prioritized over your academic ones, rather than emotionally disclosing everything which could cause the awkwardness you mention.

Another point is that the higher your GMAT score, the more effective an optional essay will be. To illustrate extremes, if you have a 780 GMAT score then the admissions committee is inclined to believe a 2.3 is not indicative of your academic potential and already biased in your favor to your explanation. Conversely, if you have a 530 GMAT score the admissions committee might feel that the 2.3 is indicative of your academic potential and discount your explanation.

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by EvanHndrsn » Wed Jan 17, 2018 4:32 am
I am so sorry about such a tough period in your life.

Michael and Bhavik are right, you should mention that, but you have to do it in the best way. A lot of people write about a personal situation or a family problem, death, illness in order to explain their history and reassure admission officers of your as a very good candidate. Also, there are a lot of situations when it is better to choose writing a letter explaining low GPA rather than explaining it in the MBA essay or in the personal statement. And it is better to focus on plans for future, not on a bad experience.

Have a good luck!
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by Donna@Stratus » Sun Jan 21, 2018 5:10 pm
TooLowGPA wrote:Hey,

I have a 2.3 GPA from undergrad at a Top 50 University. I am not one to make excuses for the low GPA, but I know that it needs to be addressed if I even want the smallest chance to get into a Masters in Real Estate program.

The question I have is would it be appropriate to talk about the following life events that I had during college (I do not talk about them with anyone, thus it is weird for me to write about them for an MBA program):

My GPA was above a 3.0 my freshman year of college. It started to tank sophomore year.
My sophomore year of college, I found out that my dad was not being faithful to my mom, squandered most of their savings, and was not going to pay for my schooling any longer. I had to put my remaining semester bill on my credit card in order to sign up for classes that year.

My junior year is when my brother, who was a year older, passed away. I spent a month back home while he was on life support. Heck, I got back in time for finals and I just completely blanked on the date of one of my finals and missed it. No good.

So, as stated above, I dont talk about these life events to really anyone and I dont know how appropriate, if it is even appropriate at all, to talk about them in an MBA essay.

Would it be beneficial to lay those two events out there, or just awkward/weird for all those involved?
As someone who has been on the adcom side-- I would say this is exactly the kind of thing to mention in an optional essay. I would not take away from main essay real estate-- but what you went through in college is a HUGE distraction-- and as long as you explain it in the way you did- not making excuses-- but simply laying it out-- I think will be helpful for adcom to have that background. If you have a high GMAT that will also help to comfort adcom that you can indeed to the work in an MBA program. If your GMAT is not high- then I suggest you also take some quant classes and/or do a program like MBA math to show that you can handle the work in a quantitative MBA program.
Human- to - human-- I am sorry you had to deal with all this in college-- and I hope that things go well for you in this MBA journey. If you want some more specific advice on your case-- reach out to us for a free consult at this link: https://stratusadmissionscounseling.com/free-consult/
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