Academic Explanation Essays

[medhopeful'17]

Does anyone have suggestions of what would and wouldn't be appropriate easons to put down for a semester of lower grades than the rest of the degree. Ie. if this was your scenario... should you always write why this one semester doesn't reflect your true academic ability even if there was no significant or traumatic event that caused the drop in gpa for that semester? 

 

Any advice, especially from successful applicants that wrote the academic applications essay would be much appreciated. 

[dreamteam22]

11 hours ago, medhopeful'17 said:

Does anyone have suggestions of what would and wouldn't be appropriate easons to put down for a semester of lower grades than the rest of the degree. Ie. if this was your scenario... should you always write why this one semester doesn't reflect your true academic ability even if there was no significant or traumatic event that caused the drop in gpa for that semester? 

 

Any advice, especially from successful applicants that wrote the academic applications essay would be much appreciated. 

Academic exp. essays are for candidates that have been through personal challenges (i.e. medical or other) that prevented them from performing as well as they could. If there was no event that caused you to have a lower GPA one term, then I'm not sure how you will be able to explain using examples. Not sure if I understood your question properly. I don't think fishing for an excuse to excuse one semester of lower grades is a good idea if there is no legitimate  reason. The events don't have to be extremely traumatic but it should at least explain the difference in performance between a  semester that shows your true capability vs. one that is not so representative. Hope this helps.