explaining poor first year grades

[Guest chenzy]

During my first year I got very low grades (~ 2.4), but without this year my GPA is ~ 3.7. I believe the reason for these low grades was due to depression caused by a difficult relationship breakup. Would this be worth stating as a reason why my grades may not reflect my true ability? I am worried that this would somehow reflect an inability to deal with stressful life situations during school.

 

Thanks

[Guest katwoman2003]

You may be right about reflection of an inability to cope, but if you could present it into a positive learning experience and showed how your grades have improved from that year. I don't think one low GPA in first year would hurt you that much because they like to look at trends in your grades and I think you can still have a strong application if your grades in other years are good.