How should I go about applying for graduate school with many W’s on my transcript?
I’ll get right to it. In college, I had a bad year medically. Instead of taking time off school like I was advised to, I tried to stick it out (stupid decision). I got very sick and couldn’t keep up with school, causing me to withdraw from all my classes halfway through the semester so I didn’t end up failing. The next semester was a pretty similar story. I had many doctors notes during this period so my school was accommodating to me and helped me get back on track and I ended up getting really good grades for the rest of my time there. Now I’ve been out of college for a few years and I’ve been thinking about applying for graduate school, but I’m really worried about how this year of withdrawals will impact my chances. My GPA is decently above the 3.0 minimum requirement for graduate school, but I know that my transcript will look bad to any admissions committee. I’m wondering if anyone has any advice for me about this. Someone suggested that I address it in my personal statement/essay of intent, but I’m not sure how to explain it without sounding fragile or drawing negative attention to it. I’d want to highlight my improvement after, but I know there’s a page limit to these essays and don’t want to waste valuable space if that’s the wrong way to go about it.
I’m also wondering if it’s possible to reach out to my school or my old advisor and ask if there’s anything that can be done about those Ws since my reason for withdrawing was medical, especially if I can provide doctors notes to back it up.
Should I address my transcript in my application essays or just hope the rest of my transcript and my final GPA speaks for itself?
thanks so much for any advice or suggestions