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I am wondering how much to say or not say during interviews regarding unusual events that impacted my GPA and also led to Ws.
This is the long story which I know I don't have room to explain on an application or in an interview so I'd like to know which facts I should be sure to mention or avoid.
My first Ws happened while I was still in high school. I was talking CC courses and my grandfather had cancer. During the first couple weeks of school we got a phone call saying he had 24 hours so we went to see him. He ended up living for a week or so and I ended up missing about two weeks of school. As a result I did my best to catch up in two of the classes and I choose to withdraw from the other two.
Next, my first semester of college after high school. I did fairly well in all my classes. During finals week I had taken all of my exam except one, when we got a phone call that my roommate had drowned or almost drowned. We went to the hospital and I stayed with the only family member present. The next day was my final exam in Calculus. Up until that day I had the highest grade in the class. That morning I went to the hospital to stay with my roommate who was still not awake and intubated. When it was time for my exam I forgot my pencil and the required graphing calculator at the hospital. I borrowed a pencil from someone else but I gave up during the exam and went back to the hospital. So I basically failed the final and ended up with a C.
The next semester I was doing well again. I had to write a paper in a statics class but I was having trouble finding a topic that would fit all the requirements. There were strict requirement about the data we would need to collect for the paper so that we could use the right types of statistical analysis. The instructor told me I should take an incomplete and I could finish it later.
In the meantime, I started having trouble, (this part I talked about in my statement) and ended up giving up on school for the time. This was the semester that really hurt my GPA with a C,D, and F. That semester I would have been working on the Incomplete but that instructor had gone overseas to teach for a semester. So that after I left the school that incomplete was automatically converted to an F because the instructor had never put in a grade. The grade would have been at least a C because my test grades were great and the paper was a small portion of the grade.
Since returning to school I have had fairly good grades with some exceptions. I started getting sinus infections and was sick a lot. I was usually able to get at least a B despite the time I missed classes due to illness and sinus surgery. After the surgery I went to an allergy doctor and found out I had many allergies and started allergy shots.
After that, I have been to the hospital twice for kidney stones. The second time required endoscopic surgery to remove the stones. I have still been having issues with sinus infections but not nearly as frequent as I did before the surgery.
The semester that I had the surgery for kidney stones I ended up withdrawing from all my courses. In that same semester I also had a sinus infection and became pregnant with my son. Between the surgery, the pregnancy symptoms, and the sinus infection I could not keep up with the school work. However, my transcript makes it appear as though I took one course and got an A. The course was a three week high speed course that I finished before all the other courses began.
I thought I might be able to return the next semester and signed up for only two classes. But within the first couple weeks of school I ended up with the flu. I thought it would be best, considering how my first pregnancy went, that I should probably take off the spring semester too and let my body rest. I choose to continue my tutoring job because the hours were flexible so I could take a sick day as needed and not worry about falling behind in classes.
The next fall I returned to school and was able to go back to earning good grades. I was actually amazed that I was able to do well considering I was nursing my 3 month old at all hours of the night and driving to his daycare to nurse him between classes.
Most recently, I have began to have health issues again. I had blood in my stool and was put in the hospital for a couple days until they could do a colonoscopy. This was not the first time I had these kind of issues but it was the first time I had major issues while in classes. The doctor did a biopsy and suspected that I had Crohn's disease. He even started me on the medicine. Two weeks later the results of the biopsy came back and he thinks it was actually an infection. So I was able to quit taking the medicine. The only instructor I informed was my research professor because I did not want him to think I was just being lazy if I ended up getting sick and needing to stay home.
I am trying to do well this semester like I usually do but I am afraid that I will have more GI issues. Last time I had GI issues it would come and go and we never really figured out the cause.
I know that is a ton of information to read. I do not think I need to share all of this information. I do not want to come across as a person who makes excuses for everything. On the other hand, I think that the C I earned in calculus is different than a C that someone else earned who maybe did not do the homework. So I know that if I offered no explanation it would seem as though I did not try or I tried my best and could not handle the material.
Thank you so much.
I'm not entirely sure I understand what aspect of this history is a question, but in general, I would not bring much of any of it up at interviews. I would focus on your goals and interest in medicine. From this description it does not really sound like you are prepared from a health perspective to start med school now. You should have a good discussion about this with your physician and premed advisor. There is no rush to start med school.
