andrewrayne22 wrote:
I overloaded in college and took an additional Philosophy course called Business Ethics in order to satisfy a degree breadth requirement, (so that I could take more courses related to my major in later semesters). This course is not part of my GPA but still counts as a credit for graduation and on my transcript it is coded as Degree Requirement, Not included in Average. A friend of my mine said that I should explain why I overloaded, especially an ethics course on my optional essay, because it may seem like this was done as a penalty of some sort by my school. I want to use that essay to describe my GPA and life circumstances and I'm a bit confused as whether or not I should explain this course. To be clear, I have never been part of any disciplinary matters at my school, but I want to avoid confusion of any kind. Although I would also not want to draw attention to something that is clearly stated on my transcript and focus more on extenuating circumstances. Am I thinking about this too much? Is this a common occurrence? Side note, I also took a year off of college (due to one of my parents having serious organ failure), so I wanted to explain my GPA around that time in my essay (as it took a bit of a nosedive).
tl;dr, Are overloading courses common in applications to MBA schools? And are adcoms seasoned with the various course codes that are stated on applications or should I explain this in order to remove any doubt?
It is definitely common practice to use an optional essay to explain poor performance in school. That said, it should be done carefully. This is not the place to list excuses, but more so to explain an extenuating circumstance and point out your efforts to show your abilities to succeed. I recommend keeping it pretty brief overall as well.
Best,
Scott
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13 Mar 2018, 10:57
