Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years Forum
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TatteredDignity
- Posts: 1592
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:06 am
Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
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Last edited by TatteredDignity on Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:06 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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tourdeforcex
- Posts: 428
- Joined: Fri Jun 11, 2010 2:19 pm
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
sounds good. simple. matter of fact.
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2Serious4Numbers
- Posts: 340
- Joined: Sat Aug 14, 2010 8:14 pm
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
Agreed. Very concise and forward -- send it
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vissidarte27
- Posts: 434
- Joined: Thu Dec 02, 2010 3:43 pm
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
Hyperbole and a Half for the WIN.2Serious4Numbers wrote:Agreed. Very concise and forward -- send it
Also, I agree with the others. Sounds good to me.
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TatteredDignity
- Posts: 1592
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:06 am
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
Thanks to all! It's always good to have an extra (3) set of eyes to look things over.
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Remnantofisrael
- Posts: 335
- Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 4:38 pm
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
Few things-
1) 2nd sentence seems a bit clunky. Also, engaged to marry is redundant, but I see why you need it there. Maybe, "That fall my fiance and I set a date for our wedding in May of 2009." After you read #2 and #3 you may decide to change it anyway.
2) I think you are missing important info - specifically, what changed between college and fall of 2008? Consider that before that fall, the two of you were apparently both in college making whatever money that entails and full of college expenses. Somehow, with her now out of college, your costs INCREASED so much so that you had to drop out and get a job to support her search? I'm sure there is a reason here, but I think you need to give it. Even if it is "her dad would no longer support her" or something. Without it, this addendum only brings up questions without answering any.
3) You explain why you didn't go back to school until September of 2009, albeit without an explanation really (see #2). So what has happened between September of 09 and now? You don't say why you didn't, then, enroll back into school the following January and instead seem to be waiting an entire year. Why? Did your lifestyle require your income? Were you still questioning your future legal career?
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Feel free to hate me up and down for my feedback, but at the very least do me the favor of considering it. All this says to me is, "I wanted to get married, I dropped out to make some money and I'm not really saying why, and then when I could have gone back to school in spring of 2010 I chose to keep making money, maybe because I had advanced in my job." Schools would much rather hear, "We had been living off our parents, but decided to become independent if we were to marry. In order to do that, I had to leave school to support us until she secured a job that would be able to pay enough for me to return. In late 2009 she got a job but due to acquired debts and the low starting pay, we decided the responsible action was to wait one more year and build some fiscal assurance." Of course, that is totally based on nothing since I don't know you.
1) 2nd sentence seems a bit clunky. Also, engaged to marry is redundant, but I see why you need it there. Maybe, "That fall my fiance and I set a date for our wedding in May of 2009." After you read #2 and #3 you may decide to change it anyway.
2) I think you are missing important info - specifically, what changed between college and fall of 2008? Consider that before that fall, the two of you were apparently both in college making whatever money that entails and full of college expenses. Somehow, with her now out of college, your costs INCREASED so much so that you had to drop out and get a job to support her search? I'm sure there is a reason here, but I think you need to give it. Even if it is "her dad would no longer support her" or something. Without it, this addendum only brings up questions without answering any.
3) You explain why you didn't go back to school until September of 2009, albeit without an explanation really (see #2). So what has happened between September of 09 and now? You don't say why you didn't, then, enroll back into school the following January and instead seem to be waiting an entire year. Why? Did your lifestyle require your income? Were you still questioning your future legal career?
----
Feel free to hate me up and down for my feedback, but at the very least do me the favor of considering it. All this says to me is, "I wanted to get married, I dropped out to make some money and I'm not really saying why, and then when I could have gone back to school in spring of 2010 I chose to keep making money, maybe because I had advanced in my job." Schools would much rather hear, "We had been living off our parents, but decided to become independent if we were to marry. In order to do that, I had to leave school to support us until she secured a job that would be able to pay enough for me to return. In late 2009 she got a job but due to acquired debts and the low starting pay, we decided the responsible action was to wait one more year and build some fiscal assurance." Of course, that is totally based on nothing since I don't know you.
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TatteredDignity
- Posts: 1592
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:06 am
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
Remnant-
That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. Yes, the scenario you described at the end is exactly what happened, but I didn't know to what level I should include the details and motivations behind that. My primary concern was that schools would see that I dropped out, apparently for no reason, and also wonder how in the world I intended to have a degree before next fall given that I still need 30 hours.
I do see what you're saying, that my explanation doesn't really explain anything. I'll go into a little more depth and post back here. Thanks again to everyone!
That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks. Yes, the scenario you described at the end is exactly what happened, but I didn't know to what level I should include the details and motivations behind that. My primary concern was that schools would see that I dropped out, apparently for no reason, and also wonder how in the world I intended to have a degree before next fall given that I still need 30 hours.
I do see what you're saying, that my explanation doesn't really explain anything. I'll go into a little more depth and post back here. Thanks again to everyone!
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TatteredDignity
- Posts: 1592
- Joined: Fri Jul 04, 2008 2:06 am
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
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Last edited by TatteredDignity on Mon Dec 27, 2010 6:07 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Remnantofisrael
- Posts: 335
- Joined: Wed May 26, 2010 4:38 pm
Re: Addendum- Dropped out for 2 years
Yes better, but a few things again-
1) I think you should couch this as deciding that to marry you had to stop living off the 'rents, and so you would support her through college, a shorter proposition, so that she could get a good job and support you through college and then grad school/law school.
2) Tighten up a bit. I don't think the clinical trial thing is important (especially if its on your resume already) and same with the employment. I'd skip right from deciding to do what I mention in #1 to taking additional time (one year) to really secure your finances while gaining valuable work experience at Z>> (also, I'd avoid posting specifics like that on the board- usually people redact them out of paranoia. Same with mentioning XU. Although I think that's all excessive)
3) I bet if you took that first paragraph and focused it to include everything up till your last sentence, and then took that last sentence and extrapolated specifically, this would flow great. To be more specific as to what I mean by extrapolate, announce the specifics of your plan. I think admissions love to see addendum's that say, "My gap was because of X plan. I have succeeded on X plan and am now at Y step. Y step is this.
4) When discussing that next step, I'd be very specific. Say, "Already admitted to XU, I have planned to take 21 credit hours in the spring semester and the maximum 9 in the summer in order to accomplish the goal of full graduation by the start of law school" or whatever.
5) This is none of my business, but have you checked the max class load, and do you have a solid plan already approved by whomever has to (dean, adviser, etc.)? I ask because I was in a similar situation only to find that my school had a max summer course load allowance of 9 credit hours which screwed me over big time. Just make sure you have all your ducks in a row. 30 hours short is a LOT to accomplish in a spring and summer.
Last but not least, I grew up in XXX and even know some people over atXP. My brother graduated fromXU a few years back and is actually at XX, so small world. I graduated from XX. So please, writhe in the realization that you are taking advice from a X. Mwahaha.
1) I think you should couch this as deciding that to marry you had to stop living off the 'rents, and so you would support her through college, a shorter proposition, so that she could get a good job and support you through college and then grad school/law school.
2) Tighten up a bit. I don't think the clinical trial thing is important (especially if its on your resume already) and same with the employment. I'd skip right from deciding to do what I mention in #1 to taking additional time (one year) to really secure your finances while gaining valuable work experience at Z>> (also, I'd avoid posting specifics like that on the board- usually people redact them out of paranoia. Same with mentioning XU. Although I think that's all excessive)
3) I bet if you took that first paragraph and focused it to include everything up till your last sentence, and then took that last sentence and extrapolated specifically, this would flow great. To be more specific as to what I mean by extrapolate, announce the specifics of your plan. I think admissions love to see addendum's that say, "My gap was because of X plan. I have succeeded on X plan and am now at Y step. Y step is this.
4) When discussing that next step, I'd be very specific. Say, "Already admitted to XU, I have planned to take 21 credit hours in the spring semester and the maximum 9 in the summer in order to accomplish the goal of full graduation by the start of law school" or whatever.
5) This is none of my business, but have you checked the max class load, and do you have a solid plan already approved by whomever has to (dean, adviser, etc.)? I ask because I was in a similar situation only to find that my school had a max summer course load allowance of 9 credit hours which screwed me over big time. Just make sure you have all your ducks in a row. 30 hours short is a LOT to accomplish in a spring and summer.
Last but not least, I grew up in XXX and even know some people over atXP. My brother graduated fromXU a few years back and is actually at XX, so small world. I graduated from XX. So please, writhe in the realization that you are taking advice from a X. Mwahaha.
