When applying to grad school, how can I address having failed a core course before retaking it?

Question

I failed a crucial course for my major that serves as the foundation for many other core courses.

I retook the course and got an A, and have kept straight A's in my upper-level courses since then.

Question: What can I do to mitigate the fallout from this?

According to graduate admission committees that I've spoken to in the University of California system, this is a potential deal-breaker, which is why I'm a bit worried.

Almost certainly "admission committees" in "the University of California system" [of 10 campuses]. Will suggest an edit. — cag51, Mar 21 '18 at 23:25
In what year is this course generally taken? E.g., failing Intro to Physics freshman year will not hurt you if you got As in the upper-level courses; failing quantum is a much more serious problem. — cag51, Mar 21 '18 at 23:28
@cag51 The original question statement specified it was an upper-level class that they failed-and-retook, though I like the more general wording and how your answer addresses both cases. — Nat, Mar 21 '18 at 23:35
Possible duplicate of How does the admissions process work for Ph.D. programs in the US, particularly for weak or borderline students? — jakebeal, Mar 23 '18 at 00:28

cag51 · Answer 1 · 2018-03-22T00:14:04.913

You can address this in your statement of purpose.

If you failed an intro-level course during your freshman year (e.g., intro to physics), no one is likely to care; straight As in all the core classes prove that you know your stuff. You can mention this in your statement of purpose, but I would do so only as an aside -- maybe even humorously.

If this course was a junior-level course (e.g., quantum), then this is a bit more serious. You should definitely devote ~3 sentences in your statement of purpose explaining what happened. It is a bit strange that you would get straight As in all the other courses and an F in a separate course, so they'll be glad to see a reasonable explanation.

My concern is that they may assume the anomalous F was due to cheating -- so I would definitely give an explanation that they can buy, rather than letting them make their own conclusions..

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 22 '18 at 02:54

I failed a crucial course for my major that serves as the foundation for many other core courses.

This by itself shouldn't prevent you from attending grad-school. Good students fail courses sometimes for a number of reasons, family emergency, taking too many classes, working too many hours at a job, etc.

and have kept straight A's in my upper-level courses since then. [...] this is a potential deal-breaker

I feel there is more to this situation than a single failed class. Is your GPA in line with the published average of an accepted grad student? Were you a middling freshman student, and got serious as a Junior? Does your transcript bear out that this one class was a fluke, or does it show a return to an old pattern?

If you have a good overall GPA, and good letters of recommendation, then I don't see why an admissions committee would dwell on a failed and re-taken class.

By "graduate admission committees" did you do an interview with the faculty members of the department in which you will be working? In general, you submit your application to the university, which then filters base on minimum GPA and test scores, and passes it onto the department you applied to. Did you talk with someone in the department you'd like to attend, or a person in the admissions department?

When applying to grad school, how can I address having failed a core course before retaking it?

2 Answers2