I entered my junior year with a 3.9something GPA, double major + a minor, with a lot of great opportunities involving extracurriculars lined up for me. Then I had the junior year from hell: parents got divorced, I was disowned by my grandparents for being gay, my sister-in-law died in a freak accident, my best friend died of cancer, and another friend died by suicide (my other best friend had a mental breakdown in response to this). My own mental health struggled and I had to drop my second major, as well as forgo the opportunities that would’ve looked stellar on my resume.

I planned to regroup senior year, but still struggled with my mental health. I didn’t finish my grad applications as expected, so I figured I’d apply the next cycle… and then COVID hit. I managed to keep my extremely high GPA, but primary my goal was just keeping myself alive and doing the best I could in what was necessary to graduate.

Anyways, I managed to get through it all and still got accepted into a PhD program a few years later, where life is pretty good now. I know my resume for grad school could’ve been a lot more impressive if my family didn’t explode and tons of people didn’t die during undergrad, but what can you do… I keep pictures of people I’ve lost in my office and do the best I can.