<p>Son was a star high school student. Attended a prestigious LAC and graduated a couple years ago. He did pretty well through junior year with a 3.3 GPA with a double major (math and bio) and double minors (French and chem). Senior year of college he crashed and burned. I think he was somewhat burned out and had some issues with mild depression. This very hard working kid essentially quit going to class and failed a couple of classes. He ended up with a 2.8 GPA and a major in bio with a French minor. He was one class shy of finishing the math major but that was one of the classes he failed. </p>
<p>He knows grad school is out of the question for the moment. He wants to get into some area of research. He has worked since he finished school and has an excellent work record and had good recommendations. He is applying for jobs in research areas but many of them ask for his college transcript up front. He knows that he needs to address his senior year issues in his cover letter, but we are all struggling with how to best do that. There was no specific thing that he can point to. He is still not sure what happened or why everything fell apart. </p>
<p>Those of you who do hiring, what kinds of things can he put in his cover letter that would get you to look past one bad year in college. He is very bright and a hard worker. He interviews quite well if he can get to that point. He has excellent workplace skills. Any suggestions that I can give him? Thanks!</p>
<p>“He is still not sure what happened or why everything fell apart.”
Spend the little bit of money compared to the cost of grad school to have a few sessions with a psychologist to figure this out. It will help him personally. It will help him become able to frame his letter properly. And it will help prevent it from happening again.</p>
<p>He may want to try applying for some jobs without addressing it at all. </p>
<p>Everyone has some weaknesses in their background, as well as strengths. Why call attention to the weaknesses? Yes, it’s true that he didn’t do especially well in college, but he didn’t flunk out or drop out. He graduated, and he has held down jobs since then. He’s not expected to grovel for the rest of his life over some bad grades.</p>
<p>If I were an employer, I would want to know why I should consider hiring your son. Why should I take the time to bring him in for an interview? I think his cover letter should emphasize the strengths he would bring to the job, rather than making excuses for his mediocre academic record.</p>
<p>beolein - He did see a counselor while all of this was happening and no conclusions were reached. I have my own theories, which I won’t go into here as they would take awhile :)</p>
<p>Marian - thanks for your input. I will suggest to him that he not address the issue at all and see how it goes. A couple of people I have talked to have suggested as you have that he not address it in the cover letter. His fear is that he won’t get an interview after one look at the transcript, which he has to submit with the application for a position he is interested in. However, I like the idea that he should just focus on his strengths and go from there.</p>