I am tagging to UCSB, at the end it says something along the lines of “would you like to tell us anything else about this application?”
I know that as long as I keep my end of the agreement I will be admitted, but I did fail (and retake) a few classes. Should I mention that I know it doesn’t look good, I know I didn’t do well, but after two years I found a rhythm, a passion for learning, I realized I wanted to go to college, etc. or should I not even mention it.
Basically will it help or hurt or do anything in general to write that? or to leave it blank?
Thanks!
No, you don’t need to write that. However, if it is not clear which courses are retakes (for instance from different schools), you could list the courses that were retaken with their matches just to make it clear.
^Agree
While I agree with @lindyk8 , you may want to consider talking about this: “I know I didn’t do well, but after two years I found a rhythm, a passion for learning, I realized I wanted to go to college, etc.” - I see that possibly being a very strong response to the general prompt for the personal statement. Consider it anyway.