excuses, excuses I received this email from one admissions committee member two days ago:→[More:]paraphrased in case they Google: "...your GRE scores are awesome but your transcript and GPA are problematic. We have a policy against admitting anyone with less than a 3.0 GPA. Do you have any extenuating circumstances beyond what is mentioned in your personal statement?"

I've spent the last two days agonizing over what to write back in response. I don't know that my circumstances could really be called "extenuating" - I worked part-time, and my parents (Asian, but I probably won't mention that to them) often pressured me about choosing a major (aerospace engineering; applying to same) they weren't comfortable with, and halfway through undergrad my department merged with another one, causing rather large curriculum changes that messed with my schedule a bit. But I really didn't have any drastic events happen in my personal life, though I tend to ignore/dismiss personal problems, and now I suspect that if I had seen a medical expert I would likely have been diagnosed with depression or anxiety or ADD or something like that.

In my personal statement I already said my poor undergraduate performance was due to insecurity about my choice of major and lack of direction about what exactly I wanted to pursue in that field, and that I had been able to overcome these issues by finding and focusing on the particular area I now want to pursue in grad school.

So...any suggestions? Tell them my personal statement is good enough, or try to find more reasons? Is the 2-day (almost 3 now) delay in response going to be an issue?

Hope me, bunnies!