Maybe your transcript is unblemished and your testing exceptional. You still might need to think critically about your academic record. When reading your statement, faculty members will ask themselves, “Are you prepared to succeed in graduate school?” So think seriously about the degree requirements and your preparation. If the program to which you are applying has a language requirement, for example, and the last time you studied a foreign language was in high school, then that’s a potential problem. If your dream program includes certain course requirements in mathematics, but you failed calculus, then that’s definitely a problem. Such issues aren’t insurmountable, but you will need to address them in your statement. Keep in mind that the biggest myth in admissions to any school, at any level, is that readers are looking for who to admit. They are looking first for applicants to eliminate, and any need for remediation raises a red flag.

Blemishes on your record

Faculty members will scrutinize your transcripts, comb through your CV, and study your letters of recommendation. If you have something on your record that will raise their eyebrows, you should address it in your statement of purpose. What might you need to explain?

poor undergraduate grades or a low GPA

exceptionally low standardized testing scores

lack of work experience

gaps in the chronological account of your education or employment

disciplinary action 

criminal record

Also, if you are reapplying to the same program after having been denied, you will need to detail what makes this second application different. What deficiencies from before have you remedied? What new experience have you gained? 

In explaining a deficiency, weakness, or other blemishes, you should be very careful about your tone. Avoid sounding defensive. Explain the situation as dispassionately as possible and move quickly to note how you recovered from a setback or overcame a challenge as well as what you learned from the experience. 

Not all bad grades need to be explained. I earned a C+ in French the second semester of my first year at Columbia. Class met Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. I just didn’t go on Fridays. Yet I never bothered to point out this one low grade in my statement of purpose. Why not? Two reasons: First, it happened in the second semester of my first year, and I still made the Dean’s List that semester plus went on to graduate Magna cum laude. Second, I took two more years of French in my junior and senior years, enrolling in graduate-level translation courses specifically to prepare for the language exams in graduate school.

Not all struggles need to be shared, and not all reasons for failure are valid. True, my French instructor was unkind and unskilled plus more than a little sexist, but I earned that bad grade. A death in the family or financial crisis certainly could explain a rough semester. Not being a great test taker? Unless your scores are eye-poppingly, jaw-droppingly low, it’s probably not worth explaining them. Most faculty members pay little to no attention to GREs and other standardized tests. Your transcript matters much more.

If you failed a class owing to plagiarism, you’ll need to understand whether the reason for your failure is marked on your transcript. You’ll also have to look and see if anywhere in the application asks if you’ve ever been found responsible for plagiarism or other forms of academic dishonesty. Having committed academic dishonesty during your undergraduate years is not necessarily the kiss of death (more about those below), but it is a black mark on your record--especially in your application to graduate school. If it was a youthful infraction (your first or second year of college) or can be explained as a misunderstanding that you later worked to remedy (incorrect citation practice, a weakness in paraphrase and summary, or confusion about group work) then explain the situation without sounding defensive. Don’t go into detail, just state the facts of what happened and emphasize what you learned. Move on to highlight later successes.

Above all, when writing about mistakes or weaknesses or failures, be honest. Academia is a surprisingly small world, and it is entirely possible to be blacklisted in a field for being deceptive in your statement of purpose.