Grad School ~ Addendum to Transcript

I was diagnosed with dyslexia in the 7th grade. 

With ten kids under one roof, several with considerable behavior issues, my exhausted parents must have thought that comparatively I seemed like I was doing ok.  Other than being able to take the SATs untimed, I wasn’t given support with navigating my dyslexia, and my faith in myself continued to diminish as my OCD and anxiety continued to intensify.  

In grammar school I endured years of bullying by my peers, something else I also received little support with.  Self-esteem issues stemming from these experiences led me to an abusive relationship with my first boyfriend in high school.  I found solace in the one place I felt empowered: work.  I got my first afterschool job at 13, and subsequently held from one to five jobs throughout high school and college, clocking 10,000 hours of work experience by the time I graduated.  I realized quickly that my social skills, organization, reliability and hard work could outpace my colleagues, and I could be seen, heard and rewarded at work. 

I chose to study business administration at Boston University because work was the place I felt at home.  My sophomore year, I read a course description that would change my life: “the analysis of how individuals, groups and structures within an organization interact and influence each other by examining individual behavior, group dynamics, organizational culture, leadership styles, communication patterns, and decision making processes.”  I knew the combination of my upbringing and my work experience gave me unique insight into this course content.  I signed up for Human Behavior in Organizations and received my first A-.  Though my overall GPA at BU was 2.71, my GPA for the five Organizational Behavior courses I took was 3.38. 

Unfortunately, my boyfriend also attended BU.  In high school, the abuse I suffered from him was mostly verbal, but the privacy of a dorm room now gave way to more violent physical attacks and sexual abuse.  As I hid the bruises and bite marks, my grades, self esteem and friendships suffered.  The beginning of my senior year, I finally summoned the strength to leave him and my GPA jumped from 2.55 to 3.14 for my final year.