How to write mitigating circumstances?

[Vishal Rajvansh]

Hi everyone.

Hope you all are well. I am creating a thread for the first time, kindly pardon my mistakes, if any.

I have been applying for vacation schemes but I do not understand how to write the mitigating circumstances. Unfortunately, I have faced mitigating circumstances that have affected my school and initial university years.

If anyone could help me here, I would really appreciate that.

Thanks in anticipation!

 

[Joe C]

I also have mitigating circumstances. I keep it brief and to the point. It's none of their business to know every little detail, they just need to get the gist of it so that it can be considered when they're reviewing results.

 

[Alice G]

Hi everyone.

Hope you all are well. I am creating a thread for the first time, kindly pardon my mistakes, if any.

I have been applying for vacation schemes but I do not understand how to write the mitigating circumstances. Unfortunately, I have faced mitigating circumstances that have affected my school and initial university years.

If anyone could help me here, I would really appreciate that.

Thanks in anticipation!

Hi there,

@Joe C is right. They just need to be made aware of what the circumstances are - you don't need to write anything beyond this which you don't feel comfortable doing.

 

[Vishal Rajvansh]

Thank you @Joe C and @Alice G.

 

[Jaysen]

Hi everyone.

Hope you all are well. I am creating a thread for the first time, kindly pardon my mistakes, if any.

I have been applying for vacation schemes but I do not understand how to write the mitigating circumstances. Unfortunately, I have faced mitigating circumstances that have affected my school and initial university years.

If anyone could help me here, I would really appreciate that.

Thanks in anticipation!

The only thing I'd add to what has been said is that if you are in a situation where you are comfortable telling a firm, I would try to be specific as to what happened and how this impacted your school/university years. Firms will take it seriously and, by adding particular detail, you are giving recruiters the opportunity to fully take into account the circumstances.

I say this because sometimes I see mitigating circumstances forms where I candidate has only lightly referenced their circumstances. They were comfortable adding more, they just didn't realise they should, and were relying on recruiters to assume how the situation impacted them.

All that said, as has been mentioned, if you aren't comfortable adding detail, that's also completely understandable.

 

[S87]

My two cents on this..

I used to be very detailed and also mention my disability. However, I had a chat with a former GR and I was told that I should be brief and not very detailed and do not mention my disability.

 

[Tavistocksfinest]

I also have mitigating circumstances which I feel have affected my grades, but it is a health condition and I'm scared that firms will be reluctant to take me on in case it affects me in the future! I'm confident that it won't, and I know that it shouldn't affect their decision, but has anyone got any advice on that?

 

[Alice G]

I also have mitigating circumstances which I feel have affected my grades, but it is a health condition and I'm scared that firms will be reluctant to take me on in case it affects me in the future! I'm confident that it won't, and I know that it shouldn't affect their decision, but has anyone got any advice on that?

I am so sorry to hear about this. I don't feel I am best placed to answer this but think maybe @Jaysen or @Jessica Booker might be able to advise better. I think mitigating circumstances are very important and cannot imagine a firm ever using such circumstances for any other means than to contextualise an application but I know they can be hard to write and phrase.

 

[Jessica Booker]

I am so sorry to hear about this. I don't feel I am best placed to answer this but think maybe @Jaysen or @Jessica Booker might be able to advise better. I think mitigating circumstances are very important and cannot imagine a firm ever using such circumstances for any other means than to contextualise an application but I know they can be hard to write and phrase.

It’s difficult to be specific on these things.

For anyone with mitigating circumstances, I would advise sending me a private message if you feel comfortable disclosing the details and I can then provide specific advice to you on how to word your extenuating circumstances.

 

[Jessica Booker]

Generally my advice is:

• Stick to the facts of what it impacted rather than the details of the circumstances. Two people with the same extenuating circumstances, one could be impacted every day of their studies for a year. The next could just be impacted on one set of exams.
• So explaining when and how it impacted you is more important that what impacted you
• If these impacted your grades, non-academic references to back up your circumstances are less important than academic references. The best way to get support for lower grades is to get someone who can say they think your grades would have been stronger if the circumstances were not there.
  
• You don’t have to declare your medical diagnosis but you can talk about how your medical diagnosis impacted you (eg ability to concentrate, time off from education for hospital admittance)