Hi there! I'm going through a bit of a tough time mentally trying to make this decision, and I wanted to ask here.

It's been my dream to attend one of a couple of programs at Oxford for so long -- since before starting my undergrad, really. For ages, I've wanted to do either the MPP or the MSc in Comparative Social Policy. I've looked into both departments and programs, and both look so great. I did my undergrad at a Canadian university. I studied molecular biology (partially out of pressure from parents to go to medical school, law school, or engineering lol), but I did as much as I could outside of the course to get involved in policy-related fields and work. I did extracurriculars with policy research organizations at my school, I did case competitions, and I used as many of my electives as I could to take courses in political science and introductory economics (and English, because I love writing -- those ended up being my highest grades). I also did lab research related to my actual degree, and completed an independent stem cell research project. I was elected Vice President of my student union, one with over ~30,000 students, which was a full-time job where I got to write policy for a non-profit, create new student-facing programs, organize a budget of upwards of a few million dollars, and organize work with MPs and city councillors.

There's a problem here, however. I took 6 years to do my undergrad. I barely passed my first couple of years of university -- I finished second year with a cGPA of 1.6. I was diagnosed with autism and ADHD -- they're pretty "severe" on the spectrum (as much as I hate using that wording). It took another two years for the university to even apply accommodations to my courses. I really had to fight for them. Once I got the disability accommodations (in part due to physical chronic pain issues as well), my grades went up dramatically. I know it's not a huge improvement, but I eventually brought my cGPA up to 3.2 by the time I graduated. I definitely show some "upward trajectory," even if it's not enough.

To be quite honest, I'd forgotten about my dream of going to Oxford for a while. For years, I was just trying to survive. (Including this year -- two of my family members died in this past year, and I also had a really bad case of COVID, with a couple of months in bed, so it's not been a fantastic year!) But I'm applying to graduate programs now, I'm thinking about it again. I'm wondering whether I should even give it a shot. If my grades were higher, I certainly would. But I'm worried my grades are too low to even let me be considered. I certainly have a unique "story," or whatever you call it. But I don't think that's enough.

Do you think I should try, or just devote my mental energy to somewhere else? I want to just put it out of my mind if I'm not going to go for it. Please be honest -- if your answer is "no don't even bother lol," I am very okay with hearing that!

TL;DR I've wanted to study at Oxford for ages but my grades seem too shit, even if I improved them. Should I even bother?