How to overcome a much earlier academic dismissal from undergraduate program in graduate admissions?

Question

I am an international student from Korea and I have a very serious question while I am preparing for graduate school admissions.

I graduated from two years college with 2.8 GPA. After that, I went to a 4 year institution but got dismissed within three semesters due to insufficient GPA. (I was taking more than 18 credits hours because of my greed and exhausted). After the dismissal experience, I went to another 4 years institution without transferring the classes that I took from the 2nd school bur 1st school and graduated from there with 3.87 GPA. In total, I spent two years in two years college, three semesters in the 2nd institution, and 2 years in the third institution.

Now, after some teaching experience while and after my undergraduate degree, I decided to continue and develop my academic career in order for more experience and more effective teaching in a graduate school.

My question is that as I alluded to above, I have a dismissal record from my past school, and this makes me quite scared. What can I do to be wise on my application regarding this fact?

(Please, don't say that I must lie or hide my record because I don't want to take that risk, also that was part of myself and moment that I could learn a lot.)

Answer 1

American perspective: Your question shows that you made a mistake, but you corrected it. Your mistake will probably be forgiven if you explain clearly what happened, how you learned from it, and how you will prevent it from occurring again. Include this as a brief statement in your application letter.