Is a GPA addendum warranted? Forum

[jdhopeful11]

I agree with a lot of what has been said here:


4. If you are applying to Gtown's part time program remember that they expect many/most of those they accept to be working and in be in law school - be careful of using work to justify poor grades as they may wonder how you'll do at law school PT


Good luck!

Thanks for the info, I don't plan on working during law school. Is that relevant enough to mention?

I'd say yes - I mean I think its all about how you phrase it.

I think a positive message (obviously more specific but keep it brief and don't go overboard) could be:

Because my parents couldn't pay for college I started a successful small business which helped me pay way through my first two years of college. Unfortunately the X amount of hours it took to run the business made focusing on school difficult and having reached a more financially secure position I decided to close the business to focus on my final two years of school. As you can see my focus/passion for school grew in this years and this was one of the reasons I have now decided to apply to law school. I plan to make school a first priority if admitted to Georgetown's part time program.

That said, I also think this might be even better in a PS with the message that you learned a lot by running a successful small business (that you started out of necessity) and you translated that energy into a focus on school and these experiences made you realize you wanted to attend law school.

I agree. I think I'm going to use the story and moral part in my PS which is already written. I still may write an addendum, but only to highlight some other points very briefly.

[lebroniousjames]

"erroneous on all accounts"---Wedding Crashers reference

"if you are in bed at a hospitality"----motel reference

and sounds good

How are you even going to dispute the hospital thing? I don't know one school that would reject a note from a doctor or hospital saying you were too ill to attend class. Why would you even bother trying to make that argument??

jesus christ dude, i wasn't even pursuing that argument anymore. I was joking about how you replaced "hospital" with "hospitality"--not sure if I'd describe the former as a "friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers."

[jdhopeful11]

"erroneous on all accounts"---Wedding Crashers reference

"if you are in bed at a hospitality"----motel reference

and sounds good

How are you even going to dispute the hospital thing? I don't know one school that would reject a note from a doctor or hospital saying you were too ill to attend class. Why would you even bother trying to make that argument??

jesus christ dude, i wasn't even pursuing that argument anymore. I was joking about how you replaced "hospital" with "hospitality"--not sure if I'd describe the former as a "friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers."

Why the fuck would I mean "hospitality" when I used "hospital" ?

Dipshit

[ResolutePear]

"erroneous on all accounts"---Wedding Crashers reference

"if you are in bed at a hospitality"----motel reference

and sounds good

How are you even going to dispute the hospital thing? I don't know one school that would reject a note from a doctor or hospital saying you were too ill to attend class. Why would you even bother trying to make that argument??

jesus christ dude, i wasn't even pursuing that argument anymore. I was joking about how you replaced "hospital" with "hospitality"--not sure if I'd describe the former as a "friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers."

Why the fuck would I mean "hospitality" when I used "hospital" ?

Dipshit

God I hope you didn't own a customer service oriented business.

[lebroniousjames]

"erroneous on all accounts"---Wedding Crashers reference

"if you are in bed at a hospitality"----motel reference

and sounds good

How are you even going to dispute the hospital thing? I don't know one school that would reject a note from a doctor or hospital saying you were too ill to attend class. Why would you even bother trying to make that argument??

jesus christ dude, i wasn't even pursuing that argument anymore. I was joking about how you replaced "hospital" with "hospitality"--not sure if I'd describe the former as a "friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or strangers."

Why the fuck would I mean "hospitality" when I used "hospital" ?

Dipshit

I didn't say you meant it intentionally, just that it was an amusing replacement.


honey buns

[Claudius]

Whether or not you attend an Ivy doesn't really matter, tbh. Ivies just delude themselves into thinking it matters.

The colleges that you apply to will be looking at your transcript, and if there is an upward trend, it will be evident. There's no reason to write an addendum. I agree with the poster that said that GPA addenda are really intended to be for students that had to deal with significant adverse circumstances that would not otherwise be reflected by the transcript.

I suppose it couldn't hurt you, but I wouldn't stress out about it. I highly doubt it will matter. Focus on the LSAT, and let the rest come to you. A rocking LSAT score is the difference between GTown, a top 30, or the TTT. Without it any addendum you could write won't be worth the paper it's written on.

I would certainly mention the business experience in my personal statement, though. You might even throw in a line about how time consuming it was.

I recently attended an open house for a Tier 3 school that I would like to attend. I don't know how helpful this will be since I'm obviously not shooting for the same schools in the typical TLS wishlist, but I have a hilariously low GPA coupled with an LSAT that is much higher than the median for the school. I have no good excuse for the GPA. I asked an admissions director at the event about their view of splitters and he told me that a low GPA must absolutely be addressed regardless of the reason. He rattled off some examples of addendums and one was the 'too immature to handle school at that age' story followed by the 'this is why it is not indicative of my true potential'. I don't know if all admissions folks will see it the same way or if it will even make much of a difference, but that is enough to convince me to write an addendum.

YMMV