Addressing Transcript Grades Forum

[PittGirl90]

Hello,

I am wondering if it is necessary to address withdrawal or incomplete grades on transcripts? I have 2 W's due to academic difficulty of the courses, another 2 due to extenuating circumstances, and 1 simple because I missed the drop deadline? Does this need to be explained/is it worth it to explain? Thanks.

[JasonH]

Hello,

I am wondering if it is necessary to address withdrawal or incomplete grades on transcripts? I have 2 W's due to academic difficulty of the courses, another 2 due to extenuating circumstances, and 1 simple because I missed the drop deadline? Does this need to be explained/is it worth it to explain? Thanks.

I'm not entirely sure, but I wouldn't tell them that you withdrew from not 1, but 2 courses due to them being too academically challenging. If you do tell them anything, I wouldn't tell them that lol.

[Toby Ziegler]

Hello,

I am wondering if it is necessary to address withdrawal or incomplete grades on transcripts? I have 2 W's due to academic difficulty of the courses, another 2 due to extenuating circumstances, and 1 simple because I missed the drop deadline? Does this need to be explained/is it worth it to explain? Thanks.

As long as those W's are non-punative it matters minimally, as long as you are above the school's median GPA that's (mostly) all they care about.
Also do you have actual "incomplete" grades on your transcript, those might be a bit trickier, LSAC is pretty intense when it comes to grades. For instance if you have a W that is not counted by your school as punitive but it still indicates you attempted a credit and did not receive credit LSAC will count it as a 0.0. These are not very common though. So I would be extra sure any Incomplete grades you have do not indicate credit attempted; no credit received.

[Clearly]

don't address it, doesn't matter at all.

[PittGirl90]

I feel like it's better to address the discrepancies than leave the admissions committee wondering? Or do you think that's a faulty philosophy to go by? Also, my school was going through bomb threats so the incomplete was due to the fact half way through the term they put the building the classroom was in on lockdown. I took the classes again the following term.

[Ti Malice]

I feel like it's better to address the discrepancies than leave the admissions committee wondering? Or do you think that's a faulty philosophy to go by? Also, my school was going through bomb threats so the incomplete was due to the fact half way through the term they put the building the classroom was in on lockdown. I took the classes again the following term.

If you had withdrawn from entire semesters, it would warrant an explanation. None of the law schools you'll be applying to will care about a few scattered Ws. Since you don't have any compelling reasons, it's better not to draw unnecessary attention to that part of your application.

Bomb threats resulting in the lockdown of a building for multiple weeks and an incomplete would have to be one of the strangest things I've ever heard. If you wanted, you could get your school to issue you a letter corroborating your story and attach a scan of it as part of an addendum, but I would probably really only consider doing that for YHS, none of which are in the cards for you anyway.

[PittGirl90]

Would it be necessary to have evidence? It was the University of Pittsburgh's Spring 2012 semester and became national news...?

[Clearly]

Would it be necessary to have evidence? It was the University of Pittsburgh's Spring 2012 semester and became national news...?

No, because you shouldn't submit an addendum.

[Ti Malice]

Would it be necessary to have evidence? It was the University of Pittsburgh's Spring 2012 semester and became national news...?

Yes, it would be necessary, because it's a little odd that one would be forced to take an incomplete under these circumstances. If you were going to make that claim, then you would need to back it up.