My GPA & LSAT ADDENDUM CONSTRUSTIVE CRITICISM PLS Forum

[pburnside]

First, would it be ok to include my GPA AND LSAT together for my addendum?

If I had to describe my first two years in undergrad in two words I would have to say emotional and unstable. My first two semesters I worked a total of 40 hours between my full time job and work study in order to pay for tuition. The commute back and forth to my job and school was an hour and half by public transportation and that made it increasingly difficult for me to manage my study time. To make matters worse my mother had to get a blood transfusion so I flew back to Arizona. Ready to put school on the back burner, my mother scolded me and said that was not an option. To ease my mind she texted me every morning and in between classes just to make sure I was ok. Isn’t that ironic? At the end of my freshman year I made the decision to resign from my full time job and take out a private loan to pay for the rest of my tuition in order to raise that 2.3 GPA.
Although I had to move three times my sophomore year I was awarded a work study position held in the same building as my major core classes so I could have easier access to computer labs and other resources to help me study. Diligence, hard work and better time management allowed me to bring my GPA from a 2.3 to a 2.6 the end of my sophomore year. My last two years of undergrad I was able to bring my GPA up from a 2.6 to a 2.89.


I had no idea what I was up against when I initially took the LSAT. The last year of my undergrad I struggled financially to pay my bills because I was unemployed and could no longer be awarded work study. Either pay my rent or pay for the LSAT course. I decided I would study on my own and take the test. Unsatisfied with my score I knew I had to find a way to pay for an LSAT course. I took a year off before applying to law school to gain more work experience. Unfortunately, after five months of working at Pierce & Associates I was laid off and unemployed for nine months. I returned to Arizona and after 3 months of rigorously applying for jobs I was offered a position at a financial services company. With my very first check I paid for a weekend LSAT course. Taking that course allowed me to score 10 points higher than my first LSAT score.

[Balthy]

Whether you should put them on the same doc depends on the app, but I think for most of them it should be fine. Just read the instructions to make sure.

I think you're putting too much into this. It should not read like a personal statement or narrative. It should be pretty straightforward. I'm sure you can find some examples on the site.

You might want to say you had to travel to wherever due to an unexpected medical problem with your mother, but deliberately leave it vague or just refer o the medical problem instead of the specific procedure you visited her for. One trip doesn't sound like much of an excuse.

When you say you went from X GPA to Y GPA, maybe you should instead represent that improvement with something like "after this date, I maintained above a 3.xx GPA." If there is no point at which you began and maintained above a 3.x, I would recommend rearranging that paragraph and starting with something like "Though I made steady improvements, my undergraduate grades were affected by blah blah blah."

I'm not even sure if you should write the LSAT addendum. I don't think adcomms believe that LSAT courses are required to score well. Most TLSers don't either. Was there anything else that might have made you score low? Were you sick? Just underprepared? I've seen a few people just write that for their first test they did not study much due to whatever reason, and for the second one they studied much more, so the second is more representative. That seemed to work for them, but I'm not sure if it's necessary.

Lastly, you don't say anything about why this type of stuff won't happen in law school. That should really be the takeaway.

[TheSpanishMain]

The tone is way too conversational, with incomplete sentences and "Isn't that ironic?" type statements. This is an addendum, not you having a beer with the adcomm. Also, not to be a dick, but if you only improved your GPA up to a 2.8, I wouldn't necessarily specify numbers. A 2.8, while better than a 2.3 of course, still isn't going to make adcomms salivate.

Frankly, I wouldn't expect these addenda to help you much, if at all, but it can't hurt I suppose. You'll need to have a baller LSAT to make this whole thing worthwhile. If you don't have a killer LSAT to make up for that 2.8, all the addenda in the world aren't going to help.

[banjo]

Why don't you just write this:

GPA ADDENDUM
During my first two semesters of college, I worked a total of 40 hours [per week?] between my full time job and work study in order to afford tuition. The 90-minute commute between my job and school made it increasingly difficult for me to manage my study time. A family medical emergency exacerbated the problem. At the end of my first year, I decided to resign from my full-time job and focus on my grades.

LSAT ADDENDUM
Nothing--let your score speak for itself.

[yossarian]

Why don't you just write this:

GPA ADDENDUM
During my first two semesters of college, I worked a total of 40 hours [per week?] between my full time job and work study in order to afford tuition. The 90-minute commute between my job and school made it increasingly difficult for me to manage my study time. A family medical emergency exacerbated the problem. At the end of my first year, I decided to resign from my full-time job and focus on my grades.

LSAT ADDENDUM
Nothing--let your score speak for itself.

Yeah. I thought it was essentially never necessary to write an LSAT addendum if you have a good retake?

[pburnside]

Why don't you just write this:

GPA ADDENDUM
During my first two semesters of college, I worked a total of 40 hours [per week?] between my full time job and work study in order to afford tuition. The 90-minute commute between my job and school made it increasingly difficult for me to manage my study time. A family medical emergency exacerbated the problem. At the end of my first year, I decided to resign from my full-time job and focus on my grades.

LSAT ADDENDUM
Nothing--let your score speak for itself.

Thanks for the advice. I really appreciate it!

[pburnside]

Whether you should put them on the same doc depends on the app, but I think for most of them it should be fine. Just read the instructions to make sure.

I think you're putting too much into this. It should not read like a personal statement or narrative. It should be pretty straightforward. I'm sure you can find some examples on the site.

You might want to say you had to travel to wherever due to an unexpected medical problem with your mother, but deliberately leave it vague or just refer o the medical problem instead of the specific procedure you visited her for. One trip doesn't sound like much of an excuse.

When you say you went from X GPA to Y GPA, maybe you should instead represent that improvement with something like "after this date, I maintained above a 3.xx GPA." If there is no point at which you began and maintained above a 3.x, I would recommend rearranging that paragraph and starting with something like "Though I made steady improvements, my undergraduate grades were affected by blah blah blah."

I'm not even sure if you should write the LSAT addendum. I don't think adcomms believe that LSAT courses are required to score well. Most TLSers don't either. Was there anything else that might have made you score low? Were you sick? Just underprepared? I've seen a few people just write that for their first test they did not study much due to whatever reason, and for the second one they studied much more, so the second is more representative. That seemed to work for them, but I'm not sure if it's necessary.

Lastly, you don't say anything about why this type of stuff won't happen in law school. That should really be the takeaway.

Thanks not sure if you overlooked it but i did mention my mother needed a blood transfusion so I will be keep that portion in.