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How did you do in the rest of your classes that semester? This is important.

I personally wouldn't write an addendum for one grade. If you did decide to use an addendum, I'd rephrase much of this. Your reasons are compelling, but I'd work on the phrasing.

I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

On the same note, I would avoid saying 'overall academic potential.' Gpa is what you did. Adcoms look at your gpa to determine your potential, but I don't think it's, in itself, a clear statement of your potential. Rather, I think it states your performance. You might say that your potential is greater than your performance.

I think the appropriate conclusion should be something like, 'Although my gpa suffered as a result of my illness, the rest of my academic record, including my performance in more challenging courses, speaks for itself.'

At my school foreign language classes meet 5 times a week with tests at the end of each week. If you miss 2 tests (which I did) the highest grade you can receive in the class is a B. Furthermore, the amount of material introduced in the 2 weeks I was absent put me extremely behind compared to other students.

The other 2 classes I took my first quarter were Intro to Psychology and Human Sexuality.... I missed 2 weeks and was fine.

I feel adcomms should know that if they omit the glaring black hole of a D my first quarter, my GPA goes from a 3.76 to a 3.85.

As far as phrasing goes, I tried to be as clear and succinct as possible. What would you change?

camelthing wrote:I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

On the same note, I would avoid saying 'overall academic potential.' Gpa is what you did. Adcoms look at your gpa to determine your potential, but I don't think it's, in itself, a clear statement of your potential. Rather, I think it states your performance. You might say that your potential is greater than your performance.

I think the appropriate conclusion should be something like, 'Although my gpa suffered as a result of my illness, the rest of my academic record, including my performance in more challenging courses, speaks for itself.'

Good point.

Is the GPA recalculation considered arrogant?

logical seasoning wrote:

camelthing wrote:I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

On the same note, I would avoid saying 'overall academic potential.' Gpa is what you did. Adcoms look at your gpa to determine your potential, but I don't think it's, in itself, a clear statement of your potential. Rather, I think it states your performance. You might say that your potential is greater than your performance.

I think the appropriate conclusion should be something like, 'Although my gpa suffered as a result of my illness, the rest of my academic record, including my performance in more challenging courses, speaks for itself.'

Good point.

Is the GPA recalculation considered arrogant?

I really don't know enough to comment further. I don't think it's obvious that you should be writing an addendum for one grade (also, less than .1 difference), though.

camelthing wrote:

logical seasoning wrote:

camelthing wrote:I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

On the same note, I would avoid saying 'overall academic potential.' Gpa is what you did. Adcoms look at your gpa to determine your potential, but I don't think it's, in itself, a clear statement of your potential. Rather, I think it states your performance. You might say that your potential is greater than your performance.

I think the appropriate conclusion should be something like, 'Although my gpa suffered as a result of my illness, the rest of my academic record, including my performance in more challenging courses, speaks for itself.'

Good point.

Is the GPA recalculation considered arrogant?

I really don't know enough to comment further. I don't think it's obvious that you should be writing an addendum for one grade (also, less than .1 difference), though.

Yeah, I was unsure as well. However, I felt that a .1 edge could be a significant factor in admissions, especially if I get put on a waitlist.

If Adcomms think the addendum was unnecessary, it wont hurt my application though, right?

logical seasoning wrote:If Adcomms think the addendum was unnecessary, it wont hurt my application though, right?

It may. This is not entirely related, but I think you can draw the relevant inference. A HYS adcomm member just told me that he/she can count on one hand how many applicants needed three LORs rather than two. He/she seemed to be saying that the additional letters are unnecessary. Apply that principle and tell me how they (well, maybe you're not applying to HYS) would feel about an unnecessary addendum.

logical seasoning wrote:

camelthing wrote:

logical seasoning wrote:

camelthing wrote:I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

On the same note, I would avoid saying 'overall academic potential.' Gpa is what you did. Adcoms look at your gpa to determine your potential, but I don't think it's, in itself, a clear statement of your potential. Rather, I think it states your performance. You might say that your potential is greater than your performance.

I think the appropriate conclusion should be something like, 'Although my gpa suffered as a result of my illness, the rest of my academic record, including my performance in more challenging courses, speaks for itself.'

Good point.

Is the GPA recalculation considered arrogant?

I really don't know enough to comment further. I don't think it's obvious that you should be writing an addendum for one grade (also, less than .1 difference), though.

Yeah, I was unsure as well. However, I felt that a .1 edge could be a significant factor in admissions, especially if I get put on a waitlist.

If Adcomms think the addendum was unnecessary, it wont hurt my application though, right?

Sure, you could come off in a negative light writing unnecessary addenda

I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

We don't. Do not do a "this is what my gpa should/would look like" but certainly explain the situation.

MikeSpivey wrote:

I don't think adcoms would appreciate a GPA recalculation. You may also want to explain why you were unable to drop the course and why your other course grades did not suffer (that it was accelerated does some of this, but I still had some wonders).

We don't. Do not do a "this is what my gpa should/would look like" but certainly explain the situation.

Thank you. I will take it out right away.

I'd really consider not sending it at all.