GPA Addendum Critique Request Forum

[Anonymous User]

Thanks everyone for the advice!

[demos9]

OP here, wasn't thinking when I made anonymous!

[rpupkin]

OP here, wasn't thinking when I made anonymous!

You shouldn't apologize. There is a ton of inappropriate anonymous posting on TLS, but your use of the anonymous feature was completely justified.

Anyway, I would not submit a GPA addendum in your circumstances. It's not going to help you. But if you feel like you must submit an addendum, I would remove the "no mentor" and "swim team" excuses.

[cavalier1138]

Yeah, I'm also in the "no addendum" camp. If you're going to include one anyway, at least make it much, much, much, much, much shorter.

[Bach-City]

.

[rpupkin]

If I've got you correctly, your GPA is a 3.65. That's not crushing, and I agree with the rest that an addendum isn't likely necessary.

OP: As always, admissions experts (like Spivey) offer the best guidance here. But GPA addenda are most useful when a student suffered some acute trauma (e.g., serious medical issue, death of a parent) during a semester and got a bunch of W and F grades as a result.

Your situation, by contrast, is basically this: for the first two years of undergrad, you didn't take academics all that seriously for various reasons and got decent (but not particularly strong) grades; for the last two years of undergrad, you focused more on academics and your GPA improved accordingly. That's not unusual. In fact, I'd guess that the majority of law school applicants could say the same. When undergraduate students develop an interest in pursing a graduate degree, their transcripts typically show an upward trend.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yeah, if you really want to submit something, I'd cut most of
this out and write 2-3 lines explaining that you only found an effective medication for ADHD going into your junior year, and so your later grades better reflect your ability than your previous unmedicated grades. Mayyyyyyybe one line explaining that you also withdrew from the swimming team to focus on your studies, but since there are plenty of people who do a sport and excel at school, I personally wouldn't highlight that.

This is way too long and emotional and making too much of what's pretty normal, especially given your GPA isn't really bad.

[demos9]

Thanks everyone, I appreciate the input! I had personally been weighing whether to add it in the first place, probably going to go with the consensus here and not bother.