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I feel my GPA needs an addendum, but I'm concerned about doing more harm than good.

I had some crappy luck in undergrad:

Freshman year I suffered a bad fall literally snapping my right arm in half and damaging my back. I was on major painkillers for the last half of the first semester.

Second semester sophomore year I was diagnosed with a rather private illness which caused me to lose about 15 lbs. but was successfully treated towards the end of the semester.

Senior year I got mono and tonsillitis which I think speaks for itself.

I can provide documentation for all these incidents, but I almost don't even want to include them, because while they definitely had a negative effect on my grades, I don't want to look like I'm making excuses. However, if I DON'T include them I'm afraid questions regarding my transcript will go unanswered. I powered through my major courses with A's and B's, so my electives caught the brunt of it. Thoughts?

Say something or they will assume bad things

I think an addendum will help, but you're going to do better if you have something to back up that you're really more than your GPA, such as a really high LSAT score and a couple years of work experience.

vanwinkle wrote:I think an addendum will help, but you're going to do better if you have something to back up that you're really more than your GPA, such as a really high LSAT score and a couple years of work experience.

I have four years of full time work experience, and four more part-time (I worked my way through college). I've been consistently hitting 170+ in PTs so I'm optimistic there, although I don't want to do too much speculating too early. I think my volunteer work is sufficient as well. I'm just wondering how much is too much, and if I should actually include all three incidents.