GPA, Study Abroad Courses and Addenda Forum

[ahduth]

I have a quick question that some of you might have some insight into. While I was in college, I attended a study abroad program in Paris for a semester. My grades through Universite de Paris VII were significantly lower than my grades through NYU itself. So overall I graduated with a 3.76 GPA, but if you subtract out the study abroad semester, my GPA rises to about 3.9.

Is this something I should point out in an addenda to my application? If I had to make the choice again, I would definitely still do it - the study abroad experience was immensely valuable, no matter the impact on my GPA. I just don't want to come off like I'm whining to the admissions officers, basically.

Another caveat perhaps is that I'm ten years out of undergrad, so that may impact it as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

[2014]

They will be able to see the trends on your LSDAS GPA report and I would assume they are used to looking for them. If you have a good reason why your GPA was lower there, outside of "I was studying abroad" then I think you could justify an extremely short addendum. However, if your only reason is that you were abroad at a different school, then I wouldn't send one, because just going to a different school probably isn't likely to be viewed by them as a sigificant reason for a grade decline.

[Bildungsroman]

Do you have a legitimate excuse for study abroad grades being lower? Just the fact that they are study abroad grades is not good enough, nor are excuses like "the classes were harder" or "I spent too much time enjoying the Paris nightlife". Basically, your GPA is your GPA, and schools aren't going to ignore lower grades. Everyone applying to law school would have a high GPA if you didn't count the grades that lowered the GPA.

[ahduth]

Do you have a legitimate excuse for study abroad grades being lower?

The "excuse" would be that the courses were taught in the French university system. They use a markedly different 20 point scale for grading, which at the time made me question the grades that were ultimately assigned by NYU. The greater issue, however, was the fact that the courses were of course taught in French by French university professors. And this isn't really a valid excuse for poor performance.

As 2014 points out, it should be clear from the LSDAS report that all my grades that were lower than an "A" came during that semester, so it should probably be clear to them how it breaks down. Thanks!

[robotclubmember]

I have a quick question that some of you might have some insight into. While I was in college, I attended a study abroad program in Paris for a semester. My grades through Universite de Paris VII were significantly lower than my grades through NYU itself. So overall I graduated with a 3.76 GPA, but if you subtract out the study abroad semester, my GPA rises to about 3.9.

Is this something I should point out in an addenda to my application? If I had to make the choice again, I would definitely still do it - the study abroad experience was immensely valuable, no matter the impact on my GPA. I just don't want to come off like I'm whining to the admissions officers, basically.

Another caveat perhaps is that I'm ten years out of undergrad, so that may impact it as well.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can give.

For real?

You want to write an addendum... for a 3.76 GPA?

GTFO.

And you're right. The fact that courses were taught in French and that you signed up to study in France knowing it would be taught in French without a sufficient knowledge of the language isn't a valid excuse for getting a 2.5 or whatever it is you got that semester that weighted you otherwise 3.9 down.

Dude you have a 3.76 from NYU. Relax. Get the best score you can on your LSAT and you can go anywhere you want.