LSAT Addendum. Please Critique. Forum

[d3orange]

Hi guys, I wanted to see what you thought about this and if I need to say anything else. I appreciate your help.
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Dear law school admissions committee:

I would like to explain my LSAT score increase. I scored a 151 for the September 2007 LSAT administration. A day or two before the test, my parents informed me that our landlord threatened to start eviction proceedings. I took the test under considerable stress which I believe prevented me from performing to the best of my abilities. I took the LSAT in June 2010 and October 2010, scoring a 159 and a 161, respectively.

When reviewing my application for admittance, I ask that you to take into consideration that my LSAT score may not be a good predictor of my academic potential and success in law school. Standardized scores have underestimated my academic potential in the past. For example, I scored only 1180 on the December 2002 administration of the SAT Reasoning Test and 1250 on the October 2003 administration (documentation attached). Despite these scores, I attended XXX University on a full academic scholarship. I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.97 cumulative GPA and was selected by faculty as the Outstanding Graduate for the Political Science and Sociology departments. I hope that my application taken as a whole indicates that the LSAT alone does not accurately evaluate my determination, leadership abilities, academic curiosity, or my potential to be a noteworthy addition to XXX Law School.

[peterb0y]

I think its too long, maybe lose the second paragraph?

[pbutta123]

^ I agree. Your two consistent higher scores plus the explanation sufficiently and concisely explain the discrepancy. The second paragraph is riffraff.

[094320]

..

[d3orange]

Too long. Also, what was the avg SAT score of your university? That's relevant as to whether that argument is worth a shot.

Hi. I would assume not high at all since I went to a state school. How do you think I should go about it?

[Saltqjibo]

umm... i'm gonna break with the herd and say the second paragraph is key, I don't know anything about SAT scores (Canadian) but I assume 1250 is pretty low. If you provide documented evidence with your app, your nearly perfect GPA makes a good argument. I believe a lot of schools encourage you to do this.

[d3orange]

umm... i'm gonna break with the herd and say the second paragraph is key, I don't know anything about SAT scores (Canadian) but I assume 1250 is pretty low. If you provide documented evidence with your app, your nearly perfect GPA makes a good argument. I believe a lot of schools encourage you to do this.

Thanks to the last poster. I tweaked the statement a little bit. I would be thankful for your opinion(s)....

Dear law school admissions committee:

I would like to explain my LSAT score increase. I scored a 151 for the September 2007 LSAT administration. A day or two before the test, my parents informed me that our landlord threatened to start eviction proceedings. I took the test under considerable stress which I believe prevented me from performing to the best of my abilities. I took the LSAT in June 2010 and October 2010, scoring a 159 and a 161, respectively. I respectfully ask the admissions committee to focus on my most recent score as a better indication of my performance.

When reviewing my application for admittance, I respectfully ask that the admissions committee take into consideration that my LSAT score may not be a good predictor of my academic potential and success in law school. Standardized tests have underestimated my academic potential in the past. For example, I scored only 1180 on the December 2002 administration of the SAT Reasoning Test and 1250 on the October 2003 administration (documentation attached). Despite these scores, I attended XXX University, on a full academic scholarship. I graduated summa cum laude and was selected by faculty as the Outstanding Graduate for the Economics and Sociology departments. I hope that my application taken as a whole indicates that the LSAT alone does not accurately evaluate my determination, leadership abilities, academic curiosity, or my potential to be a noteworthy addition to XXX Law School.

[whymeohgodno]

A day or two before the test, my parents informed me that our landlord threatened to start eviction proceedings. I took the test under considerable stress which I believe prevented me from performing to the best of my abilities. I took the LSAT in June 2010 and October 2010, scoring a 159 and a 161, respectively.

THE END.

[094320]

..

[etown989]

A day or two before the test, my parents informed me that our landlord threatened to start eviction proceedings. I took the test under considerable stress which I believe prevented me from performing to the best of my abilities. I took the LSAT in June 2010 and October 2010, scoring a 159 and a 161, respectively.

THE END.

+1... direct and to the point

[nihilism is key]

Dear Law School Admissions Committee:

I would like to explain my LSAT score increase. I scored a 151 for the September 2007 LSAT administration. A day or two before the test, my parents informed me that our landlord threatened to start eviction proceedings. I took the test under considerable stress which I believe prevented me from performing to the best of my abilities. I took the LSAT in June 2010 and October 2010, scoring a 159 and a 161, respectively. I respectfully ask the admissions committee to focus on my most recent score as a better indication of my performance.

In this portion of addendum, you are asking the adcomms to focus on your highest score.

When reviewing my application for admittance, I respectfully ask that the admissions committee take into consideration that my LSAT score may not be a good predictor of my academic potential and success in law school. Standardized tests have underestimated my academic potential in the past. For example, I scored only 1180 on the December 2002 administration of the SAT Reasoning Test and 1250 on the October 2003 administration (documentation attached). Despite these scores, I attended XXX University, on a full academic scholarship. I graduated summa cum laude and was selected by faculty as the Outstanding Graduate for the Economics and Sociology departments. I hope that my application taken as a whole indicates that the LSAT alone does not accurately evaluate my determination, leadership abilities, academic curiosity, or my potential to be a noteworthy addition to XXX Law School.

In this portion of the addendum, you are asking them to weigh your gpa higher than your LSAT.

- I think you are asking too much of the adcomms. I agree with other posters that you need to delete the second paragraph. I feel as though adcomms are more likely to grant your first request because it is very difficult to make a good case for "don't consider my LSAT a predictor when you do for everyone else". HTH.

[Saltqjibo]

Again, I disagree with deleting the second paragraph. A documented history of performing lower on standardized test scores is important! any admissions book will tell you this, including Anna Ivey's (the former dean of admissions at the University of Chicago). I'm also not saying this because Its what I want to be true for my own apps. I scored a 175 on the LSAT and have no history of poor performance on standardized tests.

However, I agree with the others that you need to streamline it and take out a bunch, how about:

Immediately prior to the xxxx LSAT, my parents informed me that our landlord threatened to start eviction proceedings. I took the test under considerable stress which I believe prevented me from performing to the best of my abilities. I later took the LSAT in June 2010 and October 2010, scoring a 159 and a 161, respectively.

I also ask the committee to take into account my documented history of unrepresentative performance on standardized tests. I scored 1180 on the December 2002 administration of the SAT Reasoning Test and 1250 on the October 2003 administration. Despite these scores, I attended XXX University, on a full academic scholarship and graduated summa cum laude. I was also selected by faculty as the Outstanding Graduate for the Economics and Sociology departments.

Might be a bit better

[d3orange]

Thanks for all your help. I would appreciate other comments!