Does a 1 Semester Stint Require an Addendum Forum

[RainyDayPlay]

Story: My freshman year of undergrad I went to well respected school back east, partially because I was excited at the prospect that I could run track there. I hated it. After my first semester I left and came back west. I didn't to terribly, but I certainly half-assed it (A, A-, P, C+). When I got home I worked full time for 6ish months in a factory then traveled to Brazil for 6 weeks before heading to a large state school in my area with a sizable scholarship. I loved it and flourished. I'll be applying with 4.0+ from my degree granting university and a my lsac gpa is ~3.93

Question: Do I need to write an addendum about this? I was thinking about using this as my PS topic which would preclude the need for an addendum. What I'm worried about is that an adcomm might think "oh this kid couldn't cut it intellectually at XYZ hard school so went to his state school to do better," and that's really not he case considering the curve is much harder at my state school, I've matured, and it's actually a decently respected school (also I pay a few thousand bucks a year in fees versus 40k+ a year in tuition )

Thanks for your time. This is a very helpful board.

[cinephile]

Don't most applications ask for addenda for those whose education has been interrupted for any reason? Just write one anyway. Your GPA will speak for itself and best of luck with the LSAT.

[RainyDayPlay]

I didn't realize they did. I haven't seen any individual applications yet, I've only been working through LSAC. Thanks for the quick response.

[JamMasterJ]

yeah, I think it's any interruption of 6 months or more. I wouldn't write much about the grades, because it's really only one bad class

[RainyDayPlay]

Alright. The only issue this brings up is that If I speak to the fact that I was unhappy back east, while simultaneously applying to a bunch of respected law schools back east, wouldn't that hurt me?
Perhaps I need to spin it some? Or will adcomms understand that I've matured and not hold it against me. I don't know if they think this way, but I don't want to be seen as a "flight risk."

[JamMasterJ]

Alright. The only issue this brings up is that If I speak to the fact that I was unhappy back east, while simultaneously applying to a bunch of respected law schools back east, wouldn't that hurt me?
Perhaps I need to spin it some? Or will adcomms understand that I've matured and not hold it against me. I don't know if they think this way, but I don't want to be seen as a "flight risk."

spin it as not liking THAT school, not the entire seaboard