How much does an addendum hurt your chances? Forum

[pammie0415]

Just curious. I know usually 1 addendum about your LSAT score or your UGPA doesn't hurt your chances terribly but what about having 2 or more addenda? Say.. having one for a bad UPGA and then another for a large score difference between your LSAT scores?

If you have too many, wouldn't the admissions office just consider you someone who likes to make excuses? Even if they were indeed legit reasons..

[dextermorgan]

They won't care about your explanation for the score difference. Just do the GPA addendum. Multiple addenda will make it look like you are making excuses.

[justonemoregame]

How wide is the LSAT score gap? I'd consider leaving that off completely. I think as long as the addenda are concise, it's no problem.

[pammie0415]

How wide is the LSAT score gap? I'd consider leaving that off completely. I think as long as the addenda are concise, it's no problem.

I definitely have a huge gap (7 points) and most schools do say something about an addendum if the difference is 5 or more. It would make a huge difference to me because as a splitter I really need them to take my higher LSAT score (a solid 171) for me to have a chance of getting into any decent school. If the school averages, it leaves me with a sad 167..

[Tiago Splitter]

How wide is the LSAT score gap? I'd consider leaving that off completely. I think as long as the addenda are concise, it's no problem.

I definitely have a huge gap (7 points) and most schools do say something about an addendum if the difference is 5 or more. It would make a huge difference to me because as a splitter I really need them to take my higher LSAT score (a solid 171) for me to have a chance of getting into any decent school. If the school averages, it leaves me with a sad 167..

Schools don't average. I wouldn't worry about an LSAT addendum.

[pammie0415]

So I guess the general consensus is that most schools take the highest score no matter what? I remember reading somewhere about UVirginia taking the average though. Does anyone know for sure?

[Tiago Splitter]

So I guess the general consensus is that most schools take the highest score no matter what? I remember reading somewhere about UVirginia taking the average though. Does anyone know for sure?

Yes. This is for sure. You do not have to worry about Virginia or any other school you might get into treating your score as anything other than a 171. Schools obsess over median LSAT numbers and there has been a huge decline in the number of test takers. They simply can't afford to be picky about which 170+ LSATs they take.

[yong1ekim]

I have a 7 point difference in scores too. I went to the recent LSAC forum in NYC last week and spoke to several representatives of t14 schools that I planned on applying to this cycle and asked them about the score addendum. The general consensus was that they wanted a brief addendum explaining the score difference. Granted, most of the schools did say they take the higher score (which was a relief).

[pammie0415]

I see. Thanks for all the responses. I'm relieved to know that schools do just look at the highest LSAT score. I guess I'll write one and then only send it to schools which specifically say to please explain a score difference. Just a related question about writing addenda. Can I put 2 addenda on 1 page? Or should I only have 1 addendum per page?