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So I got an "F" in Microeconomics the semester before I graduated. It was my first and only "F" giving me a LSAT GPA of 3.13 (3.257 graduating GPA). Here is the story - I am a nontraditional student and took the course online. During the semester that I had the course I didn't have enough of the work completed to pass and during the later part of the semester, I was needed to assist with the response to the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill (very, very unexpected demands on my time, being activated for 80+days, 12 hour days, 7 days a week kind of stuff) in my government job. I simply did not have much time to deal with school and since this occurred after the drop deadline, I failed the class. I ended up graduating the next semester with my Bachelors though.

My question is this: Based on previous experience or knowledge or just your own opinion, how would admission committees view this addendum to my GPA? Does is sound as though it is a valid excuse?

BTW, I really appreciate the kind insight everyone provides on this forum. This is truly a great place!

Sounds like a good excuse to me.

'Sorry I got an F, I had to save the world.'

savedbythelsat wrote:So I got an "F" in Microeconomics the semester before I graduated. It was my first and only "F" giving me a LSAT GPA of 3.13 (3.257 graduating GPA). Here is the story - I am a nontraditional student and took the course online. During the semester that I had the course I didn't have enough of the work completed to pass and during the later part of the semester, I was needed to assist with the response to the Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil Spill (very, very unexpected demands on my time, being activated for 80+days, 12 hour days, 7 days a week kind of stuff) in my government job. I simply did not have much time to deal with school and since this occurred after the drop deadline, I failed the class. I ended up graduating the next semester with my Bachelors though.

My question is this: Based on previous experience or knowledge or just your own opinion, how would admission committees view this addendum to my GPA? Does is sound as though it is a valid excuse?

BTW, I really appreciate the kind insight everyone provides on this forum. This is truly a great place!

The addendum is fine - sacrificing grades to help out with a disaster is laudable. However, very few decent schools will look at you with that GPA. Find schools that A) are splitter-friendly, and B) amenable to non-trads (a track record of accepting lower scoring candidates with unusual experience, if you can find out).

To sum up: some schools are far more accepting of older/experienced non-trads than others. Those schools are more likely to accept your reasons, while other schools will auto-reject your GPA (or worse, willing to accept that GPA off any candidate).

edit: scooped

Any way you can get in contact with the school to try and get that F turned into a W?

NoodleyOne wrote:Any way you can get in contact with the school to try and get that F turned into a W?

Also, if they say 'no', they're douchebags.

.

Humm, I guess I never really thought that was a possibility. Has anybody had any experience with this? Heard this actually happening?

savedbythelsat wrote:Humm, I guess I never really thought that was a possibility. Has anybody had any experience with this? Heard this actually happening?

It depends on your school. Try it. When you do, be sure to make an appointment to sit down in person with the highest ranking person you expect might deal with this sort of thing. If you ask in an e-mail to the general Registrar's Office e-mail address, they'll say no every time. If you sit down with someone who doesn't deal with lazy undergrads who want to get bad grades removed for bad reasons everyday and explain your situation like you did here, then you might get somewhere.

Definitely set a meeting with a higher-up to see if you can get it removed. I've had experience with students who had not-nearly-as-good excuses as you, and they were successful using that method (mostly medical issues).

Also, if that doesn't work, definitely write the addendum. That might even be what I'd suggest your Personal Statement be written on, in fact.

Well, I took everyone's advice and my contact with my undergrad institution and explained my situation to the assistant dean. Since I now live about 6 hours away, I had to do so via email. I got a reply back saying they are going to look into the matter and see what they can do. I never thought I would even get that far! Who knows...keep your fingers crossed for me. May be adding .2 to my GPA. Lord knows I need it.

Good luck with that.

If not, this is one of the few times an addendum would be truly appropriate.

Come to think of it, I think I had some pretty serious medical problems in every class I got a B in. Now to find a doctor that will corroborate my claim after recieving a large, unrelated donation.

Well, thanks to the great advice on this forum. I have officially removed the F from my transcript and it now reads DO (Dropped Out). Not perfect, but it doesn't negatively affect my GPA, so that is the plus side. At first, the assistant dean of the program I graduated from said that she could not help me out. However, I was persistent and actually found online where, because of my limited participation in the class, their policy stated they should have given me the DO instead of the F...that the F grade should not be given because of a lack of participation in the class due to my time and efforts which were diverted to oil spill recovery.

I have to say a huge "Thank You!!!" to all the folks who suggested I pursue this. This forum is such a wonderful collaboration of intelligence and encouragement. Now I just have to tackle the LSAT next month. Thanks again.

savedbythelsat wrote:Well, thanks to the great advice on this forum. I have officially removed the F from my transcript and it now reads DO (Dropped Out). Not perfect, but it doesn't negatively affect my GPA, so that is the plus side. At first, the assistant dean of the program I graduated from said that she could not help me out. However, I was persistent and actually found online where, because of my limited participation in the class, their policy stated they should have given me the DO instead of the F...that the F grade should not be given because of a lack of participation in the class due to my time and efforts which were diverted to oil spill recovery.

I have to say a huge "Thank You!!!" to all the folks who suggested I pursue this. This forum is such a wonderful collaboration of intelligence and encouragement. Now I just have to tackle the LSAT next month. Thanks again.

Hey, I helped!

Congrats man.

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savedbythelsat wrote:Well, thanks to the great advice on this forum. I have officially removed the F from my transcript and it now reads DO (Dropped Out). Not perfect, but it doesn't negatively affect my GPA, so that is the plus side. At first, the assistant dean of the program I graduated from said that she could not help me out. However, I was persistent and actually found online where, because of my limited participation in the class, their policy stated they should have given me the DO instead of the F...that the F grade should not be given because of a lack of participation in the class due to my time and efforts which were diverted to oil spill recovery.

I have to say a huge "Thank You!!!" to all the folks who suggested I pursue this. This forum is such a wonderful collaboration of intelligence and encouragement. Now I just have to tackle the LSAT next month. Thanks again.

Awesome. That's how it should be. I'm glad you were persistent and got it taken care of. You'll be a good law student!

savedbythelsat wrote:Well, thanks to the great advice on this forum. I have officially removed the F from my transcript and it now reads DO (Dropped Out). Not perfect, but it doesn't negatively affect my GPA, so that is the plus side. At first, the assistant dean of the program I graduated from said that she could not help me out. However, I was persistent and actually found online where, because of my limited participation in the class, their policy stated they should have given me the DO instead of the F...that the F grade should not be given because of a lack of participation in the class due to my time and efforts which were diverted to oil spill recovery.

I have to say a huge "Thank You!!!" to all the folks who suggested I pursue this. This forum is such a wonderful collaboration of intelligence and encouragement. Now I just have to tackle the LSAT next month. Thanks again.

SWEET and congrats.....

Good luck in LS.

(BTW, Fordham is one of of those schools that loves nontraditionals like yourself. I am sure there are higher ranked schools that do as well.)