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My first four semester GPAs we're all between 2.5-3.0. After this time, I entered the business college and have had a 4.0 since.
One of my first four semester I have a semi-legit reason for a low GPA, but mostly I just didn't go to class or study for the first half of my college career.

Since I have this dramatic change, is this worthy of a GPA addendum? To point out to adcoms that while my GPA overall is a 3.3 it has been a 4.0 for my last 68 units.

Thanks.

And the fact that these last 68 units are all upper devision finance/economics courses while the first half were all general ed requirements.

I don't think an addendum will hurt you, but it won't be a game changer either. It depends on how you spin it, but I wouldn't try to justify it by saying that you only got bad grades in gen eds. Everyone takes those, and they tend to be easier than upper-division major courses. You'll likely take several classes in law school that you find boring or not aligned with your career goals. If I was an adcomm, I'd want you to convince me that you can do well in a class that you hate.

Charlie.Home wrote:One of my first four semester I have a semi-legit reason for a low GPA, but mostly I just didn't go to class or study for the first half of my college career.

What was the semi-legit reason for the low GPA? If it's legit enough to write an addendum, then I would limit it to that semester, and then rely on them looking at your transcript to check out that semester to see that you have an extremely strong upward trend. Otherwise, you're going to tell them exactly what they expect - that you did poorly because you didn't study/go to class.

As general advice, there are two type of people who will read your application: those who care about GPA trends, and those who do not. Those who care will already look at your transcript to see if a trend exists. Those who do not generally will just look at the overall GPA. With an addendum, you're trying to get some in the latter camp to notice the upward trend.

Is it kosher to throw a graph in my addendum for some style points?

(o '.')-o

I second what bp shinners said: write the addendum if you have an actual legit reason for a lower GPA that counts as a mitigating circumstance.

To add to this, "I was too busy doing keg stands and didn't give a shit about school" doesn't count as a mitigating circumstance. Something like "I was going through chemotherapy" is a mitigating circumstance. Only write something if it makes you look better, not worse. Admissions committees don't like people who make excuses and dodge responsibility.