Top Law Schools

If a question similar to this has been answered before, please feel free to direct me to the post.

I have good grades: 3.5 or higher every semester, except for one. Second semester of my freshman year I had a 2.8, largely because I got a D+ in a statistics class. If my career GPA is still really good (projected to be a 3.8 ), do I need to include an addendum? Truthfully, math is just not my thing (I had two tutors) and on top of that the professor was essentially terrible - no one did very well in the class. I was also dealing with some health issues that semester that didn't help the situation.

Basically what I want to know is this: Do you think the grade discrepancy is enough to warrant an addendum, or will it be understood by the adcomms that I just had that one bad class? I don't want to come across as a complainer, or like I'm making excuses.

This is whining, not worth an addendum.

jselson wrote:This is whining, not worth an addendum.

True story. The point of an addendum is to explain extenuating circumstances or something unique/out-of-the-ordinary that would probably not apply to many others. I am sure about a thousands students have a class where they bomb because it is "not their subject." Just focus on improving your current GPA, and let the numbers do the talking.

Why do so many people who post on this forum have health problems during the school year?

Darmody wrote:Why do so many people who post on this forum have health problems during the school year?

life sucks

garrettnicole92 wrote: Do you think the grade discrepancy is enough to warrant an addendum

No

Dont write it

This sounds like an awful reason for an addendum. Although, I struggle to think of any circumstances that would justify an addendum for one class, especially with a 3.8 overall.

If you insist on writing it, absolutely do not mention that you had two tutors and still got a D.

The only legitimate issue you might raise in the addendum is the health issues. But I still wouldn't do it for a single grade. Especially if the rest of your grades were decent that semester - the health issue would apply equally to all of the classes.

If you're GPA is going to wind up being a 3.8, writing an addendum may actually attract attention to something they may not even care about. I'd just let it go.

A-Modest-Proposal wrote:

jselson wrote:This is whining, not worth an addendum.

True story. The point of an addendum is to explain extenuating circumstances or something unique/out-of-the-ordinary that would probably not apply to many others. I am sure about a thousands students have a class where they bomb because it is "not their subject." Just focus on improving your current GPA, and let the numbers do the talking.

Alright, that's exactly what I was asking. I was kind of unclear on exactly what circumstances would warrant an addendum and whether or not the one sub-par semester was really going to cause me problems. I didn't want to write one unnecessarily and make myself seem like a whiner.

Thanks for the help/answers. I won't be writing an addendum, just focusing on my LSAT and bringing my GPA up this last year.