Explaining a "Lower" GPA Forum

[ThisWillDo23]

Hi all, so my pre-law advisor told me not to mention this in my application, but she's given me bad advice before (eg. only get one letter of recommendation from a professor), so I wanted to hear other opinions.

I studied abroad in a country with a different grading system than the U.S., and my primary university transferred the grades to U.S. equivalencies that were far lower than what they should be, and didn't accurately reflect my score in the courses. Basically, they gave me B's for scores that my abroad professors considered A's and every other university that I've seen considers A's. So I have a semester of B's on my transcript which pulled my GPA down from a 3.76 to a 3.68. Plus, the coursework was all in a foreign language. I tried to talk to the office in charge of the equivalencies, but they said it was too late and any changes would affect future students, not me.

Now clearly, a 3.68 isn't bad, but I'm scoring pretty high on PT's and I want a shot at HYS. Do you think this is worth mentioning? My pre-law advisor told me it sounded whiny to mention that the coursework was all in another language and the equivalencies were off, and said it would hurt my application. I see her point but I wanted other advice. What do you all think?

[Ramius]

Don't bring it up. You're not out of the running for HYS with that gpa and a sufficiently high LSAT (176+). Just make sure your app is polished and hope you are interesting enough to have a shot.

[alinor]

Do you think this is worth mentioning? My pre-law advisor told me it sounded whiny to mention that the coursework was all in another language and the equivalencies were off, and said it would hurt my application. I see her point but I wanted other advice. What do you all think?

You can just put that all courses were in French/whatever language on your resume under the study abroad institution. Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

[malleus discentium]

Don't bring it up. You're not out of the running for HYS with that gpa and a sufficiently high LSAT (176+). Just make sure your app is polished and hope you are interesting enough to have a shot.

OP is not technically out of the running with either GPA, sure, but it's unlikely that he will get in. I would attach a short factual addendum because

Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

you don't want to run the risk that they won't. The addendum doesn't have to be "whiny," it should just explain the context of those grades.

What other advice his this advisor given you?

[NYSprague]

Yes explain but do it without criticizing your school.

[Ramius]

Don't bring it up. You're not out of the running for HYS with that gpa and a sufficiently high LSAT (176+). Just make sure your app is polished and hope you are interesting enough to have a shot.

OP is not technically out of the running with either GPA, sure, but it's unlikely that he will get in. I would attach a short factual addendum because

Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

you don't want to run the risk that they won't. The addendum doesn't have to be "whiny," it should just explain the context of those grades.

What other advice his this advisor given you?

True, and my point was more that this addendum likely won't push him over the hump and even a factual addendum could potentially come off as a bit neurotic and lacking in some self-awareness. I could be way off here, but that how I would imagine it hitting me if I read this or anything like it when reviewing the file.

[PotenC]

Don't bring it up. You're not out of the running for HYS with that gpa and a sufficiently high LSAT (176+). Just make sure your app is polished and hope you are interesting enough to have a shot.

OP is not technically out of the running with either GPA, sure, but it's unlikely that he will get in. I would attach a short factual addendum because

Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

you don't want to run the risk that they won't. The addendum doesn't have to be "whiny," it should just explain the context of those grades.

What other advice his this advisor given you?

True, and my point was more that this addendum likely won't push him over the hump and even a factual addendum could potentially come off as a bit neurotic and lacking in some self-awareness. I could be way off here, but that how I would imagine it hitting me if I read this or anything like it when reviewing the file.

For what it's worth, I had an exceedingly low GPA first semester and high GPAs every semester thereafter, and chose not to address it in an addendum. The first question one of my law school Skype interviewers asked me was "what happened?" during my first semester. Although in my case we're talking a difference in like two grade points between the first semester and consequent ones, so this may not be pertinent for OP.

[Ramius]

Yeah, and maybe it would come up if they're granted an interview, but I even find that somewhat unlikely.

I don't realistically think the addendum would hurt their chances, I'm just highly doubtful it would do anything to help either.

[malleus discentium]

Yeah, and maybe it would come up if they're granted an interview, but I even find that somewhat unlikely.

I don't realistically think the addendum would hurt their chances, I'm just highly doubtful it would do anything to help either.

Helping by virtue of preventing harm is still helping. There is potential for harm here if he lets adcoms speculate on those grades. Nobody think it's going to compensate for the grades.

[ThisWillDo23]

What other advice his this advisor given you?

She told me to only get one recommendation from a professor and get multiple from employers instead, which is the opposite of what I've seen on any law school's admissions website. She also not-so-transparently pushed me towards the law school of the university I attended/she works for. I get that's a part of her job, but still, not very helpful to me.

[ThisWillDo23]

Yeah, and maybe it would come up if they're granted an interview, but I even find that somewhat unlikely.

I don't realistically think the addendum would hurt their chances, I'm just highly doubtful it would do anything to help either.

Helping by virtue of preventing harm is still helping. There is potential for harm here if he lets adcoms speculate on those grades. Nobody think it's going to compensate for the grades.

Yeah I just don't want them to think that I slacked off while I was abroad and just partied the whole time.

[ThisWillDo23]

Do you think this is worth mentioning? My pre-law advisor told me it sounded whiny to mention that the coursework was all in another language and the equivalencies were off, and said it would hurt my application. I see her point but I wanted other advice. What do you all think?

You can just put that all courses were in French/whatever language on your resume under the study abroad institution. Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

I think this is the most tactful way to do it, thanks!

[alinor]

Do you think this is worth mentioning? My pre-law advisor told me it sounded whiny to mention that the coursework was all in another language and the equivalencies were off, and said it would hurt my application. I see her point but I wanted other advice. What do you all think?

You can just put that all courses were in French/whatever language on your resume under the study abroad institution. Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

I think this is the most tactful way to do it, thanks!

It's what I did on my application. It frames the issue as something positive-that you were able to succeed in college level courses in a foreign institution. That way you're not focusing the limited amount of review time on a perceived negative.

Regarding LORs: many schools explicitly call for at least two from professors.

[ThisWillDo23]

Do you think this is worth mentioning? My pre-law advisor told me it sounded whiny to mention that the coursework was all in another language and the equivalencies were off, and said it would hurt my application. I see her point but I wanted other advice. What do you all think?

You can just put that all courses were in French/whatever language on your resume under the study abroad institution. Admissions officers will be able to connect the dots without you pointing it out.

I think this is the most tactful way to do it, thanks!

It's what I did on my application. It frames the issue as something positive-that you were able to succeed in college level courses in a foreign institution. That way you're not focusing the limited amount of review time on a perceived negative.

Regarding LORs: many schools explicitly call for at least two from professors.

Okay yeah, I think this is the best way to go about it.

I realized that about the LORs after I started doing some independent research, recommendations from professors seem to carry far more weight, even aside from the fact that my recommendations from professors would be stronger anyway. I have no honestly no idea why she attempted to convince me otherwise.

[lawschool22]

I had a "lower" (for HYS) GPA (3.6) with what were probably even more "legitimate" mitigating circumstances, and I chose not to address it via an addendum. It came through via my personal statement subtly, and I took the view (like others ITT have suggested) that it would be better to frame it in a positive light (i.e. "in spite of these circumstances I still graduated with a solid GPA") than to call attention to a negative. If you think the adcom will be able to reasonably connect the dots, I think that would be preferable. For what it's worth, I ended up getting into H off the wait list, so a lower GPA isn't a death knell.

I would focus on the LSAT, as that will be more important than this addendum/no addendum question. Also, if you have other positives (a few years of good WE, good LOR, good interview, etc.) they can help mitigate your GPA. And in any case, for nearly every school, a 3.68 GPA is not going to be viewed as super low, and really not low enough to require an addendum imho.