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I'm applying to UVA early decision soon and trying to decide whether to write a low GPA addendum. I have a 172 LSAT and a 3.6 GPA from Johns Hopkins, which is in the 25-75, but below the median for UVA. I have fifteen years in the Marine Corps and a great resume and recommendations.

My issue is that I was pre-med for my first couple of years at Johns Hopkins, which grades those classes on a B- curve. I did well, but not great, in those classes, which dragged my GPA down a little. My GPA in my major (Political Science) is pretty close to 4.0, but it doesn't look like the LSAC academic summary report breaks any of that out or explains it. Should I write an addendum explaining that, or is it overkill/whiny based on the rest of my application?

From what I've been told and read on TLS, low GPA addendum are only really useful if there's a severe extenuating circumstance that impacted your GPA (an illness, death in the family, working full time while in school etc). I don't think the curve aspect will help because law school is curved as well and because they won't care that it was a science major.

By all means write one, I just wouldn't bet on it being a boost to your application.

That said, I think you'll be ok with UVA because of your 172 .

Thanks for the clarification and for saving me from writing one more thing. I'm about ready to launch this thing.

WarriorPoet wrote:Thanks for the clarification and for saving me from writing one more thing. I'm about ready to launch this thing.

What is your motivation behind applying ED? You'll likely get in RD

I live near Richmond, VA and my wife works there, kids are in school there, etc. I have moved my family a lot over my military career, and would like to avoid doing so again for law school. UVA is the top school within commuting distance of my house, so I'm pretty set on going there. Also, it's public, so GI Bill will pay 100%. I don't really see a downside to going ED, but maybe I'm wrong?

With GI Bill and ties, ED away!

No addendum necessary here. It's not a low GPA. If you had one specific semester that brought this way down and had a reason for it (medical issues, severe family issues, etc) it wouldn't be necessary but could be something to think about. On your resume', you could list a GPA for your major and one for overall though it you want to showcase the 4.0 somehow but that's not necessary.

Ok, great. I thought it was a decent GPA until I started looking at the freakishly high medians at the T14s, so I was starting to doubt it a little.