undergraduate course withdrawals question Forum

[barberiolisa]

Many are going to read this question and laugh, but I am freaking out a little about sending in my transcripts, so bare with me - alright, suppose you have an above average UGPA and an excellent (170) LSAT score, but you have had a host of medical problems in undergrad which have resulted in more, non-punitive course Withdrawals, then you would like to have had, and although course withdrawals at your school are non-punitive, when a transcript is submitted for summarization, after a certain amount of W grades, could they change the rules somehow and count them as failures? I know it clearly states if they dont effect your school gpa, they will follow your schools lead, but it doesnt specify on their website for summarization purposes, how they would handle an excessive amount of course withdrawals, so any thoughts/advice??

[Jaqen]

If they're non-punitive withdrawals that won't affect your GPA individually, then they shouldn't as a group, no.

Depending on how many there are and, more importantly, if you took a semester or semesters off, then it may be a good idea to explain the medical issues in an addendum.

[TripTrip]

I think CW is no addendum unless there was more than three in a one year period.

LSAC won't count them as failures. Don't worry about that.

[fallingup]

if youre so afraid that the withdrawals will be misinterpreted, why not just write an addendum to your application putting them in context? if you have a medical reason that could be an opportunity for you to describe a difficult experience that you overcame.

[fallingup]

I should have added this to my initial reply: I had 5 withdrawals on my transcript, 4 for 1 term and 1 for another term. LSDAS did not penalize me for any of them when calculating my GPA. I wrote an addendum explaining the circumstances and the pre-law advisor at my school said it looked good. Your circumstances are probably different from mine, but you can PM me if you want to see it.