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I have known that I wanted to go to law school since 2010

I took the LSAT once and scored 178. Which is the greatest strength that I possess. My law school grade point average is at the lower end of the spectrum at 3.18. Be that as it may, 3.18/178, I dare say, could snag some possible lower T14's

I do believe that given that law schools care about numbers for purposes of rankings, that some lower T14's would want that score to shore up their LSAT quartiles. That even though my transcript and situation are a mess, I am hoping the 178 will mitigate amd forgive a variety of sins.

Yes, even with a semi-respectable gpa. They will see I have been in undergrad a long time. (I am 28 and will graduate this December). One red flag. I have a smattering of D's and F's, and excessive Ws. Why do I have these? Well, I have had undiagnosed OCD and Anxiety all my life, and put on medicine for it at 26, never knowing before then I had it. So I would go into a test situation expecting to fail, and would withdrawal over and over. However, since the 2 year onset of medication, I have had a 2 year upward trend of 4.0, which I need to highlight. Also, not excusing but I have two parents with healthproblems (mom with past strokes and crohn's and father with heart problems) that Ive cared for since I graduated from high school, and that compromised my studies.

Oh, and I personally know someone that had 30 W's that broke the Top 5 with a 3.8/178. So, it seems his didn't hold him back.

Well, I need to address the W's. Everything on my character and fitness and resume and everything will be genuinely true. However, if you stretch the truth on your addendum will they find you out? In other words, do I just tell it like it is and discuss the issues that I have which will seem absurd to adcomms ? OR would it be completely wrong (jeopardizing me of facing reprisals) If I state on my addendum that I have had medical problems that caused me to miss class and have to withdrawal? Technically it is a medical problem.

Any thoughts?

Pick one excuse and use it to explain the W's. So either undiagnosed medical problem which has now been dealt with and allowed you to get a 4.0, or sick parents who I guess miraculously recovered, allowing you to then focus on your 4.0. I'd go with the former personally.

As of now you can get into at least half of the T-14 so don't do anything crazy.

Thanks Tiago Splitter for your advice. I greatly appreciate it. If, in your addendum, you mention a "medical problem" - without specifically stating what it is, will they be leery of why you don't specifically say what the medical concern was? That was my last question. Thanks for your help.

julieisawesome wrote:Thanks Tiago Splitter for your advice. I greatly appreciate it. If, in your addendum, you mention a "medical problem" - without specifically stating what it is, will they be leery of why you don't specifically say what the medical concern was? That was my last question. Thanks for your help.

I think saying it is fine. There's no reason to lie, and the diagnosis coincides nicely with the grade improvement.

julieisawesome wrote:They will see I have been in undergrad a long time. (I am 28 and will graduate this December). One red flag. I have a smattering of D's and F's, and excessive Ws. Why do I have these? Well, I have had undiagnosed OCD and Anxiety all my life, and put on medicine for it at 26, never knowing before then I had it. So I would go into a test situation expecting to fail, and would withdrawal over and over. However, since the 2 year onset of medication, I have had a 2 year upward trend of 4.0, which I need to highlight.

If you rewrote exactly this^^ into a 3 or 4 paragraph letter highlighting the recent uptick and framing the overall GPA as reflecting a difficult chapter in your life that led to your diagnosis and subsequent recovery, I think you will have as good a chance as possible to make a good impression with your application packet.

I would say that there are three points that you need to make and three questions that you need to answer in your letter.

Three Points:
-There are negatives on your resume, and you recognize that.
-Those negatives are not reflective on you anymore because XYZ.
-You are a good candidate because you have shown (insert character traits here) by persevering through your difficulties.

Three Questions you need to answer:
-What's keeping you from falling into a struggling pattern again?
-(Assuming that you started college at 18)How, exactly, did you spend a decade in undergrad without deciding to try another path or running out of money? (Answers to this may be something along the lines of "my family was very supportive and knew that I could be successful, even if they didn't know exactly why I was struggling, so they were willing to help me get through school at a slower pace")
-What do you bring to the table that the 100 other applicants with LSAT scores in the 170s and GPAs in the 3.8s don't?

Tiago Splitter wrote:Pick one excuse and use it to explain the W's. So either undiagnosed medical problem which has now been dealt with and allowed you to get a 4.0, or sick parents who I guess miraculously recovered, allowing you to then focus on your 4.0. I'd go with the former personally.

As of now you can get into at least half of the T-14 so don't do anything crazy.

I had over 15 Ws and said something to this effect. If you go with the former, I'd also add a line about being confident you have this under control and are grateful for the help you received. Good luck!

Thank you so much to the three people who gave such beneficial advice. I greatly appreciate it. The last poster who mentioned they had 15 Ws. Did they seem to make you underperform your numbers? Or did law schools just care about your LSAT and GPA? Sorry to ask.