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I'm wondering what my chances are at YHSCCN with a 175 and 3.69 GPA. I am a non-URM male who has held legitimate internship positions the past four summers. A slight note about my GPA is that I have a 3.86 if you exclude freshman year and a 3.98 if you exclude both freshman and sophomore years (I am going to be a 5th year senior, so this number includes two full years of classes). I have heard that several schools may consider this if I write an addendum to my application. How much weight would top law schools give to such an addendum? Also, I am obviously interested in getting some scholarship money. UVA and Michigan (where I went for undergrad) are two of my favorite schools outside T6. Should I expect to receive any money from these schools?

Thanks so much for the responses!

To you have a legit reason to exclude Fresh and or Soph year? Or are you planning on reasoning that you were immature and your laters years are more indicative of your potential blah blah blah?

Bottom line: You need a real excuse to write an addendum.

I was going with the immature route for freshman year. I didn't even know about the addendum option until earlier today so I was playing around with the numbers to see how it would change things. So you're saying it's not worth it to write an addendum that claims the usual excuse of freshman year stupidity/laziness and how that became a lesson for future years? I'm sure schools get that kind of comment all the time, I just thought the 3.86 figure was more reflective of my college experience.

I'm not the expert on addendum but from the way they were explained to me and from the comments here on TLS, addendums are for legit reasoning, i.e. car accident, death in the family, financial hardship, mental illness, physical illness.

Thanks for the advice. I'm new around here (in case you couldn't tell). I decided to wait until after receiving my June LSAT scores to seriously look around at law school opportunities. So with a 3.69/175, what kind of acceptances/money can I expect from the schools listed above?

I agree, immaturity isn't a very good reason for an addendum. Feel free to try, it might come off as whinny. They will notice the upward trend on their own. It's plain to see on the report LSAC gives to them. But maybe your immaturity was unique in some way. Hell you might just use it as a way to show off your amazing writing skills if you have them, seriously, but that's really not the point of an addendum, and may just be viewed as wasting a adcom's time. You will do fine with your numbers. You will get into at least 2 T6 schools would be my prediction.

People can't just plead immaturity on adenda. You need something serious. The admissions people will see the upward curve and infer immaturity anyways unless told otherwise. There really isn't anything to say here.

Having said that, you have some very good numbers and you very well might get a scholarship at Michigan. Take a look at lawschoolnumbers in the "applicant" area. You'll see that tons of people with numbers like yours do get offers with money from michigan. Your chances of admission at (at least) one of CCN are good, but it is hard to tell, and it is entirely possible to get locked out of all three. But I think that you'll get into two of CCN, and waitlisted at the other(s). You might get money at whatver CCN would accept you. As for YHS, sure apply there, but admissions at those schools for your numbers are tough to predict. Just put the effort in and hope for the best.

Thanks for the responses, they've been extremely helpful. For future posters, please disregard any mention of an addendum, there will be no addendum in my application.

jrose421 wrote:Thanks for the responses, they've been extremely helpful. For future posters, please disregard any mention of an addendum, there will be no addendum in my application.

I shouldn't have "piled on", but I had already typed it out! In any case, you are almost sure to get into a great school and you'll likely have scholarship offers from several schools. The thing is that your GPA is just below the median for a bunch of these schools, so it is tough to say how it will go. But you'll do fine if you apply across the T14 nice and early.

You should be in at all of CCN, possibly with money, but out at all of HYS due to low GPA.

Slim chance at Harvard, out at Yale and Stanford (low GPA).

You should get at least one or two, and possibly all three, of CCN.

You are going to run into yield protection at MVP. Perhaps Michigan will accept you since you were an undergrad, I don't know. If they don't yield protect you, you might have a shot at a Darrow at Michigan.

If you want $$ options, you might also try Cornell, Northwestern Georgetown and Duke.

Good luck! You should have a good cycle.

agree with above poster... in at CCN, maybe at H (probably waitlist... then who knows), and probably out at S and Y. actually, i think you might have a shot at the S waitlist if you tailor your application to them a bit.

and in terms of the addendum... obviously you're not going to write one (good advice, above posters), but you should keep in mind that law schools like upward trends in GPAs. I had a similar GPA with a similar upward trend, and I did a bit better than most people would have predicted.

and money: it's hard to predict (obviously), but I would guess you'd see a bit of money at Duke, Virginia, Michigan, maybe Penn... and those are great schools. Actually, with your high LSAT you might see a tiny bit of money at CCN. So... good luck! Looks like you're in a good spot.

Let me be your litmus test. PM if you want to know how things went for me (3.78/176)

Thanks for all the help (especially in clearing up the addendum issue) and encouragement.

in CCN, probably WL/out H. out YS.

you don't need an addendum: your GPA is too high and I think it's obvious what happened with your grades from just a glance at your transcript.