GPA Addendum Critiqe Forum

[JulianneNewman]

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[april_ludgate]

Hey all-

I am a big splitter with a 3.0 GPA and 169 LSAT- I wrote an addendum to explain my GPA, but it's a sort of unique circumstance. Would love any and all critiques- is it relevant/worth writing? Too long? Too whiney?

Thank you in advance!

Upon graduating from college, many former students look back on their past four years and focus on the things they wish they could have done differently- the things they wish they could take back, or erase. This could range from difficult relationships, to bad choices, to (what I’ll be referring to in this addendum) your GPA. That simple, three-point number which supposedly gives your future employers and graduate admissions counselors an accurate and holistic view of your identity during your college experience. After viewing my GPA, you might even take a guess and assume that is how I stand in relation to that score.

But that is where many would be incorrect. In fact, I am proud of my GPA, and proud of what it stands for. It stands for four years of experiences, and memories, and lifelong friendships. It stands for spending 10 hours a week training and leading my triathlon team to 4 National Championship races. It stands for working a job for all four years, averaging 20 hours a week (working weekends too), at a company that I deeply cared about. It stands for juggling schoolwork, while also juggling my love for travel and learning about other cultures. It stands for finally finding my place in the sports management program my last two years of college- making the Dean’s List, and impacting my professors in such a way that I was nominated and awarded the Inaugural Kevin Sumlin Diversity award for my work towards making the Texas A&M Campus a more open and accepting environment.

Most importantly, my GPA stands for healing- healing from 9 years of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse from someone that should have been there for me, not there to hurt me. My stepfather put me in a dark, and lonely place. When I graduated from high school, I had no idea who I was, and how to be comfortable in my own skin. It took me four years of growing up, and learning, to finally find out who I was and what I stood for. Now, I want justice. I want to rid the world of these evils, I want to be there for those that can’t speak up- that are too young, or too trusting, or too scared to speak up for themselves. Just like I was. By going to Law School, I will be accomplishing that dream- and I won’t allow for my GPA to stand in the way of that.

You 100% don't need that first paragraph. And honestly, most of the rest of it. Addenda should be short and to the point, not flowery and theoretical. I would do a total rewrite honestly.

[Versailles1919]

Hey all-

I am a big splitter with a 3.0 GPA and 169 LSAT- I wrote an addendum to explain my GPA, but it's a sort of unique circumstance. Would love any and all critiques- is it relevant/worth writing? Too long? Too whiney?

Thank you in advance!

Upon graduating from college, many former students look back on their past four years and focus on the things they wish they could have done differently- the things they wish they could take back, or erase. This could range from difficult relationships, to bad choices, to (what I’ll be referring to in this addendum) your GPA. That simple, three-point number which supposedly gives your future employers and graduate admissions counselors an accurate and holistic view of your identity during your college experience. After viewing my GPA, you might even take a guess and assume that is how I stand in relation to that score.

But that is where many would be incorrect. In fact, I am proud of my GPA, and proud of what it stands for. It stands for four years of experiences, and memories, and lifelong friendships. It stands for spending 10 hours a week training and leading my triathlon team to 4 National Championship races. It stands for working a job for all four years, averaging 20 hours a week (working weekends too), at a company that I deeply cared about. It stands for juggling schoolwork, while also juggling my love for travel and learning about other cultures. It stands for finally finding my place in the sports management program my last two years of college- making the Dean’s List, and impacting my professors in such a way that I was nominated and awarded the Inaugural Kevin Sumlin Diversity award for my work towards making the Texas A&M Campus a more open and accepting environment.

Most importantly, my GPA stands for healing- healing from 9 years of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse from someone that should have been there for me, not there to hurt me. My stepfather put me in a dark, and lonely place. When I graduated from high school, I had no idea who I was, and how to be comfortable in my own skin. It took me four years of growing up, and learning, to finally find out who I was and what I stood for. Now, I want justice. I want to rid the world of these evils, I want to be there for those that can’t speak up- that are too young, or too trusting, or too scared to speak up for themselves. Just like I was. By going to Law School, I will be accomplishing that dream- and I won’t allow for my GPA to stand in the way of that.

You 100% don't need that first paragraph. And honestly, most of the rest of it. Addenda should be short and to the point, not flowery and theoretical. I would do a total rewrite honestly.

+1

I agree. I also think that the story of the abuse from your stepfather would be great for a personal or diversity statement. It shows an obstacle you had to overcome, and how it shaped your future college endeavors. Don't save personal, and subsequently pivotal, anecdotes for the addendum.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Yeah, an addendum is generally intended to be a brief recitation of facts to explain something to adcomms that they wouldn't otherwise know. This reads more like a version of a PS or DS.