Health withdrawal - took semester off. Addendum suitable? Forum

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Nicobella

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Health withdrawal - took semester off. Addendum suitable?

Post by Nicobella » Sat Jan 12, 2019 11:37 pm

I took a semester off freshman year due to anxiety caused from loss in the family. My grades also suffered my first semester because of it.

It was honestly a really tough and formative experience for me because the school I go to has really stringent readmissions protocol and I became involved in advocating for myself and coming back sooner than the red tape set forth by the academic code allowed.

It was very situational, but I’m still worried about stigma.

I can see not centering my personal statement around it being a valid point, but would writing an addendum be acceptable? I just really want to give a holistic view of myself and I feel like this is an important piece of my life that got me to where I am today.

QContinuum

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Re: Health withdrawal - took semester off. Addendum suitable?

Post by QContinuum » Sun Jan 13, 2019 12:42 am

I think it's worth writing an addendum about this. It sounds like a really compelling story. I'd focus more on the advocating for yourself and coming back from it piece and less on the details of your loss (give basically the bare minimum required to convey the gravity of your loss).

Npret

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Re: Health withdrawal - took semester off. Addendum suitable?

Post by Npret » Sun Jan 13, 2019 7:22 am

Why did you come back earlier than the school allowed? I’m not sure about an addendum for that. Maybe you’re just explaining why you took a leave?

Nicobella

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Re: Health withdrawal - took semester off. Addendum suitable?

Post by Nicobella » Sun Jan 13, 2019 9:58 pm

Sorry if that wasn't clear!

Basically, I took the semester off and they told me I wouldn't be eligible for readmission until Spring 2017, per university policy (they wanted students to sit out at least one semester after the one they left during). I knew I didn't need that much time, so I just advocated for myself by setting up a ton of meetings and getting the required documentation and applied anyways and they let me return for the fall semester! Graduating with my class was really important to me.

My whole goal with the addendum is to explain my grades first semester, my missing second semester, and just highlight my resiliency through the whole process of the red tape.

I'm just worried about the stigma of a health leave I guess. I don't want them to think it's something that would affect me greatly in law school.

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