Addendum for an F Forum

[BigMoose]

I got an F in an introductory course in undergrad. I had a medical emergency and missed a test that the professor wouldn't allow me to retake. My GPA, thankfully, is still highish --8.83 according to LSAC. Should I write an addendum explaining that particular grade and mentioning how it dropped my GPA from an 8.93?

[RCSOB657]

What?

[181plz]

Well you more than doubled my gpa

[Delano]

What?

[pancakes3]

Don't write the addendum. Also, you really don't know what your GPA would have been "but for" an F.

Also, for those wondering, some schools use a 9 point scale.

[Jjbb938483]

No. You're only drawing attention to the F and the F isn't going to make a difference in your case anyway. That GPA converts to about a 3.93 on a 4.0 scale, which is above even Yale's median GPA. I don't think most adcoms actually comb through your transcript unless theres a reason to. Otherwise, as far as I know, they just look at a summary that shows information about your school, your GPA by year, etc.

[BigMoose]

Wow. Huge mistake. I don't know why I wrote 8.83 and 8.93. And I did it twice.That's so weird. I meant to write 3.83 and 3.93. It's no longer double anyone's GPA and it's no longer above Yale's median GPA, if that changes anything.

[pancakes3]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

[BigMoose]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

[pancakes3]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

how? like if you withdrew from the class and took it out of the equation entirely, or did you enter in an A for the class, assuming you'd ace it?

[BigMoose]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

how? like if you withdrew from the class and took it out of the equation entirely, or did you enter in an A for the class, assuming you'd ace it?

Since I retook the course and got an A, I calculated what my GPA would be by taking the F out of the equation entirely. At that point, because of some ambiguous language on the LSAC website, I wasn't sure if my F would be counted towards my LSAC GPA, so I self-calculated what my GPA would be with and without the F.

[RCSOB657]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

how? like if you withdrew from the class and took it out of the equation entirely, or did you enter in an A for the class, assuming you'd ace it?

Since I retook the course and got an A, I calculated what my GPA would be by taking the F out of the equation entirely. At that point, because of some ambiguous language on the LSAC website, I wasn't sure if my F would be counted towards my LSAC GPA, so I self-calculated what my GPA would be with and without the F.

That's not how that works. If your school isn't even more weirder than an 8 point scale or 1234 point scale, it will calculate using all grades, which would mean the F, the A, and the credit hours for both.

[BigMoose]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

how? like if you withdrew from the class and took it out of the equation entirely, or did you enter in an A for the class, assuming you'd ace it?

Since I retook the course and got an A, I calculated what my GPA would be by taking the F out of the equation entirely. At that point, because of some ambiguous language on the LSAC website, I wasn't sure if my F would be counted towards my LSAC GPA, so I self-calculated what my GPA would be with and without the F.

That's not how that works. If your school isn't even more weirder than an 8 point scale or 1234 point scale, it will calculate using all grades, which would mean the F, the A, and the credit hours for both.

I thought I said that. The way LSAC actually calculated my GPA, meaning with the F and the A, I ended up with a 3.83. If they hadn't counted the F and only counted the A, I would have had a 3.93.

[181plz]

I think the important question here is, what caused the F? If you just did a shitty job and had trouble in the class I don’t think there’s any need to write an addendum. If there were extenuating circumstances like a death in the family or personal illness, that might be a legitimate reason. Still with just one bad class and a relatively high Gpa it seems unnecessary

[BigMoose]

I think the important question here is, what caused the F? If you just did a shifty job and had trouble in the class I don’t think there’s any need to write an addendum. If there were extenuating circumstances like a death in the family or personal illness, that might be a legitimate reason. Still with just one bad class and a relatively high Gpa it seems unnecessary

I got the F because I was sick and missed a test that the professor wouldn't allow me to make up. So I had a 0 averaged into my grades for the class and I ended up failing.

[181plz]

I think the important question here is, what caused the F? If you just did a shifty job and had trouble in the class I don’t think there’s any need to write an addendum. If there were extenuating circumstances like a death in the family or personal illness, that might be a legitimate reason. Still with just one bad class and a relatively high Gpa it seems unnecessary

I got the F because I was sick and missed a test that the professor wouldn't allow me to make up. So I had a 0 averaged into my grades for the class and I ended up failing.

Ah right sorry forgot you mentioned that in OP, got distracted by the Gpa stuff. Still seems unnecessary imo but I’d consult the more experienced opinions on the forum

[BigMoose]

I think the important question here is, what caused the F? If you just did a shifty job and had trouble in the class I don’t think there’s any need to write an addendum. If there were extenuating circumstances like a death in the family or personal illness, that might be a legitimate reason. Still with just one bad class and a relatively high Gpa it seems unnecessary

I got the F because I was sick and missed a test that the professor wouldn't allow me to make up. So I had a 0 averaged into my grades for the class and I ended up failing.

Ah right sorry forgot you mentioned that in OP, got distracted by the Gpa stuff. Still seems unnecessary imo but I’d consult the more experienced opinions on the forum

Who are the more experienced opinions on the forum?

[pancakes3]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

how? like if you withdrew from the class and took it out of the equation entirely, or did you enter in an A for the class, assuming you'd ace it?

Since I retook the course and got an A, I calculated what my GPA would be by taking the F out of the equation entirely. At that point, because of some ambiguous language on the LSAC website, I wasn't sure if my F would be counted towards my LSAC GPA, so I self-calculated what my GPA would be with and without the F.

i mean, i know you're smart and you were likely to have gotten an A if you had taken that class but the fact that you retook the class and got an A doesn't mean that you "should have" a 3.93. (you could have gotten an A in the class by virtue of sitting through the material twice).

my point is that there is no way of knowing absolutely that the gpa "would be" a 3.93.

the ultimate point is that an adcomm would wrinkle their brow at that assertion and the addendum would do more harm than good.

the even bigger point is that you've got a good GPA despite that F, and you should be focusing on maxing your LSATs instead of worrying about a grade addendum.

[BigMoose]

how do you know that you would have walked out with a 3.93?

I calculated it using LSAC's grade conversion table.

how? like if you withdrew from the class and took it out of the equation entirely, or did you enter in an A for the class, assuming you'd ace it?

Since I retook the course and got an A, I calculated what my GPA would be by taking the F out of the equation entirely. At that point, because of some ambiguous language on the LSAC website, I wasn't sure if my F would be counted towards my LSAC GPA, so I self-calculated what my GPA would be with and without the F.

i mean, i know you're smart and you were likely to have gotten an A if you had taken that class but the fact that you retook the class and got an A doesn't mean that you "should have" a 3.93. (you could have gotten an A in the class by virtue of sitting through the material twice).

my point is that there is no way of knowing absolutely that the gpa "would be" a 3.93.

the ultimate point is that an adcomm would wrinkle their brow at that assertion and the addendum would do more harm than good.

the even bigger point is that you've got a good GPA despite that F, and you should be focusing on maxing your LSATs instead of worrying about a grade addendum.

Thanks. I'm not worrying about the addendum as much as I'm wondering if it would be helpful to submit one. I'm pretty much maxed out on the LSAT--I got a 175-- so I'm dealing with the little things now.

[icechicken]

3.83/175 is presumptive-Harvard-admit numbers. You're fine.

This addendum would be like popping a pimple on your nose. It feels good to "do something" about a minor flaw that you're insecure about, but you're really just drawing unnecessary attention to that very flaw. I'd let it be.

If you do write an addendum, don't blame your professor and don't get ticky-tacky about LSAC's transcript summary. Just explain briefly that you got an F because of a medical emergency. Such an addendum would at least be unlikely to hurt you very much.

[BigMoose]

3.83/175 is presumptive-Harvard-admit numbers. You're fine.

This addendum would be like popping a pimple on your nose. It feels good to "do something" about a minor flaw that you're insecure about, but you're really just drawing unnecessary attention to that very flaw. I'd let it be.

If you do write an addendum, don't blame your professor and don't get ticky-tacky about LSAC's transcript summary. Just explain briefly that you got an F because of a medical emergency. Such an addendum would at least be unlikely to hurt you very much.

Thanks for the advice.