Transcript says "Health Withdrawal" - do I need an addendum? (& separate personal statement question) Forum

[Nicobella]

My LSAC GPA is a 3.809, which doesn't need an addendum in itself obviously.

I'm an engineering student and have a 3.95 GPA in my arts and letters courses, which I was told is a good thing because an admissions counselor might look at those a little more for engineering.

I got a 3.3ish GPA my first semester of college due to anxiety and some family troubles, and then took the semester off for spring of my freshman year.

My transcript says health withdrawal on it. That's all it says, so if I don't tell them anything it simply looks like it could have been any sort of health issue. I still graduated in 7 semesters and my GPA went up to getting 3.93-4.0 for my last two years of college.

Do I need an addendum to explain that "health withdrawal" line or is it fine since I've proven I was just fine after it?

On an unrelated note, I'm confused about how to formulate a personal statement. I really want to do Patent law and feel that I could write a good personal statement about myself tying it into that, but if I had to write one for law in general I think I'd be a little stuck because I haven't really had exposure to any other type of law.

Advice would be greatly appreciated - thank you!

[cavalier1138]

I think a "health withdrawal" is probably something you should explain, especially because the semester off is going to make it clear that something serious happened. Keep it simple, and include a line about your subsequent performance being a more accurate portrayal of your aptitude.

And as to your PS question: it doesn't need to be about law at all. It's a personal statement, not a rehash-my-resume statement.

[miskellyjohnson]

I personally would skip the addendum. "Health withdrawal" is pretty much self-explanatory: you took a semester off because you had a health problem. I dont think any adcomm needs to know if it was cancer or anxiety or mono. The only reason for an addendum would be to explain your low freshman grades, but I would skip it especially if poor performance was due to anxiety. Law school is anxiety inducing. You dont want to put anywhere in their mind the idea that you might struggle in law school because of a new situation or pressure. Plus: (1) its not like you immediately improved right after you took the semester off, so it'd be hard to blame the freshman grades entirely on the health issue, (2) low freshman grades then high junior/senior grades are exceedingly common, and just shows maturity and adaptation; and (3) your cumulative GPA is good enough that you dont need to explain anything. I dont think there is any explanation needed for such a trajectory.

If you had just gotten "W's" with no explanation on the transcript, then I would probably include an addendum that says the W's were all due to health reasons. But since it says "Health withdrawal," I think there is no further explanation needed.

[Nicobella]

I personally would skip the addendum. "Health withdrawal" is pretty much self-explanatory: you took a semester off because you had a health problem. I dont think any adcomm needs to know if it was cancer or anxiety or mono. The only reason for an addendum would be to explain your low freshman grades, but I would skip it especially if poor performance was due to anxiety. Law school is anxiety inducing. You dont want to put anywhere in their mind the idea that you might struggle in law school because of a new situation or pressure. Plus: (1) its not like you immediately improved right after you took the semester off, so it'd be hard to blame the freshman grades entirely on the health issue, (2) low freshman grades then high junior/senior grades are exceedingly common, and just shows maturity and adaptation; and (3) your cumulative GPA is good enough that you dont need to explain anything. I dont think there is any explanation needed for such a trajectory.

If you had just gotten "W's" with no explanation on the transcript, then I would probably include an addendum that says the W's were all due to health reasons. But since it says "Health withdrawal," I think there is no further explanation needed.

Hi, there are no "W"'s on my transcript because I withdrew before the final drop date for classes.

I definitely do not want to put it in their minds if at all possible; I am definitely better equipped to manage now and it was a culmination of a bunch of stuff that will never happen again. So if you think I can go without an addendum, I will definitely not write one because I would prefer not to.