Ep 03: Applying to Law School with a Low GPA

This episode of Break into Law School is going to talk about how to write and structure an effective GPA or LSAT addendum for your law school applications. Have a question you want to be answered? Submit your questions to bit.ly/breakintolawschool

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Welcome to another episode of Break into Law School. My name is Sydney Montgomery and I'm a law school admissions consultant specializing in working with first-generation and minority applicants. 

So let's dive in. 

Today, I'm going to be talking to you about how to write an effective academic LSAT or GPA explanation, or addendum for your law school applications. I want to talk to you about how to overcome a lower GPA or lower LSAT score in your application materials. How you should write it and address it, how long you should spend talking about it, and give you some examples of some really good and effective language to use.

The first golden rule of writing an academic addenda is that it's always better to explain something than have the admissions committee wonder or guess why you had a misstep or why there was a lower grade, or maybe why there's a discrepancy between your academic grades and your standardized testing.

You never, ever want to leave the admissions committees wondering and guessing, because 9 times out of 10, they're not going to wonder or guess the right thing. You know your story. I always say, in admissions, there are things that we can control and there are things that we can't control. As much as we would like to have control over the LSAT exam, and you absolutely can have a degree of control based on studying and how much time you really give yourself to dedicate to the test and the investment that you make in terms of prep materials, sometimes you're just not going to be able to control the outcome of the test like you want to. So I say that sometimes the GPA and the LSAT are things that at one point maybe were more in our control and at another point are less in our control. What you can control, however, is the narrative.

You control how you present those materials and whether or not you offer context. Now, this is not an excuse. The goal of an addendum is not to be excusatory or to make up reasons why, however valid you weren't able to do as well as you wanted. The goal is simply to explain. It's to provide context. It's so that when they're looking at all of your materials they have the full picture of who you are, what you are going through, and maybe why that's not an accurate representation of where you are right now with your academic abilities and how you will perform in law school.

So let's break this down just a little bit. There are a couple examples of things that you might want to explain. Maybe you failed a semester or you just received a failing grade. What happened? Did you have an illness in the family? Were you going through a mental health or physical health challenge?

Did you change majors? Did you have a sexual assault incident on campus or any other kind of altercation that really affected your academic performance? Were you under an undue amount of stress? Our GPAs can sometimes take hits for reasons that are outside of our control. Maybe you were working multiple jobs, or you had to have an increase in your work hours because of unforeseen financial obligations or expectations.

Those are things that law schools do welcome you sharing about. So whether that was just a dip, one semester or one course, or maybe you came in and the transition was really rocky and that first year was difficult, but you had an upward trajectory, you were really able to find your place and find your footing.

That is something that you can champion at the end. And we'll talk about how you write those in a way that really highlights your strengths at the end. Another academic thing that you might want to explain is if you had to transfer schools multiple times or if you had gaps in your schooling. They'll want to know why, and they'll get a copy of your transcript.

So here's the thing about explaining and taking the opportunity to write an addendum. If you don't tell them, they will know. They will know from looking at your transcript that you failed a class, or that there seems to be some sort of issue with sophomore spring, or they will know that you have transcripts from four different schools.

 They will see that you took a leave of absence or that there were large gaps where there shouldn't have been, they will know those things. They don't just look at your GPA, and that's a common misconception, that they don't really read your transcript. They read your transcripts. So my question to you is if they're going to know anyways, wouldn't you rather they know your side? Wouldn't you rather they have context?

You can't hide anything in law school admissions, but you can repackage it. And that's what I want to kind of emphasize to you today in terms of writing an LSAT addendum. This is where it gets a little tricky. Of course you don't want to just say, well, I didn't get my 170, I only got my 155 and, you know, please don't look at that as an accurate indicator of my academic abilities.

I'm sure everyone would love to say that. But I want your LSAT addendum to really mean something. And so you should only write it if it really means something. Now there are some instances where they will basically expect one. If you've had a jump, for example, in LSAT score between, you know, 10 to 15 points, many schools will want to know, and that can simply be, I changed my study habits.

I reinvested some time. There's some schools that require you to explain if you have sat for the LSAT multiple times. Although for most schools, you don't need to explain this. Now, if something happened on your test day, if there was a distraction or a noise outside, if there was a personal family tragedy that happened right around the time that you were taking the LSAT and it negatively impacted your score, you should feel free to explain that.

 Another common thing that students often disclose, and you don't have to by any means, and this actually falls under the category of things they won't know unless you tell them, are sometimes learning differences or history of poor standardized testing.

So in terms of the learning differences, one, I see this often with students or they will have gone through their first two years at school with an undiagnosed learning difference. And then they were able to get tested, get accommodations and their GPA skyrocketed, but they still had damage from those first two years.

That's something similar to the first category. They will know that you had those poor GPA years, but they won't know why. And undiagnosed learning differences, nothing to be ashamed of, especially if you're painting it in the context of that, you now have the requisite support to be successful in law school.

That's almost a strength. Sometimes students will realize through studying for the LSAT that they actually do have a learning difference. And so perhaps their first score was not so great, but then they were able to get medication for ADHD or learn about any discalcula or dyslexia, and once they are able to have support for that, their LSAT score was able to improve tremendously.

Well, that's something that can really explain the difference in LSAT score, but perhaps you just have a history of poor test taking, but a demonstrated history of academic excellence. I see this oftentimes with students who did poorly on their SATs, but still were able to gain admittance to top tier schools and thrive beyond the Dean's list, have that strong GPA, but then unable to kind of overcome the testing challenges for the LSAT.

This is a great opportunity to share that and provide a little bit more context. So now let's talk about that format. I kind of gave you a roadmap of some of the topics you might cover in an academic addendum, but how do you go about framing it? Well, the first thing is that an addendum is not an essay.

It is not an essay. You do not need to give me flowery descriptive show. Don't tell language that we had in your personal statement or your diversity statement. This is not that kind of writing. In fact, your addendum should be brief. Ideally, it should be less than four sentences. The point here is to use good judgment in how much room you give to some of these things that might be seen as weaker or kind of red flag marks.

It's important to disclose, it's important to provide context, but also know that the longer they spend reading, the longer they spend thinking about it. How much space do you want this taking up in your application? Don't you want them to focus rather on your strengths and not this? Speaking of strengths,

I love it when addendums end with a positive. Perhaps there was a negative mark or a negative semester, but then you say after receiving support, after you know, being healed from my illness, after my family situation was resolved, I was able to really focus and maintain a 4.0 the last three semesters. You would say, I respectfully request that the admissions committee look to the last three semesters as evidence of my true academic capabilities. You can even talk about maybe how you've won awards in school since then.

 If you're talking about a documented history of poor testing performance, you can point to the fact that your GPA and your academic achievements are stronger representation of your academic abilities than your LSAT score.

Again, the point is not to make excuses for any of these sort of lower marks or red flags, but it's simply to explain. You want to be explanatory, but not excusatory. The statement should be very clear and very concise. A sample statement about an undiagnosed learning difference could go something like this.

During my time at Sunnyside University, I had an undiagnosed learning difference that made my core STEM classes extremely challenging for me. After graduating undergrad, however, I was able to afford testing and diagnostic treatment, and I was able to get support for my learning difference. Now, in my engineering master's program, I have excelled with a 4.0 and I've made Dean's list every semester.

I've asked this committee to look at the strength of my academics after diagnosis and in my master's program as being more reflective of my current academic capabilities. Short and sweet. We have what we're talking about. We have the explanation and then we end with the strength. Another example could be, in my undergrad

my first two years, I was unfortunately unfocused and undisciplined. My lack of discipline ended up with lower GPAs my first two years. Even though I was able to raise my GPA those last two years, those first two years did contribute to my overall GPA of a 2.8. I take full responsibility for my actions, freshmen and sophomore year and my lack of focus.

I would ask that this admissions committee consider my LSAT score of 167 to be a more accurate reflection of my academic capabilities than my GPA. A last one can be, in high school I excelled academically, however, I struggled with testing, timing and test anxiety on the SAT, and ACT due to the fact that my standardized test scores were so much lower than my academic ability.

I applied test optional to Sunnyside University, where I thrive with a 3.9 GPA as a psychology major, receiving an invitation to join the Psi Chi national honor society. A similar pattern with my LSAT score is repeating itself now. I would ask that this committee look at the strength of my undergraduate coursework and my honor society as more indicative of my academic abilities to perform in law school.

So to review, I know that there is so much anxiety surrounding a lower GPA or a lower LSAT score. Those traditional hard factors, those numbers that really mean a lot to law school admissions. But law school admissions is a holistic application review process. They don't just look at your numbers. If they did, admissions committees wouldn't exist and they could be completely replaced by computers.

They do read your application file. They do look at the whole picture. The academic addendum is a place where you can change and control a bit, the narrative of your numbers. You can take back the narrative and you can showcase your strengths and you can showcase how you've grown and you can showcase why you are ready now for the rigor of law school. The key to addenda is to be brief, be concise, be clear.

Disclose, explain, but don't be excusatory. Tell just the facts and only the facts that we need and try to end on a strength and a positive.

If you're looking for step-by-step guidance on setting the tone for your addenda as well as all aspects of the application process from brainstorming and structuring your personal statement to your diversity statement, letters of recommendation, optional essays, and financial aid, enroll

in my law school application boot camps. My bootcamps are now enrolling and they enroll until they're full. There's a maximum of four students per boot camp, and they are a fantastic and wonderful way to have support along this journey.

This was another episode of Break into Law School with Sydney Montgomery. 

Want to learn more about how you can work with me? Visit my website at www.smontgomeryconsulting.com or follow me on instagram @smontgomeryconsulting.  

Make sure that you rate and review this episode, if it was helpful to you. And if you're looking for even more inspiration, check out my podcast, Mindful Prayers for Students, where I provide encouragement, mindfulness, and prayer on your academic journey.