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I am submitting a lot later than I wanted to. I got my LSAT score in September and my recommendations were in by November. I worked on my essays throughout the fall and was planning to submit mid-Jan at the end of winter break. But in December, an extremely close family member suddenly pass away and had to travel for 2 weeks for the funeral. I wasn't in a state to work on my apps for a few weeks after, and have just recently finished them. I have been planning for years to go to law school now and it is clear through my essays/resume that this has been my goal for a while (I'm KJD). I don't want admissions officers questioning my genuine interest in law school if they see that I'm applying so close to the Feb 15 deadline. Should I write an addendum about the extenuating circumstances that delayed my submission? #help
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As I have understood it, an addendum is usually to explain something affecting the actual substance of your application, such as why you did not perform well for a semester in undergrad, ex. undiagnosed learning disorder impacted your grades in fall of second year. The point of an addendum is for them to perhaps change their perspective about some part of your application due to information they would not have otherwise known in a realm that they can control (they can accept someone with a lower GPA if they know you otherwise perform better).
I don't think you should write an addendum about why you are submitting your app in February, since you are submitting within the deadline, and it won't change anything about how they approach your application in terms of being a February submission versus a November one. Whether due to a funeral or other issue, submitting in February means there are fewer spots available in law schools that do rolling admissions and there is nothing that admissions committees can really control about that. Given how much the law admissions podcasts have emphasized they don't want to read extra material, I'd avoid addenda unless absolutely necessary.
I think the question for you might be: are you okay with applying in Feb this year, with the knowledge that you may be waitlisted at some schools that would have otherwise admitted you, and in such a case are you okay re-applying next year? I had to make the same decision too--I got sick with COVID in November and hence could not submit my apps till January. I decided to take the plunge because I have savings to re-apply next year and I am not terribly picking about going to a specific school. I'm fine with going anywhere in the T-14, and I figured I'd probably get admitted somewhere, though not to as many places as if I had applied in November. And for me that was good enough.
and if you aren't applying to T-14, you're probably okay more generally since most other schools are still taking applications well into march and even april.
I'm also saying that to comfort myself LMFOAFIEHIU
I did not write an addendum and applied recently. I wouldn't sweat it to much. You've put you're heart into your application package. Be confident in it. If I were you I wouldn't add an addendum bc you don't know how the reader will perceive it. You aren't submitting it past the deadline and I think you should take comfort in that.