I received a "NP" in Poli Sci which translates to an F

stephgmeister

In 2012, I received a NP in Intro to Political Science which LSAC considers an F. Long story short, I took that class a long time ago when I was first considering law school and it was purely for educational enrichment, I took it over the summer for christ sake.

Should I explain this in the addenda? I do have a reasonable excuse for not taking the final, the professor was very strict about when he wanted his tests done and when I exceeded the time allotted for both tests with my one Philosophy final (with testing accommodations), I asked for an extension and it wasn't granted. If it were any other class maybe it wouldn't matter but since I'm applying to law school I feel as though I should explain this. But I also don't want to look really dumb by exceeding the time limit for two tests with just one. The philosophy final was super writing heavy but still.

Any thoughts? Suggestions?

Thank you,

Steph

calcal101

I do think you'll want to address this somehow. Mention your accommodations (which you should probably address in greater detail in another addendum), your request for an extension, and your inability to have one granted. If I were you, I would NOT mention that it was just taken for fun, nor would I make this sound like an "excuse." I wouldn't bring up the fact that the philosophy final was writing heavy and therefore intense--law school (and lawyering) is reading and writing heavy, so that could be seen as a red flag.

_oshun1_

No.
1) political science has nothing to do with law school unless you want to do public policy and more generally speaking law schools are not looking at your transcript and saying "this student failed XYZ class so we are going to judge them more harshly" and 2) you only failed one class one time one semester. Unless there was some sort of extrenuating circumstance which 1 led you to fail and 2 prevented you from requesting a withdrawal due to that circumstance.

Law schools care about your overall GPA and your LSAT, not one grade on one specific class. I would say at least half of everyone has failed one class at least and it would be a lot of addendums to read if everyone described why they failed that one/two class(es).

If you have a downward trend in you grades due to some extrenuating circumstances then mention it. Even then, it would be difficult to write an addendum as to why your grades were low bc admissions would just ask, why didn't you just withdraw/drop your classes/withdraw from the semester if you had a death in the family/an illness/financial issues/etc.

Cant Get Right

No, I wouldn't. All it'll do is draw their attention to a negative blip. Trends are one thing, but you don't want to highlight this.

hawaiihi

I'd put an addendum! Just heard a law school admissions officer speak, and she said it was better to put one––better that you can be upfront than give the admissions committee a chance to use their imagination, as they might come up with something far worse than the truth.

Seeking Perfection

@calcal101 said:
I do think you'll want to address this somehow. Mention your accommodations (which you should probably address in greater detail in another addendum), your request for an extension, and your inability to have one granted. If I were you, I would NOT mention that it was just taken for fun, nor would I make this sound like an "excuse." I wouldn't bring up the fact that the philosophy final was writing heavy and therefore intense--law school (and lawyering) is reading and writing heavy, so that could be seen as a red flag.

This seems like the appropriate response to me.

However, I might lean more toward not bothering with an addendum if you had a very low grade point or a bunch of other Ds. Basically, if the addendum would seem like a credible explanation, you might as well write it. It probably won't help much, but as long as you keep it brief, to the point, and well edited, it should do no harm.