GPA Addendum- Honors Program

cstrobel

I was a part of my school's honors program, and the classes were significantly more difficult than my upper division courses. My GPA still ended up being pretty good, but the lower grades consistently came from the honors classes. I'm not sure if it's better to point that out or leave it be.

LastLSAT

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cstrobel

@BagelBiter Thanks!

calcal101

I agree with the other poster. If you can provide concrete evidence - like a steep curve applied to those courses or an avg (deflated) GPA for honors students - it might be helpful. Otherwise, you’re drawing attn to a weakness and, at least to some degree, casting some doubt on your ability to excel in tough law school courses

Seeking Perfection

@cstrobel said:
I was a part of my school's honors program, and the classes were significantly more difficult than my upper division courses. My GPA still ended up being pretty good, but the lower grades consistently came from the honors classes. I'm not sure if it's better to point that out or leave it be.

I imagine it would be fine as an addendum, but an addendum might be unnecessary. If you were basically graded on a curve against better than average students that is sort of similar to what will happen in law school if milder. That said all our grades will be lower on average in such an environment than in undergrad. I think if I were to write such an addendum, I would spin it to the effect that I have some idea of what that type of competion is like and have learned to handle it in a way that others probably have not.

If the grade difference is mild, I probably wouldn't write the addendum just because you don't want to distract from the best parts of your app.

cstrobel

@"Seeking Perfection"
That's an interesting spin!
I'll be applying with a PhD and a publication or two under my belt, so hopefully that would compensate enough without using an addendum. The difference between would probably be about .5 if I had to guess.

Thanks @"Seeking Perfection" @BagelBiter and @calcal101
While I still have til the next cycle to overthink, it definitely seems better to play it safe.

calcal101

@cstrobel ah I think knowing that you have a PhD somewhat changes things. In that case, I don’t think I’d bother with the addendum unless your GPA is surprisingly low (if STEM, under 3.1 and if non-STEM, under 3.5 or so). I originally assumed you were still in undergrad or just a year or two out. That distance from GPA will make it slightly less relevant

westcoastbestcoast

What grades did you get in these honor classes? Were you in STEM?

cstrobel

@westcoastbestcoast I think I was about 3.5 in honors classes, not in STEM.

I noticed the numerical cutout for an A- is a 93, whereas where I went it was 94.49. Alas, most of my A-'s were 94's. But that's probably not something for an addendum either.

westcoastbestcoast

You should be fine ! @cstrobel