GPA *and* LSAT addendum?

graciej137

Hi everybody,

I've already written a GPA addendum to explain a chronic disease and how it negatively affected my grades.

My question is... should I also write an LSAT addendum? I got a 169 on the November LSAT but was shooting for at least a 170 so I retook it in January. Instead, I dropped down three points to 166. I was consistently scoring in the 170-175 range on the PT's and so I don't feel like 166 is reflective of my abilities, and it also doesn't look great to have retaken it just to have my score drop. I feel as though I need to explain in an addendum that the 169 is a more accurate predictor of my success in law school than the 166 is, and also explain the decrease.

One of the reasons my score dropped is because my boyfriend that I've been with for over two years/live with lost his job at the beginning of January and had to take a job on the East Coast (while I'm still here in San Francisco). So not only was I not studying much that month because of worrying about his unemployment, I also had the added pressure to get a high score to get into the law school in his new city. Plus, add anxiety about potentially having to do long-distance, breaking up, etc... Basically I was a frazzled anxious mess by the time I took the January LSAT and I think that was a large contributor to my score decrease.

I'm not sure if relationship woes are addendum worthy, but I also feel like the general consensus is that you should explain a decrease. Plus, I definitely want to keep the GPA addendum but I feel sort of weird writing an addendum for both.

Should I write an LSAT addendum, or leave it at the GPA addendum? All advice is appreciated!

LSAT_Wrecker

IMHO, The story above does not help you in any way. You have a 169. An admissions reader will count you as a 169. Don't worry about anything else. If they ask, "Why the drop", give them a response in the vein of, "My practice test average indicated I could score higher than my 169, so I took the test again." Leave it at that.

graciej137

Okay, thank you! @LSAT_Wrecker

Better every day

@graciej137 said:
Hi everybody,

I've already written a GPA addendum to explain a chronic disease and how it negatively affected my grades.

My question is... should I also write an LSAT addendum? I got a 169 on the November LSAT but was shooting for at least a 170 so I retook it in January. Instead, I dropped down three points to 166. I was consistently scoring in the 170-175 range on the PT's and so I don't feel like 166 is reflective of my abilities, and it also doesn't look great to have retaken it just to have my score drop. I feel as though I need to explain in an addendum that the 169 is a more accurate predictor of my success in law school than the 166 is, and also explain the decrease.

One of the reasons my score dropped is because my boyfriend that I've been with for over two years/live with lost his job at the beginning of January and had to take a job on the East Coast (while I'm still here in San Francisco). So not only was I not studying much that month because of worrying about his unemployment, I also had the added pressure to get a high score to get into the law school in his new city. Plus, add anxiety about potentially having to do long-distance, breaking up, etc... Basically I was a frazzled anxious mess by the time I took the January LSAT and I think that was a large contributor to my score decrease.

I'm not sure if relationship woes are addendum worthy, but I also feel like the general consensus is that you should explain a decrease. Plus, I definitely want to keep the GPA addendum but I feel sort of weird writing an addendum for both.

Should I write an LSAT addendum, or leave it at the GPA addendum? All advice is appreciated!

If I were an admission officer I would be wondering why a score dropped 3 points on a test that was taken months later. It’s true that they only need to report your highest score now so the focus is on this and the lower score probably won’t really hurt you, but these people are human and it’s only natural to wonder why. I think the brief explanation you gave above is a legitimate reason to justify a small drop and also shows a little bit more about who you are as a person. I would look upon both of these favorably if I were the one reading your file.

Leah M B

I'm definitely in agreement with @LSAT_Wrecker here. To put it bluntly, "my boyfriend lost his job" is not an awesome reason for a lower score. I totally get where that would affect you personally, but in the grand scheme of things I don't know that the adcoms would regard that as a significant reason. They are looking for things like, "a marching band was practicing outside the test center the whole time" or "I had the flu on test day" or "I have a history of standardized tests not reflecting my true ability due to a specific health diagnosis." I think an addendum might even hurt you in this scenario - they could see it as a regular life stressor that you may have to deal with in law school too. You may want to be cautious about what you tell an adcom re: the things that lead to lower performance.

Additionally, a 3 point drop is very small. When you take the LSAT, you are given a "score band" that has a +/- 3 point range. That's because on any given day you can score within +/- 3 points. That's a normal fluctuation.

If it makes you feel any better, I have only taken the LSAT twice and on my second attempt, I dropped 4 points (ugh). I have literally no explanation for it... just randomly the worst score I'd gotten on any PT or real LSAT in months. Since I don't have a reason for it, I did not write an addendum and just trusted the advice of all the admissions consultants out there - that no matter what schools say, they really only care about your highest score because that is what gets reported. So far, my cycle is playing out as you would expect with my highest score, and no school has asked about the drop. They know that sometimes you just have an off day. While it bums you out, and I know that feeling well, schools will really just concern themselves with your highest score.

graciej137

Thanks @"Leah M B"! Your personal experience makes me feel a lot better.

kpj744___

@"Leah M B" you are beyond helpful. Thanks for always sharing your story so openly.