Semi-unique super splitter question

mgdallas2

So my goal is to apply t-14 but I'm in a semi unique situation with my GPA. Over my last 20 practice LSATs I've scored a low of 173 and a high of 180. I'm expecting my official to fall somewhere in the middle. But my GPA is... not great.

I went to college right after graduating in 2013 I had undiagnosed autism and adhd, and was just generally unprepared for academic life. I got academically dismissed after my 3rd year (I had NOT passed 3 years worth of credits) with a 1.6 cumulative GPA.

In the 7 years since my dismissal I started a business that did multiple millions in sales (nowhere near that much in profit lol, it's an incredibly low margin industry), got married, had a kid, got treated for autism, and just in general learned much better habits. My dream had always been to go to law school, so I decided to reenroll in school to finish my undergrad. I've fairly comfortably earned a 4.0 in each semester since reenrolling. While my school technically "expunged" my transcripts of my old grades, but let me keep the credits toward graduation, obviously my CAS GPA takes everything into account. So as of right now the maximum GPA I can have by application season is a 2.49. A pretty significant gain from my 1.6 but nevertheless far below what I need to get into a t14

Finding information on what to do as a splitter has been difficult, because if we were only counting what I'd done since reenrolling last year, I wouldn't be a splitter at all. I would assume that because there's an 8 year gap between the two it's fairly explainable what happened, but obviously there are plenty of qualified applicants that get rejected from t14's each year.

I'm not sure what it is specifically that I'm asking, but I'm curious as to what thoughts or insight people can share about my situation. Anything is appreciated!

inlimine

I read some advice on a website for military veterans (who often have low GPAs from doing school while on active-duty, and therefore are splitters) who are going to law school about this. I'll copy-paste their advice:

This is the biggest comedown for almost every vet applicant. Some of us went to school while working full time. Some of us have degrees from the notoriously grade-stingy Military Academies. Others were dumb 18 year olds who drank their way to a 2.0 at one school before enlisting and graduating with a 4.0 at another school. When we see the calculation of “3.3” from LSAC as our uGPA it can be incredibly disheartening.

Guess what? Can’t change it. What’s done is done. Your uGPA is your uGPA. Your goal at this point is to crush the LSAT. Nothing else matters. It’s the sole metric that’s going to move you, in the eyes of an admissions officer, from the “almost certainly reject” pile to the “hmmmm maybe we should take this vet” pile. Thus, that is your task.

Optional: uGPA/LSAT Addenda
But BEWARE, these should be short sentences for a small paragraph that explain boring facts, not some grand story. For instance, a uGPA addendum might read like this:

“I am applying with a 3.19 uGPA. When I began my undergraduate education, I chose an engineering major for which I was uninterested and unsuited. After three semesters at a 2.5, I switched to political science, where I found much more success. During my last three semesters I earned a 3.93 GPA.”

If you have some sort of discrepancy between scores here, either in your undergrad record or the LSAT, it might make some sense to provide some color for your application that explains the discrepancy. That’s it. That’s the story. There’s no crying or begging, just information. It at least puts the thought in your head that you’re more than the 3.19 on your application, even though you will be a 3.19 in their metrics. An LSAT addendum might be even shorter:

“I mistakenly took the LSAT in February of 2019 without preparing properly. My score of 152 is a reflection of that lack of preparation. After preparing more diligently, I earned my current score of 168 in September of 2019.”

Boom. Simple. Total story. It takes away the shock of a reader seeing a 152 and a 168 in your score log. Since they only count the highest score in their metrics, this isn’t entirely necessary. But it does answer the obvious question.

One aside here: These addenda are almost never going to matter much in your law school application anywhere except in the margins. If a school suddenly needs to pull five applicants off the waitlist in June, they’re likely going to go with applicants who have provided a clear picture of who they are. This is just another way to help do that. Do NOT expect to addendum your way around bad numbers. Every school where your numbers are below both medians is an assumed reject no matter what you say in your addenda.