CAS GPA......Addendum?

Simbatron

Hey guys,

I'm probably freaking out over nothing, but after getting my CAS report my GPA dropped from a 3.55 to a 3.39. This is what happened:

I was originally going to do a major that required calculus 1 & 2. Math has never been my strong suit (my only grades below a B EVER were all in math). However, in order to graduate on time for financial aid reasons I switched my major to a brand new (was in the first class to ever be able to graduate with this major) related major that didn't require calculus 2. Previously though, I took calc 2 and failed, and re-took it and got a C. My undergrad did grade forgiveness where the F didn't count and was replaced with a C.

My questions are...

1. Does this sound correct?? Is it possible to drop down from a 3.55 to a 3.39 just from 1 F?
2. Should I write an addendum explaining this? I feel that it is unfair that it dropped so much, and also that my GPA is being compared to a bunch of people who didn't even have to take many of the difficult (to me) classes that I took.

Any advice, experiences, words of encouragement, etc. are appreciated because I'm kind of freaking out

jknauf

@Simbatron said:
1. Does this sound correct?? Is it possible to drop down from a 3.55 to a 3.39 just from 1 F?

Yeah man It's unfortunate. If your GPA was calculated the same way my school calculates their GPA, then you received 0 out of a possible 16 points. The LSAC doesn't consider class forgiveness programs

This is just all the more reason you must kill the LSAT ; )

@Simbatron said:
2. Should I write an addendum explaining this? I feel that it is unfair that it dropped so much, and also that my GPA is being compared to a bunch of people who didn't even have to take many of the difficult (to me) classes that I took.

I would write the addendum. I don't think it would hurt, just don't make excuses. It's unfortunate most majors are looked at as equal to other majors. I have heard your major will come into effect sometimes, for example, when the school can only take 1 more student with a 170 LSAT and a 3.39 GPA. Some schools will favor a Math major over a theater major. However, most schools only care about keeping up their pretty LSAT and GPA medians = (

Best of luck

Cant Get Right

Yeah, that sounds right. Having an F on your transcript really hurts.

As far as the addendum, I'd be really careful with that. You really don't want to be explaining that something is unfair. It's their job to know how that works and they really don't care whether it's fair or not. If you're making them read something extra you better make sure that you're giving them new and relevant information. If you don't have a better explanation for that F, that's an addendum that is going to hurt you.