As my transcript reflects, I received a compassionate withdrawal from my summer 2012 classes at Somerset University. I was unable to finish the last two finals of these classes because my abusive live-in boyfriend threatened my life. I left him and received a restraining order against him.

I lived with that boyfriend for the last two years of college. I feel as if I would have been able to perform better in school if it were not for the relationship. As my transcript indicates, my GPA was higher for my first two years of college. After I filed the restraining order, my grades rose. I look forward to earning higher grades as a law student.

Comments

This addendum is succinct, specific, and limited in a good way. It explains a withdrawal from a class and a drop in the author’s grades without trying to explain away the entire transcript.

The author provides enough detail to make her point—the boyfriend threatened her life; she received a restraining order—but no more. She also ends on an optimistic note.