How To Write A Law School Addendum: The Ultimate Guide ...

Introduction

When applying to law school, your goal is to establish that you’re an accomplished student and a conscientious, upstanding citizen. Put simply, you want to present your best self to an admissions committee. But what if there’s a flaw on your record that disrupts the exemplary image you’re trying to convey? That’s where writing an addendum for law school may be useful.

An addendum is an optional statement that you can submit with your law school applications to explain any aberration on your legal or academic record. However, many applicants struggle to write an effective addendum or to understand whether they should include one at all.

In this post, we’ll unravel the ins and outs of law school addenda to give you a clear sense of how and if you ought to write one. We’ll go over which situations warrant an addendum, how to successfully compose one, and we’ll show you well-written examples and help you understand why they work.

Why do law school addenda exist?

The purpose of an addendum is to provide you with a space in which you can clarify anything in your academic or legal background that an admissions committee might see as a red flag. While the idea of discussing what may be a low point in your personal history likely seems unappealing, think of an addendum as an opportunity to frame a negative experience in the way that you want it to come across, rather than leaving it up to misinterpretation.

By proactively addressing any irregularities in your record and displaying subsequent correction or improvement, you also have the chance to demonstrate that you can take responsibility and learn from past mistakes and obstacles.

What situations warrant an addendum?

It’s not always the case that an addendum is necessary to explain an imperfect situation. In this section, we’ll go over the scenarios that most often lead applicants to submit addenda and help you determine whether or not an addendum is appropriate for you.

Low GPA

The most frequent reason that applicants choose to send an addendum with their law school applications is poor academic performance in college that’s resulted in low grades and/or a low GPA.

A useful rule of thumb is: if your weak academic performance was caused or contributed to by unforeseen events or extenuating circumstances, you should include an addendum. For example, valid reasons that you should discuss include bad grades due to a medical issue, family emergency, or death of a loved one, just to name a few.

An addendum is also necessary if, for whatever reason, you’ve received failing or near-failing grades (a D or F) or you’ve faced academic probation or dismissal.

On the other hand, a challenging major or strenuous course loadare not good reasons to submit an addendum. Doing so will most likely come off as trivial and sympathy-seeking. For instance, if you’re an English major whose otherwise excellent GPA dipped one semester because you decided to try organic chemistry, trust that admissions committees will be able to read between the lines.

Similarly, admissions officers understand that many students’ grades improve after freshman year once they’ve adjusted to college life. So unless your first year grades are catastrophic, it’s probably not necessary to address them.

Low LSAT score

If your LSAT results aren’t what you’d hoped for, you should consider writing an addendum if your score was adversely affected by circumstances beyond your control, such as illness or a car accident on the day of the test. These are sound explanations, particularly if you later retook the test and got a markedly better score.

In fact, if you’ve taken the LSAT more than once and received significantly different results, it’s a good idea to account for why, no matter the circumstances. Frame your low score as an anomaly and explain how your improved score better indicates your true capabilities.

However, don’t use an addendum to justify a bad score due to inadequate preparation or nervousness, especially if you’re unable to show improvement.

Some applicants use an addendum to situate their low LSAT score in an ongoing struggle with standardized testing. We suggest doing this only if your testing difficulties are substantial and verifiable and you can prove that you’re an otherwise outstanding student.

In other words, your LSAT and other standardized test scores need to be fairly low and your GPA needs to be fairly high for this explanation to be convincing. An addendum would be appropriate if, say, you received a 150 on the LSAT but had a 3.8 GPA from a competitive college, and your SAT scores were mediocre as well.

(Suggested Reading: What’s a Good LSAT Score?)

Other reasons to include an addendum

Besides academic performance, here are the most common reasons that applicants write addenda:

• A withdrawal, leave of absence, or transfer from college

• Academic misconduct or disciplinary action received in college

• A criminal record

It’s safe to say that if any of the above apply to you, you should address it in an addendum and err on the side of full disclosure.

Particularly in the cases of collegiate misconduct or criminal behavior, it’s crucial not to omit or gloss anything over. Not only do you want to convince law schools that these incidents do not reflect the responsible, rule-respecting person you are today, it’s also important not to set a precedent of hiding elements of your history, since you’ll need to disclose past infractions when applying for admission to the bar.

That said, law schools do vary in their requirements of what incidents must be reported. Some may only want to know about severe infractions, such as felonies and misdemeanors, while others will require that you disclose any legal or disciplinary troubles, down to traffic violations.

Certain schools may also allow you to omit sealed or expunged charges. Make sure to read application guidelines closely to understand what to talk about in your addendum. Remember that it’s better to risk full disclosure, no matter how unpleasant, than to have it come out later.

If you’re still just not sure whether an addendum is necessary for you, imagine reading your application materials from the perspective of a stranger and see if anything sticks out. If so, an addendum is likely worth writing. Another good option is to ask the opinion of a trusted advisor, professor, or friend in law school.

While you don’t want to run the risk of unnecessarily drawing attention to minor missteps that might otherwise be overlooked, you do want to prevent misunderstandings and show that you can take accountability for your actions.