Bad GPA Chances

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I'm kind of in an interesting situation. I just finished my junior year and am prepping for the June LSAT. This is the second year I've been at my school (top 50) and my GPA is now a 3.78 including this semester's grades.</p>

<p>I spent my first year at another top 50 school and had a bad year overall. I almost didn't get to attend my freshmen year because I had back surgery in July of '07 and was barely healthy enough to attend school. My first semester was alright. I got a 3.17 but that wasn't because of any health problems. However, my second semester I got an F in Arabic language and a C- in a Comparative Politics course because I had severe back problems and couldn't even get out of bed for about a month. I was able to pull a B and an A- in another class because the grades from those classes depended on final papers that I wrote in bed and submitted by email which constituted the majority of the grade. I had decided to transfer to the school I'm at now over Christmas break and applied before the second semester. But, I had a horrible second semester anyways due to my health issues. It also caused me to go into a state of depression that I saw a therapist for. But, I ended my year with a 2. something GPA at my first school.</p>

<p>Over the summer, I went into intensive physical therapy and became healthy enough to function like a normal human being I went to my new school and promptly achieved a nice GPA and have been steadily increasing every semester until I've arrived at a 3.78 for the current school's GPA. However, I've done the LSDAS GPA thing from a couple websites and included my 22 units of dual credit high school and have come out to an LSDAS GPA of a 3.39 including the F and the C-.</p>

<p>My question is, if I explain my circumstances in an addendum, will I be able to overcome a poor overall GPA by emphasizing my marked improvement at a comparable school rankings-wise? In addition, I can demonstrate that there is a correlation between the physical therapy and my academic achievement since I had not undergone any therapy and had serious back issues once again during the second semester.</p>

<p>My top school at the moment is the University of Washington which is ranked 34 by USWR and has an LSAT range of 160-166. Based on my diagnostic tests and the prepping I'm doing, I'm expecting to get over a 166 on the LSAT. Is it reasonable to think I have a chance at getting into UW or should I be aiming lower? Another thing to consider beyond the numbers is that I have been very involved outside of class at my new school and have a lot of volunteer experience in education in Ukraine and a few leadership positions.</p>

<p>Any opinions would be much appreciated. Thank you!</p>

<p>A 3.39 isn’t really that bad, especially given your circumstances. You should definitely write an addendum, but it probably won’t make a huge difference.</p>

<p>Something you should consider is waiting until after your senior year to apply to law schools. If you do so, you’ll have another year of grades to make up for poor grades during your freshman year. Also, you should take some easy CC classes over this summer. You could potentially bring your GPA up to 3.5 if you take a lot of classes over the next year and get straight As.</p>