- Posts: 4
- Joined: Aug 29, 2016
- Mon Aug 29, 2016 8:32 am
#28126
Hello! I have written the following addendum because my GPA is a 3.4. My LSAT score on PTs has plateaued at a 157, so my GPA really matters and it is not high enough. I am concerned about it because it might be a tad long (though I couldn't imagine taking anything out and it still having the same effect) and also because I reveal that I am a mother (I do not want to be discriminated against for that - they might think I can't do the work) and because it reveals that I was formerly married to an alcoholic. I do not want these things to draw from my application.
Thank you in advance for any feedback you can offer!
Please accept the following account as an explanation for the fall 2008 and fall 2010 semesters during which I experienced circumstances that have caused my cumulative grade-point average (GPA) to be unrepresentative of my true potential and ability.
My college experience was a difficult one and, while I did very well, each A was increasingly hard-won. My husband and I lived in poverty for the entirety of my college career and he was often unemployed, so it was imperative that I work full-time in addition to taking my full-time course load. While these circumstances were challenging, I was handling them quite well, excelling at work, in school and in my leadership positions on campus.
In the fall of 2008, however, my situation changed completely. I discovered I was pregnant. In one moment, I had been a struggling college student walking miles to school because I could not afford the subway and eating dinner from the vending machine in the hall of my apartment building, in the next, I was suddenly somebody’s mother. The sharp turn was terrifying. What could I possibly offer to this child? I barely had enough money to feed myself, let alone a baby. I could not even offer this child my time, of which I had none. All I had in the world was my intelligence and determination and, at the time, those qualities didn’t seem valuable to a helpless baby. I was afraid—of the unknown, of failure, of change. In addition to the emotional stress, I was often ill, especially in the mornings, and too sick to eat. Energy was in short supply, but I forged on anyway, completing an internship at Simon and Schuster that semester in addition to my full-time work and full-time school responsibilities. The emotional and physical stress of the situation negatively affected my performance at school, but in light of my pregnancy, I was determined even more to finish college and to pull my family out of poverty. The result of all this was a suffering GPA. My worst grade that semester was a disappointing but deserved C+ in economics. While it was a class I enjoyed and still fall back on, it was also a class that I missed too many times due to illness and exhaustion.
Nevertheless, I adjusted to the demands of my new situation. Like a triage nurse, I was forced to constantly pause and reprioritize, sometimes several times a day. It was necessary that I attend to what needed me most at a particular moment, whether it be a paper that was due, a work shift I had to take, the growing stack of bills on the counter or a pediatric ear infection. I discovered that multi-tasking, time-management and prioritizing were particular talents of mine. Indeed, my first semester of motherhood resulted in all As, despite my forty-hour work-week, full-time course load and a very new baby for whom I was primarily responsible.
Just when I thought I had everything under control, things took a turn for the worse during the fall semester of 2010. My husband was an alcoholic. This had been an ongoing emotional issue for me all through college, but that semester it became a threat to the safety of our son, Henry. My husband, even though he was inebriated, had picked Henry up from daycare and had driven him home. I packed up Henry and my schoolbooks and left my husband that very night. But while now Henry was safe, life became even more difficult. I had nowhere to go but my mother’s home, which was too small to accommodate Henry and me. It took two weeks to secure another daycare facility—one that wouldn’t release a child to an inebriated man. My grades slipped. I tried to pull them together, but it was regrettably impossible to manage work, school and Henry amidst the loss of a marriage and friendship and the volatility of dismantling that. Something had to give. Lamentably, the area that presented the least amount of “collateral damage” was school. Worse than it had in 2008, my GPA suffered that semester in 2010.
Those difficulties are, thankfully, in my past. I once thought I would fail at everything, that Henry would grow to have emotional problems because of the turmoil in his first years, that I would never finish school, that I would never achieve my dreams. None of those things happened—I wouldn’t let them. Henry is a well-adjusted, mature seven-year-old. I earned not only an undergraduate degree, but a master’s as well. I attained my dream job. I have risen above everything that stood in my way to pull Henry and myself out of poverty and into a more comfortable, stable living situation. Above all, I learned that I have the power to rise as high as I choose. With hard work, determination and preparation, I can achieve my dreams no matter what obstacle or difficulty stands in my way.
I thank the committee for its time and consideration of my application
Thank you in advance for any feedback you can offer!
Please accept the following account as an explanation for the fall 2008 and fall 2010 semesters during which I experienced circumstances that have caused my cumulative grade-point average (GPA) to be unrepresentative of my true potential and ability.
My college experience was a difficult one and, while I did very well, each A was increasingly hard-won. My husband and I lived in poverty for the entirety of my college career and he was often unemployed, so it was imperative that I work full-time in addition to taking my full-time course load. While these circumstances were challenging, I was handling them quite well, excelling at work, in school and in my leadership positions on campus.
In the fall of 2008, however, my situation changed completely. I discovered I was pregnant. In one moment, I had been a struggling college student walking miles to school because I could not afford the subway and eating dinner from the vending machine in the hall of my apartment building, in the next, I was suddenly somebody’s mother. The sharp turn was terrifying. What could I possibly offer to this child? I barely had enough money to feed myself, let alone a baby. I could not even offer this child my time, of which I had none. All I had in the world was my intelligence and determination and, at the time, those qualities didn’t seem valuable to a helpless baby. I was afraid—of the unknown, of failure, of change. In addition to the emotional stress, I was often ill, especially in the mornings, and too sick to eat. Energy was in short supply, but I forged on anyway, completing an internship at Simon and Schuster that semester in addition to my full-time work and full-time school responsibilities. The emotional and physical stress of the situation negatively affected my performance at school, but in light of my pregnancy, I was determined even more to finish college and to pull my family out of poverty. The result of all this was a suffering GPA. My worst grade that semester was a disappointing but deserved C+ in economics. While it was a class I enjoyed and still fall back on, it was also a class that I missed too many times due to illness and exhaustion.
Nevertheless, I adjusted to the demands of my new situation. Like a triage nurse, I was forced to constantly pause and reprioritize, sometimes several times a day. It was necessary that I attend to what needed me most at a particular moment, whether it be a paper that was due, a work shift I had to take, the growing stack of bills on the counter or a pediatric ear infection. I discovered that multi-tasking, time-management and prioritizing were particular talents of mine. Indeed, my first semester of motherhood resulted in all As, despite my forty-hour work-week, full-time course load and a very new baby for whom I was primarily responsible.
Just when I thought I had everything under control, things took a turn for the worse during the fall semester of 2010. My husband was an alcoholic. This had been an ongoing emotional issue for me all through college, but that semester it became a threat to the safety of our son, Henry. My husband, even though he was inebriated, had picked Henry up from daycare and had driven him home. I packed up Henry and my schoolbooks and left my husband that very night. But while now Henry was safe, life became even more difficult. I had nowhere to go but my mother’s home, which was too small to accommodate Henry and me. It took two weeks to secure another daycare facility—one that wouldn’t release a child to an inebriated man. My grades slipped. I tried to pull them together, but it was regrettably impossible to manage work, school and Henry amidst the loss of a marriage and friendship and the volatility of dismantling that. Something had to give. Lamentably, the area that presented the least amount of “collateral damage” was school. Worse than it had in 2008, my GPA suffered that semester in 2010.
Those difficulties are, thankfully, in my past. I once thought I would fail at everything, that Henry would grow to have emotional problems because of the turmoil in his first years, that I would never finish school, that I would never achieve my dreams. None of those things happened—I wouldn’t let them. Henry is a well-adjusted, mature seven-year-old. I earned not only an undergraduate degree, but a master’s as well. I attained my dream job. I have risen above everything that stood in my way to pull Henry and myself out of poverty and into a more comfortable, stable living situation. Above all, I learned that I have the power to rise as high as I choose. With hard work, determination and preparation, I can achieve my dreams no matter what obstacle or difficulty stands in my way.
I thank the committee for its time and consideration of my application
