UG senior course load/ admissions advice Forum

[Seanathon]

*Sorry long post*

I'm currently planning my schedule for the spring and have a couple questions about how I should pick classes/ allocate time.

A little about me: I currently have a 3.03 GPA and will be graduating with a B.S. in Neurobiology and am interested in going into health care policy or patent law. I'm an athlete in a D1 program (25-30 hours a week) and work a part time job (10 hours a week). I know those are soft factors for admissions, I'm just trying to give a better picture of how my time is used. Luckily, the only credits I have left to complete are a physics course and a bio lab course which would bring me to either 6 or 8 of the available 16 credits next semester. Each course is 4 credits and if I just took a lab portion of a course it would count as 2 credits. My goal is to graduate with a GPA between 3.15 and 3.25. I really like Boston University's Health Law program and Duke's JD/MA in Bioethics and Science Policy program. If it's looking like I will have the LSAT to even have a shot at Duke or other schools with similar kinds of dual degree programs I'll start GRE prep but for now the LSAT is the main priority. I know if I can get above a 170 I'll be an extreme splitter so I'll be applying early and broadly.

My general question is whether I should take a full credit load with the possibility of boosting my GPA or under-load and allow for more LSAT prep, but reduce the possible GPA boost. I've been PTing in the high 160s and will be taking the January LSAT (sorry my November LSAT peeps) but will likely retake during the summer of 2019 with the goal of applying that fall. My school offers a few law courses that I could take and a couple that specialize in health care policy. Would it be any advantage to take any courses like this more than the possible GPA boost? Would an under-loaded semester be looked at unfavorably by admissions? For anyone that has gone on to law school after a B.S., are there any skills you wish you improved on before applying/ attending?

This community has been an extremely valuable resource to me so far and I really appreciate any advice, opinions/ comments, or questions y'all have.

[QContinuum]

My general question is whether I should take a full credit load with the possibility of boosting my GPA or under-load and allow for more LSAT prep, but reduce the possible GPA boost.

Why does it have to be one or the other? It strikes me that the best thing you could do would be to maximize your GPA now, then take a gap year/two before law school. You could then prep for and take the LSAT without college exams and D1 athletics responsibilities competing for your attention.

But if you are set on not taking a gap year, then I'd focus on maximizing your LSAT. Duke's 25% GPA is 3.57; even if you were able to get your GPA up to 3.15/3.25, you'd still be well below Duke's 25%. In contrast, since you're PTing in the high 160s, you're in a range where every additional point you score on the LSAT will help you, at Duke and at the rest of the T13. So your ROI in maximizing your LSAT is likely to be much greater at this point than your ROI in nudging your GPA up by a bit.

My school offers a few law courses that I could take and a couple that specialize in health care policy. Would it be any advantage to take any courses like this more than the possible GPA boost?

No.