Does quantity of undergraduate degrees matter? Forum

[Tommiahipp]

Hello all,

I am seeking some advice in regards to law school admissions for next Fall and how much the number of undergraduate degrees I will have will affect my admissions cycle.

If I consider myself finished with undergrad as of this Spring, I will have two degrees (one in a foreign language, the other in another humanities field) and two minors (one in STEM, one in a different foreign language). My professors are really pushing me to come back next Fall and finish my 3rd degree, in which case I would graduate with 3 B.A.s and 1 minor in a STEM field. I would also be foregoing graduating with honors distinction if I do not go back next Fall. Obviously the opportunity cost is about 4 months of work experience and the cost of attending school in the fall versus the added benefit of a 3rd degree on my admissions cycle. And then there is factoring in how valuable 4 more months of work experience would be in comparison to an extra degree.

For context, I am at state-school university in a flyover state, if that matters for analyzing this. My GPA is basically set in stone right now since I have so many credits, and I will have a 3.86 after this semester, so it might bump to a 3.87 or so if I came back and got a 4.0 next Fall but that is all. I also have a 170 LSAT to my name, but retook last Saturday hoping for a few more points. Softs are probably average for T-13 applicants. I have worked since I was 14, and will have a few solid internships/experiences during undergrad (top-tier thinktank, cool legal work with asylum seekers, tons of community involvement, especially w/ immigrant community).

My question to you all is this - will there be an appreciable difference in an admissions cycle if a student has 3 versus 2 undergraduate degrees? How does a 3rd degree compare to whatever work experience I would miss out on by attending school again next Fall?

I feel like the answer is the 3rd degree won't matter, save the $$ of attending another semester of school, and get work experience in before law school but I just want some assurance from the wisdom on these boards.

[Dcc617]

What matters is your GPA and LSAT. A master's degree would be a weak soft, so I imagine another bachelor's would be meaningless.

Also, reconsider going straight through.

[Tommiahipp]

What matters is your GPA and LSAT. A master's degree would be a weak soft, so I imagine another bachelor's would be meaningless.

Also, reconsider going straight through.

That was basically my thinking in regard to the degree. Not totally going straight through though. I will graduate from undergrad this Spring (in 1 month) with 2 of my degrees and will apply to LS first thing next Fall, thus entering law school in Fall 2020. That would give me about 15 more months of work experience before I start law school. I also worked for 5 years in retail and menial stuff like that, and then have had a full-time internship every summer, and have worked part-time while in highschool/college. I am certainly more familiar with the working world than many of my 22-year old colleagues. I come from a very low-income household (maxed out Pell grant) and don't think I can gain much "work-ethic" type of skills from getting work-experience before law school. The school of hard knocks taught me well.

That being said, I am going to keep an open mind in regards to career opportunities and am no way wedded to starting law school in the Fall of 2020. I would happily start in 2021 if I have something exciting to do until then.

Thank you for your reply, it is deeply appreciated.

[nixy]

I don’t think the third degree will help you at all. Some people even find too many degrees a negative - it looks like you can’t bear to leave the academic nest.

Also your profs likely want to beef up the number of majors in their department (there are a lot of perfectly fair reasons for this but I don’t think it should be something that costs you money and time).

[Tommiahipp]

I don’t think the third degree will help you at all. Some people even find too many degrees a negative - it looks like you can’t bear to leave the academic nest.

Also your profs likely want to beef up the number of majors in their department (there are a lot of perfectly fair reasons for this but I don’t think it should be something that costs you money and time).

Agreed on point 1, however this would be done in only 4.5 years which I think is normal but still worth considering the optics. I was also thinking the potential optics of "handing out degrees" if I had 3. Not sure.

Potentially true on your last point, but I have a very close relationship with my profs and their intentions are more genuine than that, as far as I can tell. Its more, "you've done so much work the last 4 years why wouldn't you come back and finish it off?"

Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.

[Lxwind]

To be honest I think the difference between 4 months of additional work experience versus a third degree may be negligible. Maybe OP should just follow the heart and choose whatever is more appealing at this point, leaving admission considerations aside. It likely won't matter at all.

[QContinuum]

I second the earlier posts ITT: A second Bachelor's (let alone a third Bachelor's) will add zero value, and could actually potentially be a negative simply because it's so unusual. (Adcoms might think, "this fellow simply can't make up their mind what they want to do!")

I also want to point out that as far as LSAC GPA goes, LSAC only factors in credits earned prior to the first Bachelor's. Any classes (whether undergraduate or graduate) taken after the conferral of that first Bachelor's will not be factored into an applicant's LSAC GPA (which is effectively the only GPA considered for law school admissions purposes).

[Tommiahipp]

I second the earlier posts ITT: A second Bachelor's (let alone a third Bachelor's) will add zero value, and could actually potentially be a negative simply because it's so unusual. (Adcoms might think, "this fellow simply can't make up their mind what they want to do!")

I also want to point out that as far as LSAC GPA goes, LSAC only factors in credits earned prior to the first Bachelor's. Any classes (whether undergraduate or graduate) taken after the conferral of that first Bachelor's will not be factored into an applicant's LSAC GPA (which is effectively the only GPA considered for law school admissions purposes).

Thanks for following up Q, you always have great advice on here. I have not officially been conferred a degree, and was waiting until the Summer/Fall 2019 to do so since like you said, they only calculate grades pre-conferral. I imagine they calculate based off the date stamped on my degree, not necessarily when I met all the requirements for my major from my university... or do they? Unless they really go through my transcript and go back and forth between that and the degree reqs. to see when EXACTLY i finished my first degree. But I digress, that point is in the weeds.

Thanks again for the feedback. Consensus seems to be the extra degree does not matter, which is comforting in the face of professors who are all but clueless about LS admissions encouraging me to finish a third.