Top Law Schools

LALawyer wrote:As a graduate of a top-ten school, I do have one piece of advice in choosing a school. If you know FOR CERTAIN the market in which you want to practice after law school, choose the best school IN THAT MARKET that you get into, even if you get into "better" schools in other markets.

Of course, for the vast majority of schools, you have to go wherever you can to get a job, and any job at all is what you are looking for. You see, there really are no jobs for most law school grads.

If I decided to double major but graduate at different dates for each bachelors degree, will it matter to the LSAC?

Will they penalize me by only counting the first degree GPA awarded?

Please kindly clarify.

law_nut wrote:If I decided to double major but graduate at different dates for each bachelors degree, will it matter to the LSAC?

Will they penalize me by only counting the first degree GPA awarded?

Please kindly clarify.

It is certainly not a "penalty." LSAC only counts your grades until your first bachelor's degree. Anything after doesn't count.

I am considering writing an Addendum for my applications b/c my LSAT score are pretty low. I have already retaken them and did about the same. I have always done poorly on any type of standardized tests. Would it be acceptable to bring up how although I did poorly on my SAT ( just over 1000) that I still graduated under grad with a 3.5 GPA or this GPA too low to make this point? Would an argument like this only work if you had a GPA higher than a 3.5?

Emory will take the highest LSAT.

http://www.law.emory.edu/admission/admission-faqs/application-procedures.html wrote:Q. Does it matter when I take the LSAT? What if I take it more than once?

A. You may take the LSAT at any time. Most students will take it in June following their junior year. December scores will be received before the March 1 postmarked deadline. We will accept the February score, however, it puts the applicant at a disadvantage because the February test results usually do not come in until after the March 1 deadline. This means that the committee has already accepted a number of qualified applicants. We will only accept LSAT scores less than 5 years old. If there is more than one score on the LSDAS report, the highest of those scores will be used.

Great thread!

UGH- I have a 3.3 right now, got 165 on the LSAT but I got 2 F's my very first semester because I didn't drop these classes I had on time. I know that will impact my GPA big time and I will go below a 3.0. This really sucks. Will an addendum help that much?!

Player21 wrote:UGH- I have a 3.3 right now, got 165 on the LSAT but I got 2 F's my very first semester because I didn't drop these classes I had on time. I know that will impact my GPA big time and I will go below a 3.0. This really sucks. Will an addendum help that much?!

It probably won't help that much or at all, but you should still write the addendum. Maybe figure out what your GPA would have been without those two classes and put that on there.

Player21 wrote:UGH- I have a 3.3 right now, got 165 on the LSAT but I got 2 F's my very first semester because I didn't drop these classes I had on time. I know that will impact my GPA big time and I will go below a 3.0. This really sucks. Will an addendum help that much?!

TBH how can anyone tell if you just didn't drop those classes on time, or if you were lazy/incompetent and bombed the exams and/or didn't do the homework? I can see writing an addendum for a legitimate reason such as family death or illness, but your situation won't garner any sympathy.

Player21 wrote:UGH- I have a 3.3 right now, got 165 on the LSAT but I got 2 F's my very first semester because I didn't drop these classes I had on time. I know that will impact my GPA big time and I will go below a 3.0. This really sucks. Will an addendum help that much?!

i don't think it will kill you, you'll just have to take on the splitter mentality when it comes to applications.

lsat 2008 wrote:What kind of explanation is needed for school that take the higher LSAT score?

You'd need to explain why or how you were able to score higher... In other words, you'd say something like "When I took LSAT for the first time, I fell ill on the morning of the test, so consequently, my first LSAT score was low."

Okay so I am going to have a 3.49 GPA, I have on "W" and two repeat courses...my GPA is going to be lower isn't it?

Also I am going to take the LSAT in Oct., if I don't get a great score, than I am going to take it in Dec. Do I still have time to apply for the falling fall?

Thanks!

chrisgirl wrote:Okay so I am going to have a 3.49 GPA, I have on "W" and two repeat courses...my GPA is going to be lower isn't it?

Also I am going to take the LSAT in Oct., if I don't get a great score, than I am going to take it in Dec. Do I still have time to apply for the falling fall?

Thanks!

The W won't affect your GPA. I don't know how the repeats will, though.
It is definitely possible to take the test in December and apply for the following fall—but I wouldn't fully recommend it, because it doesn't really allow you to take full advantage of the application season. There are many who will have their apps completed in October and you'll only be complete in January. Don't worry, though, just do really well in October. As an aside, don't plan on retaking, it's like setting yourself up to do poorly; further, many never get back the energy to get back into studying after taking it once.

chrisgirl wrote:Okay so I am going to have a 3.49 GPA, I have on "W" and two repeat courses...my GPA is going to be lower isn't it?

Also I am going to take the LSAT in Oct., if I don't get a great score, than I am going to take it in Dec. Do I still have time to apply for the falling fall?

Thanks!

W doesn't affect the LSAC GPA. All grades count for repeated courses, so your GPA will take a hit there since you have to count the first time, too (unless your transcript hides them).

You can still apply with a December LSAT, but it'll be past the midpoint of the cycle.

I read Ken's initial post about punitive W's and non-punitive W's. After considering tying cinderblocks to my ankles and going for a swim, I refocused, checked the rest of the message board and clarified that my W's are non-punitive. I can now sleep without recurring nightmares.

Hi everyone,

I am new to this board and I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a question regarding writing an addendum. I'm from Canada but I will be applying to most of the T14 American schools for the September 2011 cycle. I will be writing an addendum to explain a couple of marks I received, but I was wondering if there is such a thing as 'too much' to include in an addendum?

During my 2nd year of university, my marks really suffered (I received a 2.7 GPA that year) because I had to take on 3 part-time jobs to support myself and I was also skating competitively 3 - 4 times/week (with about 5 hours dedicated to each practice/commute). I wanted to write an addendum to explain this, however, in the summer following this school year I took one course to lighten my course load for my 3rd year and my father became very ill and was hospitalized in the ICU for 4 weeks (right around the time of my midterm and final exam). Needless to say, I did horribly in this course as well, receiving a D-. If an admissions office was to look at my entire academic history, it is obvious that after 2nd year and the summer, there is an obvious upward trend, considering I received a 3.8 GPA in 3rd and 4th year (if I don't include that D- in my GPA calculation; if I do, I only have a 3.4 GPA in 3rd year).

My question is, would it be too much to explain this all in one addendum? I don't want to sound like I am making excuses, but I want an admissions office to know why these trends occurred. I'd appreciate any advice that you have to offer.

Thanks!

I heard that it's not good to take AP credit for courses or pass/fail because it doesn't look good... is this true? I only have two courses I want to take a pass/fail on and one course with AP credit. Should I do it, or just take my chances?

Ken wrote:What law schools favor LSAT over GPA and Vice-Versa
Other top law schools that focus more heavily upon LSAT vs. GPA include:

Chicago (LSAT 25th: 169 – tied for 2nd; LSAT 75th 173 – tied for 4th; GPA 25th 3.49 – tied for 16th; GPA 75th – 3.77 tied for 51st)

Columbia (LSAT 25th: 169 – tied for 2nd; LSAT 75th 174 – 3rd; GPA 25th 3.56 – tied for 6th; GPA 75th – 3.81 tied for 21st)

Michigan (LSAT 25th: 167 – tied for 6th; LSAT 75th 170 – tied for 11th; GPA 25th 3.49 – 16th; GPA 75th – 3.79 tied for 37th)

Conversely, other law schools will favor GPA over LSAT.

The prime example is Berkeley/Boalt. (GPA 25th 3.64 – 4th; GPA 75th – 3.90 4th; LSAT 25th: 163 – tied for 18th; LSAT 75th 170 – tied for 11th);

Just wanted to point out how much the 25% GPA for the above schools has gone up from the 07 cycle to the 09 cycle:

Chicago 3.49 -> 3.63
Columbia 3.56 -> 3.69
Michigan 3.49 -> 3.55

I know that all that matters is this years USNWR rankings, so schools don't really care when your grades are from but it still bothers me that rampant grade inflation is driving up all of the 25/75 splits for GPA. Do schools consider at all that slightly lower grades from years back are more comparable with inflated grades from today's straight from UG applicants?

I'm venting a bit here, but I really do wonder if the committees are considering this in their decision making process.

Write an addendum, as it can only help.

Is there a way to get a list of the number of elective courses offered at each law school? I don't want to search each school so an overall list would be very helpful.

These questions must have been answered somewhere but I can't find them.

1) Do you recommend submitting 2 evaluations, or since they're so new just skipping them?

2) Do you put a related coursework section on your resume?

Thanks!

smscat wrote:These questions must have been answered somewhere but I can't find them.

1) Do you recommend submitting 2 evaluations, or since they're so new just skipping them?

2) Do you put a related coursework section on your resume?

Thanks!

1) It sounds like a lot of people aren't bothering. I have one (they offered so I figured "why not?"), but I'm not going to bother tracking down a second. Besides, not all schools even accept them at this time.

2) I did not put related coursework on my resume because A: They already have my transcript and B: It takes up too much valuable real estate on the resume.

If you received an award or something for a specific class it might justify putting it on your resume.

Flett wrote:

smscat wrote:These questions must have been answered somewhere but I can't find them.

1) Do you recommend submitting 2 evaluations, or since they're so new just skipping them?

2) Do you put a related coursework section on your resume?

Thanks!

1) It sounds like a lot of people aren't bothering. I have one (they offered so I figured "why not?"), but I'm not going to bother tracking down a second. Besides, not all schools even accept them at this time.

2) I did not put related coursework on my resume because A: They already have my transcript and B: It takes up too much valuable real estate on the resume.

If you received an award or something for a specific class it might justify putting it on your resume.

Of the 21 law schools I'm applying to, only 4 recommend submitting evaluations. Take that FWIW.

Hey,
Thanks for these really useful posts.

After reading, I have one question regarding the segment about how the LSAC calculates GPA:
I apologize in advance if this is an ignorant question.


As far as I know, at my undergraduate institution it is impossible to receive an A+..
I say this because in a class where my course average was a 97+, it simply says A on my unofficial transcript.

So would this put me at a disadvantage with GPA in comparison to someone who has several A+'s in their LSAC GPA calculation?

....

or am I missing something?

Korey wrote:As far as I know, at my undergraduate institution it is impossible to receive an A+..
I say this because in a class where my course average was a 97+, it simply says A on my unofficial transcript.

So would this put me at a disadvantage with GPA in comparison to someone who has several A+'s in their LSAC GPA calculation?

Yes, but nothing can be done about that.