178 LSAT But Low GPA

[RhubarbPie]

What was your major? Do you have a number of difficult classes? If it is a major renowned for grade deflation, you'll get a little more leeway.

This effect is close to zero for almost all schools. It matters more if your UG was HYPS, but even that is a relatively small effect and might only help at certain schools.

I can assure you that a music major with a 3.3 is going to have a different cycle than an engineering major with a 3.3. Even here the effect won't be huge--as I noted--but the music major will have less t14 acceptances, pretty well guaranteed. As a heavy splitter, you are in the mushy middle--a school can take or leave you. Bringing a solid degree to the table helps.

For this case, it won't help or hurt. But we didn't know that until now.

Dumbest comment ever.

[februaryftw]

What was your major? Do you have a number of difficult classes? If it is a major renowned for grade deflation, you'll get a little more leeway.

This effect is close to zero for almost all schools. It matters more if your UG was HYPS, but even that is a relatively small effect and might only help at certain schools.

I can assure you that a music major with a 3.3 is going to have a different cycle than an engineering major with a 3.3. Even here the effect won't be huge--as I noted--but the music major will have less t14 acceptances, pretty well guaranteed. As a heavy splitter, you are in the mushy middle--a school can take or leave you. Bringing a solid degree to the table helps.

For this case, it won't help or hurt. But we didn't know that until now.

Dumbest comment ever.

Music major?

I wasn't trying to pick on music majors, though I think there is enough evidence to suggest that performance degrees do hurt applicants; probably less so than one would expect if you listen to adcomms--when talking about majors, they universally state that performance and pre-professional majors get discounted--but the effect is real. If you have a GPA that is sub median for your field, and the other guy with a 3.3 has an above median GPA for his field, it is going to matter. Not as much as it should, but it will.

Here is one example:

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/carterth

[CanadianWolf]

With an LSAT score of 178 & a 3.3 GPA, your application will get a serious read from every law school including all of the top 6. Many prospective law students assess their chances by using the lawschoolpredictor.com website.
I agree that an engineering major, especially electrical & aerospace concentrations, with a 3.3 GPA will be viewed differently than most other majors with a similiar GPA.

[NayBoer]

The fact that artsy degrees are downgraded does not mean science GPAs will substantially outperform liberal arts GPAs. Those are two different prospects. I'm sure that some particular low-intensity degrees get disrespected by adcoms. But unfortunately for science and math majors there isn't a lot of extra deference given to their degrees. A challenging major can only help a low GPA if the school is already willing to take that GPA.

[Stringer Bell]

An ED app to UVA would have an extremely high probability of acceptance with those numbers.

[Bronte]

OP should still apply to HYS as reaches...

[09042014]

OP should still apply to [strike]HYS[/strike] CCN as reaches...