GPA Upward Trend Forum

[jbill]

Do law schools (American or Canadian) take upward trends into consideration?

If not officially, could such a trend be indicated in the statement of intent, letter of recommendation, or else a separate discretionary note?

The reason I ask is that my 3rd and 4th year LSAC GPA is a 3.92 while my overall GPA is a 3.45! Furthermore, all but one of my required degree courses were taken in my 3rd and 4th year. (I spent my first two years jumping around departments, half-assing my way through classes, etc.) I took a year off and came back to finish my degree, excelling near the top of my class.

[kalvano]

Upward is better than downward, but overall, your GPA is your GPA. You won't get an appreciable bump from an upward trend.

[Bildungsroman]

could such a trend be indicated in the statement of intent, letter of recommendation, or else a separate discretionary note?

...

(I spent my first two years jumping around departments, half-assing my way through classes, etc.)

If you want schools to look more favorably on your GPA then you need to come up with a better explanation than just being lazy. Regardless, your GPA is pretty much your GPA, and a trend may be able to influence a decision in a miniscule way, but absent a compelling reason for the disparity between the first two years and the last two years law schools will rightfully assess that this GPA is representative (we don't get to throw out grades just because they hurt our GPA).