GPA floors Forum

[Wade LeBosh]

Which top schools have known hard GPA floors and what are they? I've heard about a GPA floor at UVA, but I haven't seen a consistent number.

[Kabuo]

Floor at UVA is 3.0, which holds for most of the T14. I think it's more like 3.7 for H, 3.8ish for Y and S, and maybe 3.3 at CCN (although there are certainly exceptions to this, especially the CCN one).

[bdubs]

Floor at UVA is 3.0, which holds for most of the T14. I think it's more like 3.7 for H, 3.8ish for Y and S, and maybe 3.3 at CCN (although there are certainly exceptions to this, especially the CCN one).

Stanford certainly doesn't have a "hard" floor at 3.8, it is more about your accomplishments once your GPA goes below median. Yale is probably similar, although I don't know as much since I didn't apply.

I generally agree with the rest.

Which top schools have known hard GPA floors and what are they? I've heard about a GPA floor at UVA, but I haven't seen a consistent number.

OP - to clarify your question, these "hard floors" are completely inapplicable for URMs. If you are majority or ORM then they will apply.

It's hard to define a floor for a URM candidate because there are by nature far fewer of them with competitive stats. In the T14 there have been reported URM acceptances below the 3.0 GPA floor

[Flustercluck]

It's hard to define a floor for a URM candidate because there are by nature far fewer of them with competitive stats. In the T14 there have been reported URM acceptances below the 3.0 GPA floor

I think you may be overestimating the URM boost, or at least how it's applied. I'm a sub-3.0 URM splitter and from the research I've done on LSN the 3.0 floor applies to URMs in most of the T14 save for at Northwestern and in some circumstances Gtown.

URMs below 3.0 in past 3 cycles according to LSN

Mich - 1
VA - 3, 0 this year
Penn - 2 2.9s in 08-09, none in past two cycles
Duke - 1 in 08-09, no one below 3.3 in past two cycles
Cornell -4 in 08-09, none in past two cycles

[akili]

Texas has a pretty solid GPA floor around 3.5

http://texas.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats ... Cycle=1011

[Grizz]

Vandy has a fairly hard 3.3 unless you did engineering or a similarly less deflated major.

[eli88]

I'm particularly interested in GPA floor for CCN.

Can anyone else confirm that it's 3.3? Thanks

[Moxie]

Look at Lawschoolnumbers.com, that's where everyone else is going to get their data, you might as well look and analyze yourself.

I'm particularly interested in GPA floor for CCN.

Can anyone else confirm that it's 3.3? Thanks

[Gideon Strumpet]

Short answer: as suggested, LSN.

Long answer: I doubt many of these schools have actual hard floors; it just looks that way. It's more that they stack the pile in descending order of admission index, work their way down, and stop when they run out of seats. In hindsight it may appear there was a "floor," but that just happens to be where they stopped; and where they stop goes up or down depending on overall volume, whether they're trying to shrink or grow the class, and stuff they can't control like grade inflation. Schools are also all over the place on how they handle diversity, legacy, ED, EA, early start, and other out of band admits, so that also makes it unlikely you can define anything that looks like a cutoff until after the season ends.

[Kabuo]

Short answer: as suggested, LSN.

Long answer: I doubt many of these schools have actual hard floors; it just looks that way. It's more that they stack the pile in descending order of admission index, work their way down, and stop when they run out of seats. In hindsight it may appear there was a "floor," but that just happens to be where they stopped; and where they stop goes up or down depending on overall volume, whether they're trying to shrink or grow the class, and stuff they can't control like grade inflation. Schools are also all over the place on how they handle diversity, legacy, ED, EA, early start, and other out of band admits, so that also makes it unlikely you can define anything that looks like a cutoff until after the season ends.

So, effectively, it's a floor, but it's really not a floor?

[akili]

Short answer: as suggested, LSN.

Long answer: I doubt many of these schools have actual hard floors; it just looks that way. It's more that they stack the pile in descending order of admission index, work their way down, and stop when they run out of seats. In hindsight it may appear there was a "floor," but that just happens to be where they stopped; and where they stop goes up or down depending on overall volume, whether they're trying to shrink or grow the class, and stuff they can't control like grade inflation. Schools are also all over the place on how they handle diversity, legacy, ED, EA, early start, and other out of band admits, so that also makes it unlikely you can define anything that looks like a cutoff until after the season ends.

So, effectively, it's a floor, but it's really not a floor?

lol. I was thinking the same thing.

[Kimchi_smile]

If your GPA is at the floor level, I think you have to get an LSAT above the median for a certain T13 school to be given a serious consideration...

By the way, a 3.3 is too low for CCN. A 3.5 seems more reasonable.

[Gideon Strumpet]

So, effectively, it's a floor, but it's really not a floor?

Maybe this will make it easier: There is no floor.

[Kabuo]

So, effectively, it's a floor, but it's really not a floor?

Maybe this will make it easier: There is no floor.

Nah, it was better before. Now it's just misleading.

[Gideon Strumpet]

Nah, it was better before. Now it's just misleading.

Yeah, truth is funny that way.

[Kabuo]

Nah, it was better before. Now it's just misleading.

Yeah, truth is funny that way.

Explaining that the floor isn't really a "floor" because it comes about as an effect of their actual admissions policies, and not as some predetermined floor, does not in any way change the fact that, effectively, there are floors at these schools. Yes, some of them vary slightly from year to year, but all prospective applicants need to know is that there are floors. They don't need you to conjecture about why the floor exists. They just need to know it does.

I think you're just trying to be cute, but if your stance is that there are not floors, you're just wrong.

[Gideon Strumpet]

I think you're just trying to be cute, but if your stance is that there are not floors, you're just wrong.