Upward Trend GPA....when to apply?

[bromega]

I have a friend who has dropped engineering after 2 years. He's sitting on a 3.0 and will now be a political science major. He's gotten all A's in his poli sci courses up until now. The question is if he gets around a 3.6 the next two semesters(pretty generous considering how he's done so far) and improves his cum gpa to 3.25, should he apply before or after he gets fall grades senior year? A third strong semester could bump his GPA over a 3.3. Should he consider summer classes to get more A credit hours in? It appears the difference between a 3.2 and 3.3 is significant. Will schools wait for his fall grades or just judge him on the 3.25?

Thanks.

[bhan87]

3.2 and 3.3 is not that significant because either way, he'll need to get a great LSAT score to have a good shot at a T1. 3.2 vs 3.4 is pretty significant because 3.4 about where a few schools put their GPA floors.

[bartleby]

Squeeze in the classes. I'd tell him not to settle for A-'s. In Poli Sci classes you can definitely guarantee solid A's as long as you work moderately hard and avoid outlier professors.