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Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:22 am
by homer
Do law schools look at cumulative gpa or degree gpa? If they look at both, which is weighted more heavily? There is a disparity between my two GPAs, with my cumulative being higher.

Thanks.

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:52 am
by LoseItToMe
they may glance at the two but whatever weight they give to either of those will be outweighed by your lsac gpa.

but between the two i think they would care only a very small, little bit more about your degree gpa

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 1:57 am
by Ryuuza
It really depends. If there is an obvious discrepancy (i.e. more than .0something), then it might be worth your while to write an addendum explaining the circumstances and why it won't happen again. Despite how impersonal the numbers may seem, law school officials are, for the most part, aware of differences between majors. Most of them realize that a gpa would be affected by different course loads, majors and circumstances. Could you provide more detail about your situation?

Different schools look at different things so it is really hard to draw a definite line as to what their stance will be. I had a similar dilemma myself-my cumulative lsdas gpa being .73 points lower than my degree granting gpa. However, in my case, I had a period of 5 years between different institutions, so I was told by several advisors that schools would look at the more recent numbers.

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 2:39 am
by finalnight
three schools do use your degree gpa in calculating your index number, believe one was seattle.

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:24 am
by kiskadee321
just out of curiosity, where does one find a place to reference this major/degree gpa. both my major gpas were .2 higher than my lsac adjusted cumulative. should i have mentioned them somewhere?

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:30 am
by Ryuuza
The three schools that claim to use degree gpa rather than lsdas gpa for their admission index scores are :
University of Colorado
Seattle University
Vermont Law School

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:40 pm
by Formerbruin
where does one find a place to reference this major/degree gpa. both my major gpas were .2 higher than my lsac adjusted cumulative. should i have mentioned them somewhere?
Your major GPA is not your degree GPA. Your "degree GPA" refers to all classes taken for grades at the institution from which you earned your bachelor's degree. This will be different from your "cumulative GPA" only if you took college courses at more than one university.

Major/non major classes are not taken into account per se.

Re: Cumulative GPA vs. Degree GPA

Posted: Sat Jan 19, 2008 12:55 pm
by kiskadee321
oooooo. thanx.