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Hey everyone,

I am 5+ years out of undergrad where I earned a GPA of 3.18 because I really majored in ultimate frisbee and dating girls with lots of emotional baggage. However, I am finishing up a Masters degree at a fairly well respected private university and have earned a 4.0. How much will my Graduate GPA help me? Will it offset the transgressions of my youth?

Thanks for the help!

Sorry, Law Schools don't consider Graduate GPA as much more than a soft... it'll ameliorate your UG GPA slightly, but thats the main GPA thats going to count.

Focus on your LSAT, thats the main way people overcome low GPAs

mt1042 wrote:Hey everyone,

I am 5+ years out of undergrad where I earned a GPA of 3.18 because I really majored in ultimate frisbee and dating girls with lots of emotional baggage. However, I am finishing up a Masters degree at a fairly well respected private university and have earned a 4.0. How much will my Graduate GPA help me? Will it offset the transgressions of my youth?

Thanks for the help!

Bolded for great brutal honesty.

Back to business though- your grad degree will be a soft factor, so it's not a gamechanger.

Na_Swatch wrote:Sorry, Law Schools don't consider Graduate GPA as much more than a soft... it'll ameliorate your UG GPA slightly, but thats the main GPA thats going to count.

I'd go further and say it's a soft at best. I had a 3.6 as an undergrad and a 3.8 as a grad (humanities master's program at an ivy), and my cycle seemed pretty average for a non-URM with a 3.6/169. Basically it gave me something to talk about in my personal statement, and that's about it as far as I can tell.

No, wait: actually I was randomly waitlisted at a T6 even though my numbers made me a marginal candidate for T14, so there's an anomalous result for you. If I end up getting in then maybe that degree was useful after all.

dogmatic slumber wrote:

Na_Swatch wrote:Sorry, Law Schools don't consider Graduate GPA as much more than a soft... it'll ameliorate your UG GPA slightly, but thats the main GPA thats going to count.

I'd go further and say it's a soft at best. I had a 3.6 as an undergrad and a 3.8 as a grad (humanities master's program at an ivy), and my cycle seemed pretty average for a non-URM with a 3.6/169. Basically it gave me something to talk about in my personal statement, and that's about it as far as I can tell.

No, wait: actually I was randomly waitlisted at a T6 even though my numbers made me a marginal candidate for T14, so there's an anomalous result for you. If I end up getting in then maybe that degree was useful after all.

Did you apply to your graduate institution's law school? Would that give you even just a small amount of boost... even if not a boost, at least be taken seriously? I think it does more for some whose background is questionable, and less for people with good UG credentials.

r6_philly wrote:

dogmatic slumber wrote:

Na_Swatch wrote:Sorry, Law Schools don't consider Graduate GPA as much more than a soft... it'll ameliorate your UG GPA slightly, but thats the main GPA thats going to count.

I'd go further and say it's a soft at best. I had a 3.6 as an undergrad and a 3.8 as a grad (humanities master's program at an ivy), and my cycle seemed pretty average for a non-URM with a 3.6/169. Basically it gave me something to talk about in my personal statement, and that's about it as far as I can tell.

No, wait: actually I was randomly waitlisted at a T6 even though my numbers made me a marginal candidate for T14, so there's an anomalous result for you. If I end up getting in then maybe that degree was useful after all.

Did you apply to your graduate institution's law school? Would that give you even just a small amount of boost... even if not a boost, at least be taken seriously? I think it does more for some whose background is questionable, and less for people with good UG credentials.

Yep, I applied. Graduate institution's law school doesn't look so kindly on non-URMs with sub-175 lsats and sub-3.8 gpas.

Edit: This doesn't disprove your theory. I had a decent GPA from a top UG, so my background wasn't "questionable"...it just wasn't sufficiently stellar. Also I think there is the (likely fair) perception that humanities master's programs tend to inflate grades.

Thanks for all the input friends. It sucks that the 18-22 year old version of myself will shine through than the current version. Hopefully I can blow the doors off the LSAT. Thanks again!