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Hey guys,

I'm a rising junior at HYPS, and because of dropping a tough class during the fall semester of my sophomore year, I have a W (non-punitive withdrawal) on my transcript.

How much impact is this going to have on admissions to HLS? (not really gunning for YLS, but analysis welcome too)

3.93+ GPA, Social science major

Thanks!

lsac doesn't consider withdrawals when calculating lsdas gpa

so it doesn't matter

it's probably been asked multiple times already on tls, but...does it mean the nitty gritty details of the transcript doesn't matter as long as your overall GPA is high enough?

i just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that GPA + LSAT = Acceptance at HLS. seems too simple somehow, when there are so many different components that could potentially be part of the evaluation process...oh well, guess i'm still a bit paranoid after the undergrad admissions process

azuresky wrote:it's probably been asked multiple times already on tls, but...does it mean the nitty gritty details of the transcript doesn't matter as long as your overall GPA is high enough?

i just can't seem to wrap my head around the fact that GPA + LSAT = Acceptance at HLS. seems too simple somehow, when there are so many different components that could potentially be part of the evaluation process...oh well, guess i'm still a bit paranoid after the undergrad admissions process

From TLS wisdom: They care, just not much. They look for red flags such as: a series of withdraws every semester (1 or 2 classes a semester which indicates students shopping around for grades), low level classes (lots of arts), weak major. Even these things can obviously be overcome. One withdraw is not even a red flag.

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azuresky wrote:Hey guys,

I'm a rising junior at HYPS, and because of dropping a tough class during the fall semester of my sophomore year, I have a W (non-punitive withdrawal) on my transcript.

How much impact is this going to have on admissions to HLS? (not really gunning for YLS, but analysis welcome too)

3.93+ GPA, Social science major

Thanks!

one non-punitive W is not going to matter

Hey...major kudos to y'all for the fast replies!

so i guess the big picture is....?:

1) high gpa (3.95 or thereabouts)
2) high lsat (175+)
3) solid recs from 2 profs
4) interesting personal statement
5) good phone interview
6) decent (ie. 2-3 standard) extracurriculars

if we have any HLS admits/current students/recent alums browsing here, do you want to just briefly comment on that? (eg. did you think these 6 things were sufficient for admission, or did you personally have something extra when you wre admitted?)

Again, i'm very grateful to everyone who posted!

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Unitas wrote:
From TLS wisdom: They care, just not much. They look for red flags such as: a series of withdraws every semester (1 or 2 classes a semester which indicates students shopping around for grades), low level classes (lots of arts), weak major. Even these things can obviously be overcome. One withdraw is not even a red flag.

+1...except for the comment about "arts" classes. The humanities do a tremendous job teaching people how to think....As long as you take the challenging classes (not all 100 level electives) you'll be fine with these classes.

blurbz wrote:

Unitas wrote:
From TLS wisdom: They care, just not much. They look for red flags such as: a series of withdraws every semester (1 or 2 classes a semester which indicates students shopping around for grades), low level classes (lots of arts), weak major. Even these things can obviously be overcome. One withdraw is not even a red flag.

+1...except for the comment about "arts" classes. The humanities do a tremendous job teaching people how to think....As long as you take the challenging classes (not all 100 level electives) you'll be fine with these classes.

lol

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YCrevolution wrote:Let's not turn this thread into a debate about the value of arts classes.

Agreed.

OP: As I, and others, have said: One withdrawal will not hurt you in the least. From your posts, it looks like you've not yet taken the LSAT. Dominate the test and enjoy HYS.