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I just wanted to know how law schools would look at my trend/weigh my CGPA.

I have a 3.50 freshman year GPA. My school runs on the quarter system, so after 4 quarters (starting Jan 2010) I have maintained a 3.85+.

My question is, since every single time I get a 3.85, it doesn't do much to improve my CGPA. It seems to "stick" or hover around 3.70. Would law schools simply take my record as a 3.7 CGPA or would they take into account the upward trend?

PS my college doesn't give A+ grades so the maximum GPA is 4.0.

wildcatpride wrote:I just wanted to know how law schools would look at my trend/weigh my CGPA.

I have a 3.50 freshman year GPA. My school runs on the quarter system, so after 4 quarters (starting Jan 2010) I have maintained a 3.85+.

My question is, since every single time I get a 3.85, it doesn't do much to improve my CGPA. It seems to "stick" or hover around 3.70. Would law schools simply take my record as a 3.7 CGPA or would they take into account the upward trend?

PS my college doesn't give A+ grades so the maximum GPA is 4.0.

Upward trend doesn't really matter at all. It's better than a downward trend, but is not going to significantly affect your application. The cumulative, LSDAS GPA is all that matters.

Many law schools say that they will take an upward grade trend into account, but I'm pretty sure that it is just the CGPA (LSDAS GPA) and the LSAT that makes the biggest difference. 3.7 shouldn't be a GPA to be too terribly worried about if you do well on the LSAT though.

esq wrote:Many law schools say that they will take an upward grade trend into account, but I'm pretty sure that it is just the CGPA (LSDAS GPA) and the LSAT that makes the biggest difference. 3.7 shouldn't be a GPA to be too terribly worried about if you do well on the LSAT though.

Yup. 3.7 is at/above the median for most schools in the country. Don't worry about your GPA, you can't do much about that now, just maintain the upward trend and focus on killing the LSAT.

wildcatpride wrote:I just wanted to know how law schools would look at my trend/weigh my CGPA.

I have a 3.50 freshman year GPA. My school runs on the quarter system, so after 4 quarters (starting Jan 2010) I have maintained a 3.85+.

My question is, since every single time I get a 3.85, it doesn't do much to improve my CGPA. It seems to "stick" or hover around 3.70. Would law schools simply take my record as a 3.7 CGPA or would they take into account the upward trend?

PS my college doesn't give A+ grades so the maximum GPA is 4.0.

umm that doesnt make sense.. if you had a 3.5, and you're getting 3.85's consistently your grade should be going up each time. By smaller and smaller amounts, yes, but not sticking at 3.7

Thanks for the replies everyone. Yea it goes up like 0.02 from here on out, so it doesn't really change my CGPA much, it'll peak out at maybe 3.73 or 3.75, mainly because of those 3.5 quarters during freshman year.

I guess I'll just work hard on the LSAT to ameliorate my chances. Also, does it matter what institution your coming from? My college is known for grade deflation, especially because Northwestern's econ. department grades HARSH. Do they take this into consideration?

After perusing this forum over the last few days, all I seem to see is that GPA + LSAT, regardless of classes, regardless of trend, regardless of institution or major, makes or breaks your chances at T14.

wildcatpride wrote:Thanks for the replies everyone. Yea it goes up like 0.02 from here on out, so it doesn't really change my CGPA much, it'll peak out at maybe 3.73 or 3.75, mainly because of those 3.5 quarters during freshman year.

I guess I'll just work hard on the LSAT to ameliorate my chances. Also, does it matter what institution your coming from? My college is known for grade deflation, especially because Northwestern's econ. department grades HARSH. Do they take this into consideration?

After perusing this forum over the last few days, all I seem to see is that GPA + LSAT, regardless of classes, regardless of trend, regardless of institution or major, makes or breaks your chances at T14.

Pretty much. UG school doesn't really matter, unless we're talking Harvard, Yale, or Princeton, which may make a very slight boost.

wildcatpride wrote:Also, does it matter what institution your coming from? My college is known for grade deflation, especially because Northwestern's econ. department grades HARSH. Do they take this into consideration?

That's what the LSAT is for, to test your ability - and hence the quality of your education - in comparison to others. The LSAT is the equalizer, it levels the playing field.

wildcatpride wrote: Also, does it matter what institution your coming from? My college is known for grade deflation, especially because Northwestern's econ. department grades HARSH. Do they take this into consideration?

you have a 3.7x. chill the fuck out.