Schools that weigh ug major more Forum

[gator89]

Does anyone know of schools that will take ug major into consideration a little more when it comes to gpa? I will have a 3.55 when I apply which is just below the median at the schools I am aiming for (ranking around 30-50). The schools I am looking at have roughly 3.6-3.7 as their gpa medians. Is the only way to combat my being under the gpa median to score higher than the median LSAT?

[tourdeforcex]

i don't know the information you're looking for but more importantly, i'm not sure if that type of aggregate information even exists on the applicant side of the law school application universe.

in the end, UG Major is at best a weak soft. i read a funny statement earlier where someone said (something like) "4.0 dance major from pudonk university >>>> 3.0 math major <or otherwise "hard" major> from ivy league"

as will be reiterated on TLS, focus on the LSAT.

the LSAT is estimated to be 50-65% weight of the decision (remainder being 25-40% UG GPA, 5% Ps, 0-5% everything else) for an average traditional applicant.

Is the only way to combat my being under the gpa median to score higher than the median LSAT?

no. it isn't the only way but it is probably the best way in terms of timing and efficiency. it possible winning the nobel peace prize would combat a lower GPA, but that might take years. job experience might make some difference if you're aiming high, but again at best, we are discussing softs. remember basic breakdown: LSAT 50%, GPA 40%, PS 5%, everything else that you've ever accomplished in life in a resume and short answer format 5%.

hope this helps.

[glitter178]

Does anyone know of schools that will take ug major into consideration a little more when it comes to gpa? I will have a 3.55 when I apply which is just below the median at the schools I am aiming for (ranking around 30-50). The schools I am looking at have roughly 3.6-3.7 as their gpa medians. Is the only way to combat my being under the gpa median to score higher than the median LSAT?

yes.

[gator89]

Thanks, question answered. Time to study.

[czelede]

Once you are above the LSAT threshold - once you are a borderline candidate rather than an auto-reject candidate by basis of your numbers, that is - some schools may bump you over for a more difficult undergrad major. In other words, they may be more willing to forgive the low GPA.

What was your major?

[gator89]

accounting, not the toughest but I would say it is not as easy to maintain a high gpa when compared to some liberal arts majors.

[Curry]

accounting, not the toughest but I would say it is not as easy to maintain a high gpa when compared to some liberal arts majors.

Your major will get you 0 extra points. Sorry

[jrose5]

Science major here at a top 20 college - graduating magna cum laude with an honors thesis. I was judged solely by my GPA and LSAT just like anyone else. The school I am attending, though, gave me a little more scholarship money than was expected with my stats... But I was given no boost in the admissions process itself. Kind of sucks considering my non-science GPA is pretty much a 4.0.

[YaSvoboden]

accounting, not the toughest but I would say it is not as easy to maintain a high gpa when compared to some liberal arts majors.

I am an accounting major as well and I asked this question to an adcomm member from a school in that range and he said that I definitely get some street cred (he actually said street cred, I am not sure what the hell that means.) He said that if I had taken accounting from the school down the road from me (top 3 accounting) then I would have a significant boost, but my school doesn't get the most respect in this region.

But you really oughta try and break their LSAT medians.

[Patriot1208]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard? The two accounting classes I've taken were certainly pretty middle of the road in toughness. They weren't easy, but they weren't hard.

[AntipodeanPhil]

accounting, not the toughest but I would say it is not as easy to maintain a high gpa when compared to some liberal arts majors.

Your major will get you 0 extra points. Sorry

Yeah, accounting is about average. I cite the following as a tangential form of evidence:

http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog ... -math.html

Also, in future discussions of this kind, could we please replace "some liberal arts majors" with "sociology." I think it's better to be precise.

[YaSvoboden]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard? The two accounting classes I've taken were certainly pretty middle of the road in toughness. They weren't easy, but they weren't hard.

It gets tougher after the introductory classes. I definitely wouldn't put it up there with math/science. I think it's pretty comparable to the finance/econ stuff. Nothing that really deserves a boost. My roommates are polysci and psychology majors and I definitely have a tougher major than them, but they are kinda slackers so it is tough to really tell.

Yeah, accounting is about average. I cite the following as a tangential form of evidence:

--LinkRemoved--

Not that I necessarily disagree with your conclusion, but 15 year old LSAT data as evidence of a degree difficulty is questionable.

[AntipodeanPhil]

Not that I necessarily disagree with your conclusion, but 15 year old LSAT data as evidence of a degree difficulty is questionable.

Whoops. I replaced the link with a more recent data.

[FantasticMrFox]

Yeah, accounting is about average. I cite the following as a tangential form of evidence:

--LinkRemoved--

Not that I necessarily disagree with your conclusion, but 15 year old LSAT data as evidence of a degree difficulty is questionable.

The results aren't going to change much even if it's updated but i do have to say that the average only shows whether a certain major exercises the right type of thinking during UG I wonder what Pre-Law major is like...?

[Patriot1208]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard? The two accounting classes I've taken were certainly pretty middle of the road in toughness. They weren't easy, but they weren't hard.

It gets tougher after the introductory classes. I definitely wouldn't put it up there with math/science. I think it's pretty comparable to the finance/econ stuff. Nothing that really deserves a boost. My roommates are polysci and psychology majors and I definitely have a tougher major than them, but they are kinda slackers so it is tough to really tell.

I'm probably bias because i'm an Econ major, but economics certainly seems tougher simply because the math is much more complex and the thinking is much more abstract.

[czelede]

I don't think that chart is correlated to the actual difficulty of majors, so I'm not sure of its relevance, even tangentially. I'm pretty sure if there were to be bumps for difficult majors, Computer Science/Engineering would get it before English.

[YaSvoboden]

I'm probably bias because i'm an Econ major, but economics certainly seems tougher simply because the math is much more complex and the thinking is much more abstract.

That's a fair assessment. I base the rough equality of difficulty on some double major people I know. I would never argue that accounting is harder than econ, but the higher end financial stuff and tax classes definitely get tough. I also have a friend that is a math/econ double major and math seems to be far more difficult than either.

[dkt4]

nevermind, read it in context a bit more. (i'm lazy)

[protein]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard? The two accounting classes I've taken were certainly pretty middle of the road in toughness. They weren't easy, but they weren't hard.

It gets tougher after the introductory classes. I definitely wouldn't put it up there with math/science. I think it's pretty comparable to the finance/econ stuff. Nothing that really deserves a boost. My roommates are polysci and psychology majors and I definitely have a tougher major than them, but they are kinda slackers so it is tough to really tell.

I'm probably bias because i'm an Econ major, but economics certainly seems tougher simply because the math is much more complex and the thinking is much more abstract.

Let's go with this! (fellow econ major here)

[DoubleChecks]

even though we can generalize with most majors, i find it difficult when they are relatively close in difficulty -- comes down to people right?

like for me, id easily find the science majors (chem/bio, not physics) easier than finance or even econ (and definitely math gulp) lol

[spacepenguin]

even though we can generalize with most majors, i find it difficult when they are relatively close in difficulty -- comes down to people right?

like for me, id easily find the science majors (chem/bio, not physics) easier than finance or even econ (and definitely math gulp) lol

+1

While I found my math/science/econ classes to be way easier than Intro to Roman Civilization--but I think that can mainly be attributed to my lack of interest in that particular subject.

[hipstermafia]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard?

titcr

[Jah'rakal]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard?

titcr

it's harder than liberal arts

[Michaela]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard?

titcr

it's harder than liberal arts

Except "liberal arts" isn't a major. At many schools, the college of arts and sciences consists of HUNDREDS of majors. Sure, "family and consumer sciences" and "merchandising and apparel" are probably really easy compared with accounting or really just about anything, but, depending on your choice of courses/instructors writing multiple 8-20+ page papers in several classes is probably much harder if you're doing it right (by which I mean you know, reading the material and writing a solid thesis and actually defending it).

FWIW all of the dummies I knew were accounting majors.

[Patriot1208]

Wait, there are people who consider accounting hard?

titcr

it's harder than liberal arts

Except "liberal arts" isn't a major. At many schools, the college of arts and sciences consists of HUNDREDS of majors. Sure, "family and consumer sciences" and "merchandising and apparel" are probably really easy compared with accounting or really just about anything, but, depending on your choice of courses/instructors writing multiple 8-20+ page papers in several classes is probably much harder if you're doing it right (by which I mean you know, reading the material and writing a solid thesis and actually defending it).

FWIW all of the dummies I knew were accounting majors.

It's not worth much.

As someone who also had a "liberal arts" major, I also thought that my paper intensive classes required more time than my econ classes but they were actually easier to get good grades in.