Delaying Graduation to Take CC Summer Classes Forum

[gandalf]

I have a 3.4 gpa currently. This figure could go to 3.5 if I take local community college classes during the summer.

Is it worth delaying graduation to take cc summer classes to boost the gpa? Also, consider that cc credits are generally much cheaper than credits at my current institution.

[splitbrain]

I have a 3.4 gpa currently. This figure could go to 3.5 if I take local community college classes during the summer.

Is it worth delaying graduation to take cc summer classes to boost the gpa? Also, consider that cc credits are generally much cheaper than credits at my current institution.

Depends on the risk of the teacher saying "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" at the end of the summer.

[ph14]

I have a 3.4 gpa currently. This figure could go to 3.5 if I take local community college classes during the summer.

Is it worth delaying graduation to take cc summer classes to boost the gpa? Also, consider that cc credits are generally much cheaper than credits at my current institution.

Would you graduate at the end of the summer? 3.4 to 3.5 isn't a huge improvement but it could be worth it if you don't have much else going on.

[Samara]

I have a 3.4 gpa currently. This figure could go to 3.5 if I take local community college classes during the summer.

Is it worth delaying graduation to take cc summer classes to boost the gpa? Also, consider that cc credits are generally much cheaper than credits at my current institution.

Would you graduate at the end of the summer? 3.4 to 3.5 isn't a huge improvement but it could be worth it if you don't have much else going on.

+1 Getting up to 3.5 might give you a shot at T6 if you smash the LSAT, but otherwise will likely not impact your cycle. If the classes are cheap and you'll graduate at the end of the summer, it's probably better for your app than most internships.

[20130312]

Would recommend this course of action to myself two years ago.

[Tiago Splitter]

Would recommend this course of action to myself two years ago.

LOL +1

[gandalf]

Depends on the risk of the teacher saying "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" at the end of the summer.

Guess I should have seen that one coming.

Would you graduate at the end of the summer? 3.4 to 3.5 isn't a huge improvement but it could be worth it if you don't have much else going on.

Yea, I probably could graduate at the end of the summer. The reason my graduation is being delayed is because of a language proficiency issue. I decided to withdraw from my Chinese class instead of suffer the B- or likely C that I would get. But because of that, I need to find another language to satisfy the requirement. So I figure I can take Spanish during the summer, fulfill my language requirement, and take other classes too so that I can boost the gpa.


Also, I will be taking a year off after my graduation, so this probably wouldn't be a problem time-wise.

+1 Getting up to 3.5 might give you a shot at T6 if you smash the LSAT, but otherwise will likely not impact your cycle. If the classes are cheap and you'll graduate at the end of the summer, it's probably better for your app than most internships.

That matches my intuition as well. Good to know!

[lovejopd]

Would recommend this course of action to myself two years ago.

LOL +1

[727813]

I participated in a LSAT Admissions forum with U Richmond, UPenn, and UNC-Chapel Hill last fall. This question was brought up about taking community classes over summer break. One of the Admissions officials said that if it is done in an obvious manner (i.e. cramming in miscellaneous courses soon before graduating) then it looks suspicious. If the classes pertain to the major, are clear replacements of required courses, or appear to have some level of difficulty, then it may not be so frowned upon. If you had taken community college courses every summer, then it would appear to be normal for you. But to pile on random classes during an extra semester directly prior to graduating looks bad on your part. They stated that they would assume that there would be an addendum explaining your change in educational pace. If not, they will assume that you did it to pad your GPA. So be wary. Choose classes wisely and be prepared to explain why you did it.

[CanadianWolf]

Do it. Look at lawschoolnumbers.com for Duke Law School. Duke appears to have a 3.5 GPA cut-off.

[laxbrah420]

my UG didn't allow this. are most cool with it?

[bruss]

I have a 3.4 gpa currently. This figure could go to 3.5 if I take local community college classes during the summer.

Is it worth delaying graduation to take cc summer classes to boost the gpa? Also, consider that cc credits are generally much cheaper than credits at my current institution.

Depends on the risk of the teacher saying "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" at the end of the summer.

[gandalf]

I participated in a LSAT Admissions forum with U Richmond, UPenn, and UNC-Chapel Hill last fall. This question was brought up about taking community classes over summer break. One of the Admissions officials said that if it is done in an obvious manner (i.e. cramming in miscellaneous courses soon before graduating) then it looks suspicious. If the classes pertain to the major, are clear replacements of required courses, or appear to have some level of difficulty, then it may not be so frowned upon. If you had taken community college courses every summer, then it would appear to be normal for you. But to pile on random classes during an extra semester directly prior to graduating looks bad on your part. They stated that they would assume that there would be an addendum explaining your change in educational pace. If not, they will assume that you did it to pad your GPA. So be wary. Choose classes wisely and be prepared to explain why you did it.

Well, I have taken summer classes at my own institution for the past two years. Those classes were mostly 100-level (because that's all they offered). But I was under the impression that schools did not seriously look at the difficulty of classes...

Also, I've been taking maximum credit hours since sophomore year to boost a really bad freshman year. I was hoping I'd get a boost for having a double-major to show "some level of difficulty." But I have also read that majors mean nothing to adcomms..

[CanadianWolf]

Many believe that law schools don't really care about why you took the courses, just the resulting grades. Do it if you are confident that it will raise your GPA.

P.S. An acceptable explanation would be that you did it to raise your GPA to be more competitive for law school admissions. Otherwise, law schools would discriminate against applicants who took LSAT prep couses.