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I'm a senior now, and I'm curious if my grades for senior year matter at all for admission, considering I'll be applying once i get my October LSAT score in a few weeks. Obviously I'll know if I'm accepted by second semester, but do first semester grades get counted at all?

bump.. I was wondering the same thing.

Some schools will request your first semester grades before making a decision.

They don't matter in receiving your initial acceptance, unless of course you get waitlisted. A 4.0 in the Fall could conceivably make a difference.

It has been reported that schools you have been accepted to care if you receive poor marks your senior year. I recall seeing several UVA admits explain that the Dean (Dugas) congratulated them, but told them not to let their GPAs dip below a certain number.

Few things could happen:

1) You're admitted based on your non-Senior GPA/LSAT score. Your senior year grades won't matter unless they drastically drop.

2) You're not admitted based on those numbers, and instead are waitlisted/held, or the school asks you to update your transcript before the decision is made. Your senior year grades to matter.

3) You don't get in anywhere that you like, and you need to reapply. Senior year grades will matter.

Technically, you're supposed to update your application package with LSAC the second new information is released. In practice, no one does, and LSAC doesn't really enforce the policy.