Do Adcoms "Penalize" Obvious GPA Booster Attemps? Forum

[PRgradBYU]

In these cases, would adcoms penalize what appear to be obvious GPA booster attempts?

Nope. I had a low GPA and took a slew of easy classes until I basically "maxed out" my GPA.

[crazi4law]

Hi guys, I just finished my junior year of college and have a 3.64 gpa currently. I have not taken the LSAT yet. I am planning to apply to Harvard and Columbia law this fall, and I know that the LSAT will be THE deciding factor on whether I get in or not, and that I would need probably at least a 175 to have a decent shot at Harvard.

I am contemplating whether or not I should take some easy-A community college classes this summer. Say I take 12 units and get all A's, my LSAC GPA would increase to a 3.69. My question is, is the marginal increase in GPA worth the possible backlash from Adcoms on the random CC classes that I took this summer? (Assuming my LSAT performance is unaffected by all this)

P.S. I would prefer to apply this fall as the classes remaining in my degree are quite difficult and can only lower my GPA

Thank you for your responses!

[hohenheim]

Hi guys, I just finished my junior year of college and have a 3.64 gpa currently. I have not taken the LSAT yet. I am planning to apply to Harvard and Columbia law this fall, and I know that the LSAT will be THE deciding factor on whether I get in or not, and that I would need probably at least a 175 to have a decent shot at Harvard.

I am contemplating whether or not I should take some easy-A community college classes this summer. Say I take 12 units and get all A's, my LSAC GPA would increase to a 3.69. My question is, is the marginal increase in GPA worth the possible backlash from Adcoms on the random CC classes that I took this summer? (Assuming my LSAT performance is unaffected by all this)

P.S. I would prefer to apply this fall as the classes remaining in my degree are quite difficult and can only lower my GPA

Thank you for your responses!

For Columbia, I doubt it will matter either way since you should get in with an LSAT that high. For Harvard, though, your GPA is pretty low. Their 3.7 floor has a little give, but not much (just look at the non-URM admits on LSN - very few get in around or below this line). So take the classes and apply to Harvard, but keep expectations realistic.

[Kind of Blue]

I'd say almost for certain that no school outside the top 10 will care, but I think there is some evidence that HYS and *maybe* CCN do care about your undergrad institution and record.

What kind of evidence? I would think that a STEM major would be the least penalized since their course work is already harder than most.

Also, OP why 2 threads of hypotheticals instead of describing your situation?

FWIW, after looking at CCN's accepted CO 2016 facebook group pages, I would guess that around 70-80% of people were from elite undergraduate universities. Not everyone is on facebook, and students from elite schools probably have higher LSAT scores in general, but there is definitely not equal representation from all types of universities. There is a HUGE contingency of ivy and elite liberal arts grads in those groups.

[IAFG]

I'd say almost for certain that no school outside the top 10 will care, but I think there is some evidence that HYS and *maybe* CCN do care about your undergrad institution and record.

What kind of evidence? I would think that a STEM major would be the least penalized since their course work is already harder than most.

Also, OP why 2 threads of hypotheticals instead of describing your situation?

FWIW, after looking at CCN's accepted CO 2016 facebook group pages, I would guess that around 70-80% of people were from elite undergraduate universities. Not everyone is on facebook, and students from elite schools probably have higher LSAT scores in general, but there is definitely not equal representation from all types of universities. There is a HUGE contingency of ivy and elite liberal arts grads in those groups.

There weren't a lot of people from shitty directional schools at Northwestern either, but they're still shameless number whores, so.