What is considered a transcript filled with easy classes? Forum

[TheBiggerMediocre]

How does this look to you (for the last semester before applying to law school as a semi-senior):

Accounting 101
Computer Science 101
Philosophy 101
English 200
Philosophy 200
Political Science 200
Film 250
Political Science 250

[jbagelboy]

How does this look to you (for the last semester before applying to law school as a semi-senior):

Accounting 101
Computer Science 101
Philosophy 101
English 200
Philosophy 200
Political Science 200
Film 250
Political Science 250

What are the actual names of the courses? They can't be only numbered. Also taking 7 classes in one semester would be tough no matter what they were

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

[TheBiggerMediocre]

How does this look to you (for the last semester before applying to law school as a semi-senior):

Accounting 101 Intro
Computer Science 101 intro
Philosophy 101 intro
English 200 business
Philosophy 200 Ancient philosophy
Political Science 200 Congress
Film 250 polysci related
Political Science 250 labor law

What are the actual names of the courses? They can't be only numbered. Also taking 7 classes in one semester would be tough no matter what they were

It was 8 classes and they were not tough nor time consuming for the most part.

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

Then why even consider your GPA?

[Stinson]

They don't care. I could give you a list of easy sounding courses on my transcript but just take my word that they don't care.

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

How does this look to you (for the last semester before applying to law school as a semi-senior):

Accounting 101 Intro
Computer Science 101 intro
Philosophy 101 intro
English 200 business
Philosophy 200 Ancient philosophy
Political Science 200 Congress
Film 250 polysci related
Political Science 250 labor law

What are the actual names of the courses? They can't be only numbered. Also taking 7 classes in one semester would be tough no matter what they were

It was 8 classes and they were not tough nor time consuming for the most part.

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

Then why even consider your GPA?

GPA is part of the USNWR rankings methodology

Eta: pad your GPA by taking easy classes, retake LSAT and get a few more points, enjoy HYS

[CyanIdes Of March]

Then why even consider your GPA?

1. Because it's important for their rankings which rely primarily on LSAT/GPA.
2. It shows general ability to maintain academic priorities over a long period of time.

It is precisely because classes are so hard to discern their difficulty relative to every other applicant's school, class, professor and TA, that the LSAT is so important in making admission decisions. The only thing I could see giving them pause is significant, school-wide grade inflation (and even then, probably not much) and maybe select majors with very little academically relevant components. I've heard Music majors blame their majors for bad cycles, but I couldn't tell you with any degree of certainty how reliable that reasoning is.

[TheBiggerMediocre]

Then why even consider your GPA?

1. Because it's important for their rankings which rely primarily on LSAT/GPA.
2. It shows general ability to maintain academic priorities over a long period of time.

It is precisely because classes are so hard to discern their difficulty relative to every other applicant's school, class, professor and TA, that the LSAT is so important in making admission decisions. The only thing I could see giving them pause is significant, school-wide grade inflation (and even then, probably not much) and maybe select majors with very little academically relevant components. I've heard Music majors blame their majors for bad cycles, but I couldn't tell you with any degree of certainty how reliable that reasoning is.

What if I happen to go to large public college where easy classes are touted as the best courses but somehow the average GPA is still 3.1?

[Ti Malice]

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

Not nobody. But almost nobody.

[MyNameIsFlynn!]

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

Not nobody. But almost nobody.

Touché. Yale and Stanford might care a little

[CanIGetAnAmen]

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

Not nobody. But almost nobody.

Touché. Yale and Stanford might care a little

I keep hearing this. How much do they care? Do they want to see only 300+ lvl courses after junior year? Or do they just want us to avoid drama classes etc.

[2014]

Only thing that matters is GPA. Nobody will hold taking easy classes against you

Not nobody. But almost nobody.

Touché. Yale and Stanford might care a little

I keep hearing this. How much do they care? Do they want to see only 300+ lvl courses after junior year? Or do they just want us to avoid drama classes etc.

No one knows. They just have small class sizes, high yields, and low acceptance rates and so clearly there is something else going on other than LSAT/GPA, and people hypothesize that class selection might be playing a role. Yale's faculty review of applications throws a wrench into things as well because academics probably care more about class selection than admissions people do, but there's no way to predict what will catch a random professor's eye positively or negatively.

You might have straight intro to X classes on there and a faculty member could think "wow that's great, this person is really trying to maintain diverse interests in several academic fields" or you could have awesome sounding advanced major classes but the faculty member just doesn't care about your area of study and is not intrigued.