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I am going into my final semester at college and, right now, my LSAC GPA is a 3.97. I have begun LSAT prep, just going over the basics by reading the Manhattan guides and doing a little bit of drilling. After I finish reading these guides one time through, I am going to read each chapter again then drill that chapter's question type obsessively until I move on to the next chapter. Yet my situation is that I will be taking 18 hours this semester and I plan on taking the LSAT in June of 2014. My diagnostic that I took two years ago was a 151 and I would assume that I could get a high 150s score right now if I tried again and maybe a really low 160s score by the time I am done with these books. By December, I would like to be at about a 165 before I make the final push from January to May for my 180 (172 ) goal. My question is, during this last semester, should I focus more on the LSAT rather than my GPA? My classes are going to be mostly fluff as I saved all my electives for the last semester. So I am taking things like piano lessons, a film class, etc. that I am not worried about getting an A in. However, I am also taking some capstone classes that, as I've heard from past seniors, are pretty hard. Therefore, if I would get Bs in these classes and As in the rest, I would be sitting at about a 3.91 but potentially have a much higher LSAT score. My question is, do T14s view all 3.9s the same more or less? I read that one should always shoot for above medians but I also read on TLS that "oh yea, your 3.87 is Yale worthy." What do you guys think?

Why don't you focus on school this year and focus on the LSAT later? There is a difference between a 3.97 and a 3.9 at the T14.

It reads like you're graduating in December. If that is the case then ignore the LSAT and get all A's. January-June (or October if you're not feeling it by June) is plenty of time to study, especially since you won't be in class.

If you must begin prepping this early then I'd stick to just browsing TLS and maybe some guides so that when you do actually start studying in January you'll be able to do so efficiently.

There's no reason to begin LSAT prep this early. Even if you want to get familiar with some of the concepts or something, you can do that at a leisurely pace that shouldn't affect your grades.

And yes, there is a difference between a 3.90 and a 3.97.

ManOfTheMinute wrote:Why don't you focus on school this year and focus on the LSAT later? There is a difference between a 3.97 and a 3.9 at the T14.

glad to see you're still here motm

You shouldn't be thinking like this. Get As and study for the LSAT. If you're really so incompetent that you can only do one, focus on GPA and take the LSAT after school if you're want to have the best application to LS as possible.

..

I didn't read OP because SOLID WALL OF TEXT but there is a huge difference between a 3.9 and a 3.97. Former is median-ish at many T14s and latter is well above everyone's 75th. Not that .07 will matter if you crush the LSAT (172+), but if you get a 25th percentile LSAT then those .07 will make a world of difference. Check out Harvard's stats for 170-171/3.9-4.0 to see this in action.

tl;dr: You want as high an LSAT and GPA as possible. Small changes can make a huge difference.

If you need to take the LSAT when you plan to, balance both.

"You can do it!"

LexLeon wrote:If you need to take the LSAT when you plan to, balance both.

"You can do it!"

This. It might hurt your social life, but if you can't wait a year for the LSAT (not a bad thing, I didn't wait either), you need to do both.

I was in a similar situation last year. I did 3+ PTs per week with full reviews on each while balancing 18 credits for two semesters. I lost .01 on my GPA first semester, which I gained back second semester. The mentality that one will have to take a backseat to the other is a pre-emptive excuse. Make it happen.

It's not too early to start prepping for the LSAT. Start of familiarizing yourself with conditional reasoning until you are so confident that it becomes second nature, or till you start dreaming about it. You can do both during school. Unless you were hoping for a social life, then that might be a challenge.

Stanford absolutely does seem to differentiate between say a 3.9, 3.94, and 3.98. Harvard shows the importance as well. Columbia and NYU won't care as much.

MyNameIsFlynn! wrote:I didn't read OP because SOLID WALL OF TEXT but there is a huge difference between a 3.9 and a 3.97.

This is true.

Former is median-ish at many T14s and latter is well above everyone's 75th.

This part's not quite right.

But the important part is that there is a very significant difference between a 3.9 and a 3.97. Don't sacrifice either one of your LSAT score or GPA for the other.

Ti Malice wrote:

Former is median-ish at many T14s and latter is well above everyone's 75th.

This part's not quite right.

But the important part is that there is a very significant difference between a 3.9 and a 3.97. Don't sacrifice either one of your LSAT score or GPA for the other.

For the record, the last time a school had a 50th percentile GPA over 3.90 was Yale in their entering 2010 class. It was 3.91.

TripTrip wrote:

Ti Malice wrote:

Former is median-ish at many T14s and latter is well above everyone's 75th.

This part's not quite right.

But the important part is that there is a very significant difference between a 3.9 and a 3.97. Don't sacrifice either one of your LSAT score or GPA for the other.

For the record, the last time a school had a 50th percentile GPA over 3.90 was Yale in their entering 2010 class. It was 3.91.

Doesn't the bold make it clear that he was referring to YLS 75th percentile (which is a 3.98 btw), not its median?

ManOfTheMinute wrote:

TripTrip wrote:

Ti Malice wrote:

Former is median-ish at many T14s and latter is well above everyone's 75th.

This part's not quite right.

But the important part is that there is a very significant difference between a 3.9 and a 3.97. Don't sacrifice either one of your LSAT score or GPA for the other.

For the record, the last time a school had a 50th percentile GPA over 3.90 was Yale in their entering 2010 class. It was 3.91.

Doesn't the bold make it clear that he was referring to YLS 75th percentile (which is a 3.98 btw), not its median?

TI and you are right. 3.97 is slightly below Yale's 75th, but otherwise well above everyone's else's 75th. I stand by the part about 3.9 being median-ish at many schools haha