Taking courses in the summer following your final year? Forum

[atnight2211]

I'm currently a fourth year thinking of applying to a few American law schools following graduation.

I attend a Canadian university and the school year runs from September to the end of April. Graduation takes place either in the Spring or the following Fall.

I was wondering, if I chose to take a few courses during the summer for the purposes of increasing my GPA, and officially graduate in the Fall, would this be highly frowned upon? Would they take this as late graduation?

Thanks in advance.

[hopefulsplitter93]

Your LSAC GPA will only include classes taken before you receive a degree. The wisdom here is usually divided; some feel you should do everything you can to raise your GPA in UG (delay graduation, CC classes, etc)....others feel you should graduate, get some WE and then apply to LS in a year or two. Not sure which side I fall on as I also haven't decided exactly what to do yet.

EDIT: I still firmly believe you should do everything in your power (within reason) to raise your GPA before graduation. I think when people argue against that for the most part they are talking about delaying graduation for minimal GPA increases.

[jcccc]

Do both. What I did was I delayed grad for a year and a half while gaining some pretty nice work experience (not the typical college work).

Not only was I able to raise my gpa from 3.6 to 3.85, I was also gaining some valuable work experience. Of course the main factor that helped was that my school offered a lot of easy distance ed courses which allowed me to work full time.

Btw do you go to UBC? Cause I'm a UBC grad and we have the same grad scheduling.

[malleus discentium]

How does the LSAC treat Canadian GPAs? If they assign them a 4.33 scale number, does US News use them?

[atnight2211]

Your LSAC GPA will only include classes taken before you receive a degree. The wisdom here is usually divided; some feel you should do everything you can to raise your GPA in UG (delay graduation, CC classes, etc)....others feel you should graduate, get some WE and then apply to LS in a year or two. Not sure which side I fall on as I also haven't decided exactly what to do yet.

EDIT: I still firmly believe you should do everything in your power (within reason) to raise your GPA before graduation. I think when people argue against that for the most part they are talking about delaying graduation for minimal GPA increases.

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to try and up my GPA from 3.75 to a 3.8 (on the LSAC scale) during the summer and graduate in the Fall convocation. My hope is to be able to snag a decent internship or job of some sort and then study my arse off the LSAT.

[atnight2211]

Do both. What I did was I delayed grad for a year and a half while gaining some pretty nice work experience (not the typical college work).

Not only was I able to raise my gpa from 3.6 to 3.85, I was also gaining some valuable work experience. Of course the main factor that helped was that my school offered a lot of easy distance ed courses which allowed me to work full time.

Btw do you go to UBC? Cause I'm a UBC grad and we have the same grad scheduling.

Thanks so much for your response. I don't go to UBC, I'm at a school in Ontario.
That's exactly what I want to do - take a few more courses to up my gpa and gain some valuable work experience. I feel really discouraged about the prospects of getting any kind of decent job following graduation though... I have lots of experience in terms of school involvement (leadership positions of various committees/clubs), but limited actual work experience (think simple retail).
Are you in the process of applying to law school or have you already been accepted/are attending?

Can I ask what work experience you were able to gain? Any tips?

[hopefulsplitter93]

Your LSAC GPA will only include classes taken before you receive a degree. The wisdom here is usually divided; some feel you should do everything you can to raise your GPA in UG (delay graduation, CC classes, etc)....others feel you should graduate, get some WE and then apply to LS in a year or two. Not sure which side I fall on as I also haven't decided exactly what to do yet.

EDIT: I still firmly believe you should do everything in your power (within reason) to raise your GPA before graduation. I think when people argue against that for the most part they are talking about delaying graduation for minimal GPA increases.

Thanks for your reply. My plan is to try and up my GPA from 3.75 to a 3.8 (on the LSAC scale) during the summer and graduate in the Fall convocation. My hope is to be able to snag a decent internship or job of some sort and then study my arse off the LSAT.

Dude your GPA really isn't that bad. 3.8? If you end up with a 3.8 AND nail the LSAT you should have a pretty killer cycle. Fuck the internship and kill the LSAT IMO....3.8 and a 175 will have you in pretty decent shape and will outweigh 99.99999999 percent of internships LS admissions wise. Good luck and remember that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.