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My major is business, and I really messed up on my last business ad midterm. It wasn't because I didn't know the material, but because of a personal issue. It's too late for a W, but my options are now getting a B- in the class, or a D- so I can retake it. Would it be worse to get a B- in the class (dropping my GPA by .08 points) or letting myself get a D-, then retaking it, and getting an A? The LSAC GPA calculation is what's really bothering me about this, but at the same time, I don't want to seem like I can't get A's in my major classes, because I can (and have so far). The final's in two days, so I need to make this decision quickly, and I'm definitely freaking out. Eventually, I do want to go to a school like Harvard or Columbia, but is this grade the end of my chances?

All the schools care about is the LSAC GPA when you apply. A B- is not a big deal and to the extent they might look at your transcript with any care that grade won't stand out. A D-/A combo not only is worse for your LSAC GPA but the D- has the potential to stand out negatively.

No single grade B- is going to change your chances of a school alone, beyond how it effects your cumulative GPA. LSAC will calculate both a D- and A retake into your gpa. Just taking a B- would give you a 2.67, taking a D- and an A would give you a 2.34, so you're better off taking the B- because it'll do less harm overall, it looks better, it's less work/money than retaking, and you don't run the risk of not getting the A.

mariekcollins wrote:My major is business, and I really messed up on my last business ad midterm. It wasn't because I didn't know the material, but because of a personal issue. It's too late for a W, but my options are now getting a B- in the class, or a D- so I can retake it. Would it be worse to get a B- in the class (dropping my GPA by .08 points) or letting myself get a D-, then retaking it, and getting an A? The LSAC GPA calculation is what's really bothering me about this, but at the same time, I don't want to seem like I can't get A's in my major classes, because I can (and have so far). The final's in two days, so I need to make this decision quickly, and I'm definitely freaking out. Eventually, I do want to go to a school like Harvard or Columbia, but is this grade the end of my chances?

LSAC will count both grades if you retake the class. Better for your LSAC GPA to take the B-. One B- will not kill your chances at any school if your overall GPA is still high.

Thanks for the quick replies everyone, I really appreciate it!

Harvard Law School GPA/LSAT scores:

GPA 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 3.95 / 3.87 / 3.75
LSAT 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 175 / 173 / 170


The bottom 25th percentile of applicants at Harvard have a 3.75 GPA and 170 LSAT - those are basically the minimum scores you need to have a (small) chance of getting in.

Intranetusa wrote:Harvard Law School GPA/LSAT scores:

GPA 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 3.95 / 3.87 / 3.75
LSAT 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 175 / 173 / 170


The bottom 25th percentile of applicants at Harvard have a 3.75 GPA and 170 LSAT - those are basically the minimum scores you need to have a (small) chance of getting in.

What does this have to do with OP's question?

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Intranetusa wrote:Harvard Law School GPA/LSAT scores:

GPA 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 3.95 / 3.87 / 3.75
LSAT 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 175 / 173 / 170

The bottom 25th percentile of applicants at Harvard have a 3.75 GPA and 170 LSAT - those are basically the minimum scores you need to have a (small) chance of getting in.

What does this have to do with OP's question?

---> "Eventually, I do want to go to a school like Harvard or Columbia, but is this grade the end of my chances?"

Overall GPA matters. B- barely dropping his GPA is obviously the way to go if he meets the above statistics.

Intranetusa wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Intranetusa wrote:Harvard Law School GPA/LSAT scores:

GPA 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 3.95 / 3.87 / 3.75
LSAT 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 175 / 173 / 170

The bottom 25th percentile of applicants at Harvard have a 3.75 GPA and 170 LSAT - those are basically the minimum scores you need to have a (small) chance of getting in.

What does this have to do with OP's question?

---> "Eventually, I do want to go to a school like Harvard or Columbia, but is this grade the end of my chances?"

Overall GPA matters. B- barely dropping his GPA is obviously the way to go if he meets the above statistics.

Then say that.

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Intranetusa wrote:

A. Nony Mouse wrote:

Intranetusa wrote:Harvard Law School GPA/LSAT scores:

GPA 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 3.95 / 3.87 / 3.75
LSAT 75th / 50th / 25th percentiles: 175 / 173 / 170

The bottom 25th percentile of applicants at Harvard have a 3.75 GPA and 170 LSAT - those are basically the minimum scores you need to have a (small) chance of getting in.

What does this have to do with OP's question?

---> "Eventually, I do want to go to a school like Harvard or Columbia, but is this grade the end of my chances?"

Overall GPA matters. B- barely dropping his GPA is obviously the way to go if he meets the above statistics.

Then say that.

The OP wants to go to Harvard. He should be smart enough to figure it out for himself.

Yes, that's why they didn't ask about GPA required for Harvard and I presumed they'd already looked that up for themselves.

I'm with nony that was out of place and weird.

Also the 25ths are not minimums - if you are a reverse splitter/splitter you can be below the 25th as long as you are above the median/75th for the other metric

Overall - not a helpful post