Top Law Schools

Hello,

I'm a 3rd year student at a university, who is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. Right now, I have a 3.2 GPA, but had to withdraw from two classes my freshman year, and repeat a couple classes (one twice). I'm hoping to go to law school one day, and obviously GPA is a major deciding factor. Would it be worth adding on a Sociology (or French) major, if I'm already planning on staying an extra year, to increase my GPA? Or is that not worth it?

Anything that would bring the GPA up would help. Make sure you kill the LSAT too. Good luck!

What's the situation with the repeated classes? Did you get an F or a D and have to take them again? If so, are those included in your 3.2 GPA?

BigZuck wrote:What's the situation with the repeated classes? Did you get an F or a D and have to take them again? If so, are those included in your 3.2 GPA?

It was a Calc 1 and Calc 2 class (got a 1,6, so retook them); and if you retake a class, my school replaces the previous grade received with the new one, no matter if its higher or not, so whatever the last attempt grade is, that is the one that's included.

jessica293 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:What's the situation with the repeated classes? Did you get an F or a D and have to take them again? If so, are those included in your 3.2 GPA?

It was a Calc 1 and Calc 2 class (got a 1,6, so retook them); and if you retake a class, my school replaces the previous grade received with the new one, no matter if its higher or not, so whatever the last attempt grade is, that is the one that's included.

Unfortunately, from what I understand, LSAC doesn't have the same policy. So the low grades will be recalculated into your GPA and it will likely be much lower than a 3.2. There is a really strong chance that law school just won't be in the cards for you, it can be tough to overcome a sub 3.0 GPA (but certainly not impossible)

I was an engineering major with a sub 3 GPA and it worked out alright but in definitely paying a lot more money than I would be otherwise. In your situation, I can see adding another major but not sociology. The world has enough sociologists (one should suffice). Do something interesting. I like the French idea.

BigZuck wrote:

jessica293 wrote:

BigZuck wrote:What's the situation with the repeated classes? Did you get an F or a D and have to take them again? If so, are those included in your 3.2 GPA?

It was a Calc 1 and Calc 2 class (got a 1,6, so retook them); and if you retake a class, my school replaces the previous grade received with the new one, no matter if its higher or not, so whatever the last attempt grade is, that is the one that's included.

Unfortunately, from what I understand, LSAC doesn't have the same policy. So the low grades will be recalculated into your GPA and it will likely be much lower than a 3.2. There is a really strong chance that law school just won't be in the cards for you, it can be tough to overcome a sub 3.0 GPA (but certainly not impossible)

I think it depends on whether the school reflects those changes in the external transcript. At my undergrad there were no F's, just NC. If you failed a course, you would have NC on your internal transcript; however, the course wouldn't show up at all on the external transcript, like you never took the course. I had an NC, but in the end it didn't show up, and didn't affect my LSAC GPA.

I can imagine it being somewhat similar in this case, so who knows.