Low GPA nursing major transfer to Poli Sci Forum

[perederi001]

I want to go to law school. I want to aim at the best possible law school that I can get into. I invested 3.5 years into my nursing degree and realized that it wasn't for me and that I wanted to pursue a career in law. My GPA was down to about a 2.7 due to the intense course work of a health science major. I am now at a new university pursuing a bachelors in political science. I can easily get a 4.0 here for this degree. It's not some CC either...it's a branch of Pennsylvania State University. I also have taken multiple LSAT practice exams and scored in the upper 160's. My question is, how will LSAC determine my GPA. Info: 85 out of 113 of my nursing/gen ed credits transferred to PSU. I will receive another 35-45 credits from PSU in the next 3 semesters to graduate with a bachelors. Will my low nursing GPA effect how LSAC will calculate my overall GPA? Or because some of those low grades that didn't transfer to PSU and didn't contribute to my bachelors in PL SC not be counted?

[FuturePanhandler]

Lsac.org

[Maplesyrup]

they will take all of the courses into account.

you should finish the nursing degree. a degree in political science is mostly useless, with the nursing degree you would be eligible for law school and have a back up if it doesn't work out. i get it that you don't want to be a nurse but if by 3.5 years invested = you having one semester to go, it would be insanity to invest another 1.5 years into a poli-sci degree if your end goal is attending law school.

[perederi001]

they will take all of the courses into account.

you should finish the nursing degree. a degree in political science is mostly useless, with the nursing degree you would be eligible for law school and have a back up if it doesn't work out. i get it that you don't want to be a nurse but if by 3.5 years invested = you having one semester to go, it would be insanity to invest another 1.5 years into a poli-sci degree if your end goal is attending law school.

Those nursing courses are probably going to bring my GPA down even more if I stay in the program. I'm not garuanteed to get A's in all of my course for the remained of my schooling. That is how challenging and unpredictable my program is. I've already started the semester with my political science degree. Since you say they will consider all coursework, would I have any chance in getting into a top tier law school if I were to get a 4.0 in my new major? Assuming that I get a good score on my LSAT'S which is highly likely based off of my practice exams.

[Maplesyrup]

they will take all of the courses into account.

you should finish the nursing degree. a degree in political science is mostly useless, with the nursing degree you would be eligible for law school and have a back up if it doesn't work out. i get it that you don't want to be a nurse but if by 3.5 years invested = you having one semester to go, it would be insanity to invest another 1.5 years into a poli-sci degree if your end goal is attending law school.

Those nursing courses are probably going to bring my GPA down even more if I stay in the program. I'm not garuanteed to get A's in all of my course for the remained of my schooling. That is how challenging and unpredictable my program is. I've already started the semester with my political science degree. Since you say they will consider all coursework, would I have any chance in getting into a top tier law school if I were to get a 4.0 in my new major? Assuming that I get a good score on my LSAT'S which is highly likely based off of my practice exams.

your lsac gpa is going to be calculated using all of the credits, your gpa at the new school will only matter to the degree that it pulls up the 2.7. you would have to do the math on how much you could bring up the 2.7 with the remaining 3 semesters for the poll-sci degree, but i doubt its much. also, just because you scored well on a couple practice exams doesn't really mean a lot. you won't know anything until you take the real thing. can you get into a "top" law school with the 2.7? some, like harvard/yale/stanford type schools you definitely will not be able to attend. with a really strong lsat score you would have a chance of admission elsewhere, but considerable scholarship money in the t14 is probably going to be hard to come by.

Edit: this is assuming you are not a minority, if you are that would help

[seashell.economy]

they will take all of the courses into account.

you should finish the nursing degree. a degree in political science is mostly useless, with the nursing degree you would be eligible for law school and have a back up if it doesn't work out. i get it that you don't want to be a nurse but if by 3.5 years invested = you having one semester to go, it would be insanity to invest another 1.5 years into a poli-sci degree if your end goal is attending law school.

Those nursing courses are probably going to bring my GPA down even more if I stay in the program. I'm not garuanteed to get A's in all of my course for the remained of my schooling. That is how challenging and unpredictable my program is. I've already started the semester with my political science degree. Since you say they will consider all coursework, would I have any chance in getting into a top tier law school if I were to get a 4.0 in my new major? Assuming that I get a good score on my LSAT'S which is highly likely based off of my practice exams.

Yeah - what everyone else is saying: LSAC will count all of your grades from any courses at the college level on up until you are granted your bachelor degree. I get what you are saying by switching majors - you have more time to rack up 4.0's before you obtain your bachelor degree so your LSAC GPA will be higher.

I think you should calculate out your "best case scenario." Take all of your grades received so far at both schools and place them in an Excel sheet. You have to do weighted calculations of your grades (grade divided by credit hours, or something like that...I forget...see how LSAC does it by searching online) and then add in the remaining credit hours needed to complete your bachelor in poli sci and add in 4.0's for all poli sci courses. That way you can see what your best case scenario GPA is. If you have a 2.7 nursing GPA, with three semesters to go in poli sci, you might be able to bring it up to a 3.2 or something in that region.

Then take a look at the schools you want to get into and see whether or not a, say for example, 3.2 GPA with a 165 will get you into the schools you want to get into. If you want Harvard or bust, your 2.7 nursing GPA factoring in might not make that possible, even with a 170+ LSAT score.

Fwiw: I switched majors and I wish I would have done this before embarking on a "top law school or bust" path. I ended up taking an extra year in UG to rack up extra 4.0s to bump up my GPA (luckily with a full scholarship). But I still only managed to get it up to a 3.7 LSAC GPA overall, despite all 4.0s in my new major GPA.