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I was accepted to my top choice law school in March. Obviously, the transcript I sent out did not contain my final semester's grades because they hadn't been posted. Since I was accepted, I have had to withdraw from two classes and didn't perform well in my other classes, slightly lowering my cumulative GPA. Additionally, the withdrawals forced me to change my major, in turn, nullifying the minor I had completed. This was the only way I could graduate on time. The degree conferral date for the law school is fast approaching and I was wondering if they can say "no" to a previously accepted applicant based on a situation like mine. Has this happened to anyone? Would they see my original major/minor combo as a misrepresentation or an outright lie since I had to switch? I have been worrying, and would greatly appreciate any help.

In summary

-On my application it stated that I was on track for a prestigious major/minor combo.
-However, I had to withdraw from 2 classes in my final UG semester, and received bad grades
-This meant I had to switch to a less prestigious major and eliminated my minor entirely, in order to graduate.
-Admissions officers will see all of this when I have to send in my final transcripts soon.
-Can they reject me based on decline in performance or perceived misrepresentation of fact?

Thank you and sorry for the long post.

There are no prestigious majors. This doesn't seem important enough to warrant any kind of second guessing of your status. Just don't fail any classes outright; that's the only way I've heard of admission being revoked.

How much has this lowered your overall GPA?

You're okay, this is very common. People's GPAs often lower a little their final semester. So long as we're not talking a mix of Ds/Fs, you should be fine I think.

My GPA dropped from a 2.715 to a 2.65. I'm only telling you my LSAT score--168--so you don't tell me that LS is a terrible choice for me .

It's not necessarily the GPA drop I'm concerned with, it's the 2 W's on my transcript and the fact that I had to change my major and get rid of my minor.

Do you think it would be wise to contact the (very helpful) admissions department and explain my situation? I assume they are mostly concerned with just getting the degree, but I am wondering if contacting them would put my status in further jeopardy. Maybe I am overthinking? Thanks for all your help!

Those GPAs are absolutely indistinguishable. You got admitted for that juicy 168 to add to their numbers. At most, you could send their admissions department a quick note saying, "I wanted to let you know before you received my final transcript that the grades I received this semester are lower than my previous performance for xyz reason. Furthermore, circumstances necessitated me withdrawing from classes and slightly altering my major and minor. etc." At least that shows the maturity to be able acknowledge you did poorly and can admit and confront why. Just waiting to the last possible day to send in grades means that if there's anything that can be done to mitigate your poor performance, you're not doing it.

You're fine. You are not required to let them know you changed majors.

..

Thanks for the reassurance everyone. My final question--even though an above poster said there are no such things as "prestigious majors" to adcomms (which I think most people would agree with), there has to be some difference between, say, an Engineering major and a General Studies major. Or is there really not?

STLCards1 wrote:Thanks for the reassurance everyone. My final question--even though an above poster said there are no such things as "prestigious majors" to adcomms (which I think most people would agree with), there has to be some difference between, say, an Engineering major and a General Studies major. Or is there really not?

I mean, a 4.0 in chemical engineering will probably get a nod over some Gen Ed student with a 4.0 (especially if we're talking about a school known for engineering, like MIT), all else being equal. However, because difficulty of a major varies tremendously from school to school and even between professors in the same department, a 4.0 Gen Ed will carry more weight with adcomms than a 3.85 engineering major. I would even bet that a 4.0 General Studies major with a 170 would get in over a 4.0 engineer with a 169. Numbers are all important at pretty much every school but one (and maybe Berkeley).

So yes, if literally everything else is the same, a STEM major might act as a tie breaker, depending on the individual adcomm (I know some people in admissions who feel STEM majors generally are poorer writers due to lack of experience writing analytically and might prefer a humanities major. So it's hugely subjective.) But we're not talking about this kind of situation with you. Whichever school accepted you (I am guessing WUSTL), chose you because of your 168. Your GPA is going to be well below median at any school worth attending. So a 2.8 in a STEM major vs a 2.6 in say Sociology, is literally going to make no difference.

I see no reason to tell them either.

Yeah you're a splitter under 25th% no matter what so don't sweat it. It won't change their class profile.
Enjoy (presumably) WUSTL.

Don't worry about it. Like others have said, a "prestigious major/minor combo" isn't a thing. And as long as everything you said was correct and true when you applied, you're fine.

Actually, if you're sending your final transcript directly to the school, then what they report to the ABA doesn't even change and most likely it will just be opened by an admin person and filed/scanned without even being looked at.

Dean Perez
Texas Tech Law