Top Law Schools

Hi everyone,

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in 'what are my chances,' but the latter's FAQ pushed me here. Anyways, I'm a HYS or T6 hopeful with a 3.8 GPA from UCSD. I graduated summa cum laude (which is for people who graduate with above a 3.92 gpa), as well as graduating 'with honors,' by completing an honors thesis. Above that, I received an award that only one graduate from my major receives per year, as well as having done undergraduate research/independent studies every quarter in my junior/senior years, with some overlap there with my senior thesis project.

If you're paying attention, you'll wonder how I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.8 LSAC gpa: I'm a community college transfer to University of California and my transfer gpa was 3.6 going into UCSD. Fortuitously, I managed to get all A's and A+'s (only 1 A- as a single outlier) and my 'degree granting institution' gpa is an impressive 4.22

To give you all an idea, my LSAC report shows me going from a 2.6 my first year of community college to leaving UCSD with 4.22 LSAC gpa, with steady increases along the way. If it's worth mentioning, I'm a HS drop out, I have a GED, worked as a bike mechanic all through college, am married and a parent at 25, so I've had somewhat of an unusual trajectory. Male, caucasian.

So my question for you all is how law schools might favorably (or not) look at my grade trend and hopefully see it as 'more than just' a 3.8. Also, tips for incorporating an explanation of this trend in my personal statement (or even an addendum?)

I'll take the LSAT in Feb 2017, or June if I don't see myself practice testing in the 99 percentile consistently enough. I'm really motivated to get the right number on the LSAT and hopefully achieve some of that upward mobility I keep hearing about.

Thanks all,

Charles

duona wrote:Hi everyone,

I wasn't sure whether to post this here or in 'what are my chances,' but the latter's FAQ pushed me here. Anyways, I'm a HYS or T6 hopeful with a 3.8 GPA from UCSD. I graduated summa cum laude (which is for people who graduate with above a 3.92 gpa), as well as graduating 'with honors,' by completing an honors thesis. Above that, I received an award that only one graduate from my major receives per year, as well as having done undergraduate research/independent studies every quarter in my junior/senior years, with some overlap there with my senior thesis project.

If you're paying attention, you'll wonder how I graduated summa cum laude with a 3.8 LSAC gpa: I'm a community college transfer to University of California and my transfer gpa was 3.6 going into UCSD. Fortuitously, I managed to get all A's and A+'s (only 1 A- as a single outlier) and my 'degree granting institution' gpa is an impressive 4.22

To give you all an idea, my LSAC report shows me going from a 2.6 my first year of community college to leaving UCSD with 4.22 LSAC gpa, with steady increases along the way. If it's worth mentioning, I'm a HS drop out, I have a GED, worked as a bike mechanic all through college, am married and a parent at 25, so I've had somewhat of an unusual trajectory. Male, caucasian.

So my question for you all is how law schools might favorably (or not) look at my grade trend and hopefully see it as 'more than just' a 3.8. Also, tips for incorporating an explanation of this trend in my personal statement (or even an addendum?)

I'll take the LSAT in Feb 2017, or June if I don't see myself practice testing in the 99 percentile consistently enough. I'm really motivated to get the right number on the LSAT and hopefully achieve some of that upward mobility I keep hearing about.

Thanks all,

Charles

A 3.8 is a great GPA. However, a GPA won't get you into a top law school without a great LSAT. So nobody here has any idea of how competitive you'll be for admissions until you get a score.

thanks for the reply. Maybe my question wasn't stated clearly enough - I'm looking for insight into how admissions councils might perceive grade trends, and how I should highlight my own academic trajectory. The necessity of an incredibly strong LSAT is obviously a looming challenge

duona wrote:thanks for the reply. Maybe my question wasn't stated clearly enough - I'm looking for insight into how admissions councils might perceive grade trends, and how I should highlight my own academic trajectory. The necessity of an incredibly strong LSAT is obviously a looming challenge

Forum conventional wisdom is that, bar an exceedingly compelling personal statement, they won't care. Is dropping out of community college and turning your life around fit that? IDK, could go either way.

lawlorbust wrote:

duona wrote:thanks for the reply. Maybe my question wasn't stated clearly enough - I'm looking for insight into how admissions councils might perceive grade trends, and how I should highlight my own academic trajectory. The necessity of an incredibly strong LSAT is obviously a looming challenge

Forum conventional wisdom is that, bar an exceedingly compelling personal statement, they won't care. Is dropping out of community college and turning your life around fit that? IDK, could go either way.

Can't tell if this is sarcasm? OP has a really great story, that could indeed help him out a lot in admissions. I don't see this as going either way at all. I think his GPA + story is good enough for any school in the country and then some. However, he only has half the formula right now, and needs that high LSAT if he wants to get into these schools. But with it, I'd be surprised if he did not get into the top schools with a well-crafted application. OP, if you want to know more, PM me.

duona wrote: To give you all an idea, my LSAC report shows me going from a 2.6 my first year of community college to leaving UCSD with 4.22 LSAC gpa, with steady increases along the way. If it's worth mentioning, I'm a HS drop out, I have a GED, worked as a bike mechanic all through college, am married and a parent at 25, so I've had somewhat of an unusual trajectory. Male, caucasian.

So my question for you all is how law schools might favorably (or not) look at my grade trend and hopefully see it as 'more than just' a 3.8. Also, tips for incorporating an explanation of this trend in my personal statement (or even an addendum?)

3.8 is already a competitive GPA! I've already asked a lot of TLSers on this issue, and the reasons are plenty:

1) Adcomms will already see your grade trend so you don't need to explicitly say it.

2) You'd be putting more focus on the "weaker" parts of your application by writing an addendum about it.

3) You already have a competitive GPA and writing an addendum about it would only sound whiny.

4) A bad first year of college is extremely common and unless you faced medical issues, family emergencies, unavoidable and disastrous events, they will already assume you're making excuses.

5) You can keep asking but TLS consensus will say just get a stellar LSAT so that you don't have to let your "weak" GPA bring you down.

Thanks for the good replies. I didn't consider the addendum to an 'already strong gpa' sounding whiny but yes, I can see how it might rub people the wrong way in those admissions committees.

I had similar circumstances (bombed first year, then got A's the rest of the time), and wrote an addendum to explain. So don't worry about it sounding whiny.

But I'd be remiss to not use this chance to bitch about A+s. The fact that some schools give them, and some don't, is stupid. And I doubt a school who looks past your LSDAS to see a trend/etc. will see anything more than just the 3.6 GPA from the first school and a 3.99 from the second.

(Also, from the above post, if a major reason for your 3.6 is a 2.6 your first year, then I would definitely write one.)

So I had a slightly different situation from you, but I think the advice I got from some admissions committee people could help. I got a really poor grade in one class my sophomore year, not related to my major (I was social sciences, this was a stats class). Before providing that background, the adcomm said it might be worth addressing the issue. As soon as she realized it was a one off and not related to my studies, she said ignore it as that's where my GPA trajectory would kick in and they'd be less concerned about that one class.

So I think for you, this can show that yes schools really do pay attention to the trajectory. At the same time, if it was a year's worth of stuff, it might be good to just briefly address why you had the problems you had and what you did to change. They will be able to see how stellar your work is now. But I think the important point is being concise. Address the issue and move on, don't delve into your most recent grades and A+'s. You don't want to seem like your obsessing over these things, just giving background and moving on.

3.8 is already competitive. No need to have an addendum or PS about it.

Your 3.8 will be treated like a 3.8. The upward trend and life story combination should reflect positively on your application as a whole, though.