Help! Transferred during undergraduate and current GPA is way better than before. Will my former GPA kill my chance? Forum

[spacedeity]

Hi guys!

So I had my first two years at a liberal arts college which is notorious for GPA deflation. I ended up having a 3.26 GPA and transferred to a public university that is top 30 in USNEWS. Surprisingly, my GPA in the current institution is way better, 3.88. I also have an LSAT score of 178.

I think I have a fair chance at Yale or Stanford with 3.88 and 178. However, after some research, I am having a panic attack. I just realized that LSAC will mix your GPAs from different institutions and give a final cumulative GPA. Most law schools won't bother looking at details on your transcripts, they just care about the final number.

Will this single-handedly kill my chance at T3? (or even T6 will say goodbye to me) What should I do now? Any chance to remedy?

Thank you all very much!

[cavalier1138]

It's really going to depend on what your actual final GPA is, but generally, yes. If you have a sub-3.6, HYS (particularly YS) become much less likely.

However, CCN on down, particularly at less GPA-conscious schools will definitely be in reach.

[LBJ's Hair]

Hard to evaluate your chances without knowing your blended GPA, but you are correct that you will not be treated as having a 3.88 for admissions purposes. Because you...do not have a cumulative GPA of 3.88.

If you took roughly equal credit hours at first school and second school, your blended GPA is a 3.5/3.6. Which is well below Stanford/Yale 25th percentile GPA for admitted students.

Unfortunately, there is no "solution." You got a 3.28 over your first two years. You can write an addendum about grade deflation and so on, but I doubt it'll make much difference. Might even hurt you, to be honest: It suggests that your current 3.88 is partially attributable to grade inflation.

[spacedeity]

Hard to evaluate your chances without knowing your blended GPA, but you are correct that you will not be treated as having a 3.88 for admissions purposes. Because you...do not have a cumulative GPA of 3.88.

If you took roughly equal credit hours at first school and second school, your blended GPA is a 3.5/3.6. Which is well below Stanford/Yale 25th percentile GPA for admitted students.

Unfortunately, there is no "solution." You got a 3.28 over your first two years. You can write an addendum about grade deflation and so on, but I doubt it'll make much difference. Might even hurt you, to be honest: It suggests that your current 3.88 is partially attributable to grade inflation.

Thanks! I think it will end up being around 3.5, which is not good. The average GPA of my former institution is actually 2.8x, so I at least outperformed, do you think adding that fact will help?

[nixy]

Yeah, you definitely run the risk of implying that you get the best grades when standards are relaxed. Besides, a lot of people just do better in college as they go on and figure out how to succeed. I'm not saying that grade inflation/deflation didn't play a part in your own trajectory, just that it's not as simple as saying "my first school graded harder."

(And tbf if the liberal arts college is notorious for grade deflation, adcoms at top schools are probably aware of that. I don't imagine it will make much difference unless you're up against someone with the same stats but who didn't go to a grade-deflating school, but to the extent it makes any difference, adcoms will likely know.)

[spacedeity]

Yeah, you definitely run the risk of implying that you get the best grades when standards are relaxed. Besides, a lot of people just do better in college as they go on and figure out how to succeed. I'm not saying that grade inflation/deflation didn't play a part in your own trajectory, just that it's not as simple as saying "my first school graded harder."

(And tbf if the liberal arts college is notorious for grade deflation, adcoms at top schools are probably aware of that. I don't imagine it will make much difference unless you're up against someone with the same stats but who didn't go to a grade-deflating school, but to the extent it makes any difference, adcoms will likely know.)

Thanks. I understand that point of view, but my former institution has an average GPA of 2.8x. Do you think pointing that out will help me? Or should I just ignore it?

[nixy]

I don’t think pointing it out helps you, for the reasons I already gave.

Also, while I’m a big believer that the final number is *most* significant (it’s what counts for rankings purposes), they will look at the details of your transcripts and see the two different GPAs from two different schools. Adcomms also have lots of info about how different schools grade.

I mean basically you want to try to get around the fact that all grades count equally, and I totally get that, but unfortunately that’s just the reality.

[LBJ's Hair]

Realistically you're not gonna addendum your way into Yale as a non-URM K-JD with a 3.5-3.6. That's so far off their 25th; it's not something an AdComm can just "nudge" up by a tenth of a point or something to give you the benefit of the doubt. If you had a 3.8 after four years at MIT, that's where addendums make more sense (although Yale would probably be aware of it).

But you've got a very good shot at CCN on down. Your LSAT score is fantastic.

Get As for the rest of your time at your undergrad and apply w/o the addendum. You'll have a great cycle.