Question re: breaking down GPA on resume Forum

[Anonymous User]

Rising 2L here. What are people's thoughts on breaking down a GPA for your resume if there's a notable difference b/t semesters 1L?

How much does the difference b/t cumulative and spring semester have to be for this to be worth it?

Ex: Cumulative - 3.313; Spring 2012 - 3.475

As you can tell pretty quickly, my jump from fall to spring was ~.35, so a letter grade across the board. Obviously neither GPA above is particularly impressive, but Spring is notably better and I think better reflects my actual abilities. I was out of school for almost 4 years and so it took me a while to get back into the swing of school, and to really 'get' law school.

[Anonymous User]

I had a pretty substantial jump (fall: 2.95; spring: 3.46) and my CSO told me to put the spring grades separately (i.e. GPA 3.22; Spring: 3.46). She was pretty excited about it. I'm not sure it's the right call, but we'll see how it goes.

[Anonymous User]

Curious about this as well. I have a ~.5 jump.

[bk1]

My (admittedly uneducated) guess is that employers will either skip over it or see it as shamelessly trying to downplay your cumulative GPA. On top of that, they're probably getting your transcript as well and will be able to see your individual semester GPAs.

But others feel free to call me out as wrong since I'm just guessing.

[Myself]

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[Anonymous User]

I've heard of doing year-to-year, but not semester to semester.

This is what I've heard as well, but it seems like it would be much less useful after 2 years and after 1.

[Anonymous User]

Had a huge jump myself (3.34 Fall - 3.82 Spring), and am interested in this as well. I really want to highlight that, but I really want to avoid being a douche even more. Any ways to reconcile?

[Anonymous User]

I increased my spring gpa by .56. I just put the cumluative gpa. Seperating them out and then having class rank is unwieldy.

[swc65]

My (admittedly uneducated) guess is that employers will either skip over it or see it as shamelessly trying to downplay your cumulative GPA. On top of that, they're probably getting your transcript as well and will be able to see your individual semester GPAs.

But others feel free to call me out as wrong since I'm just guessing.

I would tend to agree. One semester of grades =/= an upward trend. Your high GPA has about the same value as your low GPA.

[Anonymous User]

What about breaking it down via subject matter? I have a 3.1 GPA (50%) overall, but around a 3.4 for crim law classes (evidence, procedure, crim law, trial practice) and I want to be a prosecutor. I have never done it because it seemed weird to me, but just curious what everybody else thought about the idea.

[madame defarge]

Highlighting the second semester gpa looks silly. One semester does not an upward trend make. If I were reading a resume that split up the gpas like that, I would immediately go to the transcript to see just how bad the first semester grades were. I think you'd do better to leave the second semester GPA off.

[Anonymous User]

What about year-to-year?

Rising 3L here.

[attractive_NUisance]

I think it would be weird to break it out. They will look at the transcript if they care beyond the cumulative.

[lawschoolftw]

What about breaking it down via subject matter? I have a 3.1 GPA (50%) overall, but around a 3.4 for crim law classes (evidence, procedure, crim law, trial practice) and I want to be a prosecutor. I have never done it because it seemed weird to me, but just curious what everybody else thought about the idea.

Not on a resume but might be worth noting in a coverletter when applying for prosecution jobs.

[bigredforlaw]

What if your semester GPA puts you in a higher class percentile?