Any cases of turning it around - UG --> LS Forum

[spleenworship]

3.05 lsac GPA for UG ----> top 23%, cum laude, and secondary journal via write on for LS. Also, 0.003 points away from magna, just to make that clear.

[Nep11]

Yes. It really depends on how seriously they took law school, and their maturity level. I knew quite a few hard partiers who barely graduated undergrad, but were rock solid professionally and graduated law school with honors. They figured it out somewhere along the way.

Some people just didn't realize that UG was a time to set yourself up for future opportunities, so learned later. I do notice that these people had work experience in common, so by the time they went to LS, they had more life experience, and professional accolades compared to students coming straight from UG with no credentials besides their UG transcript.

[Spikedude]

2.9X UG GPA, ranked #1 at a T20 after fall semester, dropped a bit after spring semester, accepted at Harvard. You can do it bro.

[jgc02a]

2.3 ug. top 10% all three years ls.
work your friggin ass off is my advice.

[Holly Golightly]

This thread turned into a great way for everyone to brag about their law school GPAs.

[Kronk]

3.05 lsac GPA for UG ----> top 23%, cum laude, and secondary journal via write on for LS. Also, 0.003 points away from magna, just to make that clear.

lol

[Charger]

3.05 lsac GPA for UG ----> top 23%, cum laude, and secondary journal via write on for LS. Also, 0.003 points away from magna, just to make that clear.

lol

Not to sidetrack the GPA bragging but is 23% (maybe 22% depending on the 0.003 points) a typical cutoff for magna? >1/5 of the class is a lot, isn't it?

[Lexaholik]

Definitely possible. But also depends on where you end up for law school.

Higher ranked LS = tougher to turn it around. Lower ranked LS = easier to turn it around. If you've got a C average in UG but got a 173 on the LSAT, you'll probably not have to work very hard to destroy the competition at say, Brooklyn Law. Different story if you end up at Columbia.

[michaelbluth]

Add me to the list of people who screwed up UG and crushed LS, though with a few admitted sort-of caveats.

2.x LSAC UG GPA (but 3.3 institutional and 3.9x in my easy major). High LSAT. Going into 3L at my T2 with a 3.9x law school GPA (worst grade I've gotten in LS has been a few A-minuses) and an offer from my summer firm. Debating deciding to actually care about 3L because my transcript looks pretty and why not keep it that way. (Also, whenever I tell my dad that I got an A in something it pretty much makes his week. Considering how rough he's had it the past few years, if I can make him happy, I consider it my good deed for the day/week/month/whatever.)

I was dealing with a lot of family/health stuff through UG, and dropped out without dropping classes to deal with that. Nothing like a semester full of Fs to screw your GPA for good. Went back, did okay, but couldn't bring myself to care about gen eds.

My approach to UG gen eds was basically show up if I felt like it, play online during class, cram for a few hours before exams, turn in the minimum amount that I could to pass the class. My approach to my UG major was show up when I felt like it (which was frequently as I liked my major classes), actually skim the assigned reading before class, study for a day-ish before exams, turn in everything, albeit late.

Before law school, I made sure my family/health stuff was straightened out and promised myself that I'd show up to class and turn in papers when they were due, no excuses.

My approach to LS has been skim the reading, pull canned briefs offline, go to 90% of classes, take notes so that I don't end up on the internet, actually show up to office hours to ask questions, make my own outlines (even if they're based on someone else's), study pretty consistently for exams, and turn in papers when they're due. All told, I don't work that much during the semester and have plenty of time to go out or whatever. Also, it helps that I actually like law school.

[Crowing]

This thread turned into a great way for everyone to brag about their law school GPAs.

[Nep11]

2.x LSAC UG GPA (but 3.3 institutional and 3.9x in my easy major).

I've never seen such a huge discrepancy between the LSAC GPA and the UG cumulative & major GPA. Mines actually went up, and it wasn't too bad to begin with.

Any idea what that happened? Do schools look at the LSAC GPA over the scores on your transcript?

[spleenworship]

3.05 lsac GPA for UG ----> top 23%, cum laude, and secondary journal via write on for LS. Also, 0.003 points away from magna, just to make that clear.

lol

Hey, when are we getting that beer?

[A. Nony Mouse]

2.x LSAC UG GPA (but 3.3 institutional and 3.9x in my easy major).

I've never seen such a huge discrepancy between the LSAC GPA and the UG cumulative & major GPA. Mines actually went up, and it wasn't too bad to begin with.

Any idea what that happened? Do schools look at the LSAC GPA over the scores on your transcript?

Yes, schools only really care about the LSAC GPA, because that's what they report to USNWR for the rankings.

[Attax]

Magna cum laude from Texas Law; 6 F's at Texas UG.

You give me hope!

OP, I'll let you know how 1L goes in a year.

[michaelbluth]

2.x LSAC UG GPA (but 3.3 institutional and 3.9x in my easy major).

I've never seen such a huge discrepancy between the LSAC GPA and the UG cumulative & major GPA. Mines actually went up, and it wasn't too bad to begin with.

Any idea what that happened? Do schools look at the LSAC GPA over the scores on your transcript?

Registered for and didn't drop community college classes when I was young and stupid. UG school didn't count CC classes towards my GPA. LSAC did.

[spleenworship]

3.05 lsac GPA for UG ----> top 23%, cum laude, and secondary journal via write on for LS. Also, 0.003 points away from magna, just to make that clear.

lol

Not to sidetrack the GPA bragging but is 23% (maybe 22% depending on the 0.003 points) a typical cutoff for magna? >1/5 of the class is a lot, isn't it?

It depends. Some schools make the cutoff for magna top 10%. Other schools make it top third. Depends a lot on the school's preference for grade inflation.

My school was approximately (and I say approximately because not only would they not publish your class rank, they wouldn't even tell you more than "you are somewhere between top 25% and top 15%") top third cum laude, top 20% magna, top 5% summa, and top 10% order of the coif. We curved all required 1L classes (and one 2L class) to 2.67 median. All other required classes curved to 3.33 (i.e. Clinic, drafting class, writing seminar, research), and all electives to 3.5.

3.4 cum, 3.6 magna, 3.8 summa. Technically a 4.33 max, though no one in my class (or any other class while I was there) had above a 4.0.

[Crowing]

3.05 lsac GPA for UG ----> top 23%, cum laude, and secondary journal via write on for LS. Also, 0.003 points away from magna, just to make that clear.

lol

Not to sidetrack the GPA bragging but is 23% (maybe 22% depending on the 0.003 points) a typical cutoff for magna? >1/5 of the class is a lot, isn't it?

Our version is top 8% or so

[alicrimson]

Low LSAT/pretty good UG GPA/wait listed at my LS, so technically not as intelligent as the bulk of my class according to LSAC. Graduated in the top 10 people of my class and graded onto Law Review. I feel like law school is very learnable and anyone can do well, if they're willing to work for it.