Top Law Schools

Hey guys,

I completed my freshman year (I am a business major) and I its projected that I may (at worst) get a cumulative GPA of 3.07 (at best I will probably get a cumulative of 3.25). The reason why I got a low GPA is because of Calculus 1 and 2 (I got a C in Calc I and probably will get a C in calc 2 or possibly even a D :O) and I aside from that I really was trying to adjust to college in general. I really never thought I would stoop down this low considering I like to think myself as a hardworker and the sad thing is I really worked my ass off this semester because last semester I got a 3.07 semester GPA but I guess it wasn't enough.

With this I had a couple of questions in mind:

1) How do law schools weigh freshman year grades when applying
2) Would law schools "forgive" my first year considering they see a pretty strong upward trend for the rest of my three years?
3) My target is to get at least a 3.7 or above as my complete cumulative, with this goal in mind is it even possible to attain that and what would I have to make for the next 6 semesters to reach that goal?

Any advice, motivation, etc would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You

wiseguy wrote:Hey guys,
1) How do law schools weigh freshman year grades when applying
2) Would law schools "forgive" my first year considering they see a pretty strong upward trend for the rest of my three years?
3) My target is to get at least a 3.7 or above as my complete cumulative, with this goal in mind is it even possible to attain that and what would I have to make for the next 6 semesters to reach that goal?

1) Less since you're younger, but they are still important if you're on the border. Most law schools are more interested in your final cumulative, though.
2) Yes, upward trend is always good.
3) Moving from a 3.07 after first year to a 3.7 after third year (when you'll be applying if you're going K-JD) is easily possible. If you're curious about the minimum you can do, you can do some googling to find a GPA calculator.

1) Freshman grades are weighed the same as every other year.

2) They won't "forgive" anything. But all that matters is the end result. If you end up a 3.7, they won't care how you got there.

Nothing is forgiven, they don't strike out freshman grades, all they care about is your cumulative gpa. Law schools need high gpas for their rankings, and there are plenty of people with 3.8+ gpas. So just hit the books from now on and seriously gun for 4.0s every semester. It won't be easy, but it'll be worth it. Don't fall into the trap of believing that an upward trend or high major gpa will save you. It will help on the margins, but the cumulative gpa is king in this arena. I don't want this to demotivate you, but rather now you know what must be done.

Holy crap man good luck getting a 3.7 in accounting. It's tough but seriously best of luck to you.

Here's some advice

Stop taking difficult classes like calculus

Switch to an easier major like liberal arts

Get A+'s which are weighed 4.33 by LSDAS and will boost your GPA

Your entire goal right now is to get a high GPA.

Jacky D. wrote: 1) Less since you're younger, but they are still important if you're on the border. Most law schools are more interested in your final cumulative, though.
2) Yes, upward trend is always good.
3) Moving from a 3.07 after first year to a 3.7 after third year (when you'll be applying if you're going K-JD) is easily possible. If you're curious about the minimum you can do, you can do some googling to find a GPA calculator.

what is a k-jd? i searched by couldnt find anything

wiseguy wrote:1) How do law schools weigh freshman year grades when applying
2) Would law schools "forgive" my first year considering they see a pretty strong upward trend for the rest of my three years?
3) My target is to get at least a 3.7 or above as my complete cumulative, with this goal in mind is it even possible to attain that and what would I have to make for the next 6 semesters to reach that goal?

1. What matters is your GPA when you are done.
2. Most decisions are made by an algorithm. So, only if you were a candidate in the middle would they look at your file and consider the trend.
3. Seems like you could answer this better than anyone else. You know your school's grading system.

LawyerBrah wrote:Here's some advice

Stop taking difficult classes like calculus

Switch to an easier major like liberal arts

Get A+'s which are weighed 4.33 by LSDAS and will boost your GPA

Your entire goal right now is to get a high GPA.

Thanks for all your responses guys. I really appreciate it. Lawyerbrah, Calculus was apart of the curriculum so I had to take it! Also my current major is Finance now not accounting after hearing so many GPA horror stories from accounting majors, finance should be a tad easier from what I have heard.

All you can do is just do the best you can from here on out, dude. I also bombed first semester of my freshman year (3.0), and will be graduating with ~3.8. You can recover, but it's gonna take a lot of hard work.

presidentk1 wrote:what is a k-jd? i searched by couldnt find anything

K-JD = Kindergarten-Juris Doctor. Someone who goes all the way through school without any breaks for work, vacation, etc.

What are your guys' thoughts on picking up a second major that will help my GPA? Government is one of the easier majors at my school and I am very interested in the subject do you think it would be a good idea or should I just stick with what I have and get the highest GPA as possible?

If you can keep above a 3.5 cumulative, the only schools that you'll be shut out from are Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Berkeley.

One thing you should note at this stage is the only thing that really matters is your LSAT. For the whole GPA range from 3.3 to 3.7, you could go anywhere from NYU to Hofstra depending on your LSAT. So don't go switching out of a useful major like accounting or finance that might help you get a job just for law school, not unless you're sure you can rock a 170+ LSAT. You'd much rather be a 3.5 accounting major with a 160 LSAT (so you can forget about law school and get an accounting job), than a 3.7 poli-sci major with a 160 LSAT.

wiseguy wrote:Hey guys,

I completed my freshman year (I am a business major) and I its projected that I may (at worst) get a cumulative GPA of 3.07 (at best I will probably get a cumulative of 3.25). The reason why I got a low GPA is because of Calculus 1 and 2 (I got a C in Calc I and probably will get a C in calc 2 or possibly even a D :O) and I aside from that I really was trying to adjust to college in general. I really never thought I would stoop down this low considering I like to think myself as a hardworker and the sad thing is I really worked my ass off this semester because last semester I got a 3.07 semester GPA but I guess it wasn't enough.

With this I had a couple of questions in mind:

1) How do law schools weigh freshman year grades when applying
2) Would law schools "forgive" my first year considering they see a pretty strong upward trend for the rest of my three years?
3) My target is to get at least a 3.7 or above as my complete cumulative, with this goal in mind is it even possible to attain that and what would I have to make for the next 6 semesters to reach that goal?

Any advice, motivation, etc would be greatly appreciated!

Thank You

1. Same as any other grades you get that contribute to your LSAC GPA
2. No, why should they? Are they going to forgive your first year grades in law school if you don't do well? If you weren't mature enough for college you probably should not have gone so soon
3. I can't predict how you'll do the rest of college. I think I would avoid calculus classes if I were you.

Hey guys I really appreciate all your response and giving me some hope. Do you guys think its worth to retake Calculus if I make a D?

The D will still get factored into your LSDAS GPA, regardless of whether or not you retake the class and your school replaces the new grade with the old one. So no, it's not really worth it (if that was your only reason for considering retaking).