Top Law Schools

The title says it all. If you plan on applying at the beginning of your senior year, do your senior year grades matter? Thanks in advance.

applied to all t-14 and a few others outside it in Nov... no one saw any of my senior grades

Yes, because after spending more time lurking around these boards you may end up not going to law school right away.

No, I applied before fall grades Senior year and nobody saw them until I sent in my final transcript when I picked a school.

However, if your grades go up (mine did not) then you might as well update your info in Dec. with any schools you haven't heard back from yet.

Some schools will ask for them. CLS did for me.

They may not matter in the initial decision, but if you decide to bomb your Senior year a school may revoke your admittance. To be safe, first semester senior year grades are muy importante.

yomisterd wrote:They may not matter in the initial decision, but if you decide to bomb your Senior year a school may revoke your admittance. To be safe, first semester senior year grades are muy importante.

Can schools really do that if you passed all classes and graduated within the set schedule (just bombed it by getting 3.2)? I thought they are limited in their power to retroactively withdraw offer to a few very specific circumstances (ie no Dean's certificate).

My GPA dropped almost a tenth my senior year (one sucky class second semester sealed it)

When they saw my transcript no one cared, I still graduated with honors and wasn't put on any type of probation or anything, so nbd.

hcrimson2014 wrote:

yomisterd wrote:They may not matter in the initial decision, but if you decide to bomb your Senior year a school may revoke your admittance. To be safe, first semester senior year grades are muy importante.

Can schools really do that if you passed all classes and graduated within the set schedule (just bombed it by getting 3.2)? I thought they are limited in their power to retroactively withdraw offer to a few very specific circumstances (ie no Dean's certificate).

This seems to vary by school. I've read here on this forum that some schools admit contingent upon you getting over a certain GPA, and will rescind if you do not. But if your admissions is not conditioned upon you maintaining a certain GPA, then no, they don't rescind.

I would say generally no.
However, if you get wait-listed it could be helpful to provide an update of GPA/Phi Beta Kappa in a LOCI.

john7234797 wrote:Yes, because after spending more time lurking around these boards you may end up not going to law school right away.

This so much. Also, what if you don't want to go to law school after all? What if you decide law school isn't for you, drop out, and apply for another graduate program instead? What if you don't like the schools you got into the first time around and need to reapply (as many people do)? What if you need to retake the LSAT after all? Lastly, some legal employers (particularly judges for clerkships) ask for undergrad transcripts as well as law school transcripts.

Now get back to work.

Short answer: yes.
Long answer: yes, because your undergrad grades have potential influence beyond getting you into law school and if you don't care about that then you're not making decisions properly and you should care.

I know you want to hear that you've got it made so you can chill but just do your best and chill in the off-season, knowing that you gave it your all.

if you decide not to go to law school that year, then of course! i decided not to, and my GPA boosted 0.1 the last year, which is really helpful, so yes.

Yes, they do matter. They will always be there.
This is one of those things that while you're a senior, you're feeling like it won't matter and you want to take a break, but you should definitely, DEFINITELY, strive for the best grades you can even in your senior year.

The only situation I could conceive of them mattering much (after you've been admitted) is if you are above their target median GPA through your junior and you drop below it after your senior year. The same would go if you're above their 75th percentile GPA with a below median LSAT score and your GPA falls below 75th percentile.

If they rescind your admission based on your final semester, they're faced with admitting a waitlisted applicant whose numbers aren't likely where they want them to be anyway (otherwise they wouldn't have been waitlisted) or shrinking their class size by 1, losing whatever tuition you would have paid. All bets are off for HYS, of course (and maybe B because they're weird). I don't buy the theory that adcoms will look at your dismal senior year, think that this means you won't do well in law school, and decide to rescind. They care about numbers above everything. So if you're still in their target range, you're good to go, I think. Also, slacking off during your last year is exactly what every employed 3L who isn't gunning for a clerkship does.

hcrimson2014 wrote:

yomisterd wrote:They may not matter in the initial decision, but if you decide to bomb your Senior year a school may revoke your admittance. To be safe, first semester senior year grades are muy importante.

Can schools really do that if you passed all classes and graduated within the set schedule (just bombed it by getting 3.2)? I thought they are limited in their power to retroactively withdraw offer to a few very specific circumstances (ie no Dean's certificate).

i've heard from a reliable source that most schools worth attending do not rescind.

Why not ask the admissions thread with Spivey?

I know someone ( a friend of my sister) who got rescinded from Harvard but she may have had a conditional acceptance. She didn't really care once she didn't get into Yale or Stanford because of her GPA. She ended up doing some prestigious thing at Cambridge instead. Not in law school.

She is probably the smartest girl I've ever met- just insanely smart.