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blurbz wrote:That's not enough to be considered a downward trend. You'll be just fine. Congratulations.

leeronalda wrote:Hello,

First time actually writing on this forum. Been reading it though.

Okay - So I have a question about downward trends. I pretty much kicked ass in school during my freshmen/sophomore year cause I didn't really have any other obligations. But Junior/Senior year basically you can see my GPA dropping because I got cocky and just so much stuff started piling on. But I mean in the end - I have been fortunate enough to have a good GPA, but I was just curious how much the downward trend will affect my chances.

So here are my numbers and information to give anyone who is reading this a better understanding of who I am:

School: UC Berkeley
Major: Molecular and Cell Biology (Emphasis in Immunology) - Don't ask, I made a late decision ( -
Overall UGPA: 3.91 (But here's the trend - Freshmen: 3.94, Sophomore: 4.09, Junior: 3.90, Senior: 3.72)
LSAT: 172

Yeah, senior year was just tough for me - there were a lot of personal reasons that made it hard for me to study.

But yeah - I couldn't really find much information on downward trends, and I wanted something specific for my case anyway. Thank you guys! BTW - you guys rock with the advice. I have been reading this forum ever since I decided to go to law school.

Ronald

leeronalda wrote: Yeah, senior year was just tough for me - there were a lot of personal reasons that made it hard for me to study.

T14_Scholly wrote:

leeronalda wrote: Yeah, senior year was just tough for me - there were a lot of personal reasons that made it hard for me to study.

Must have been tough man, because you did poorly. Sure, the average person might consider 3.7 a good GPA, but when you're talking to law school applicants, they will see you as being on the lower end. The posters above me must just be misinformed. Your 3.9 cumulative will basically be downgraded to 3.7 because of your downward trend.

Dr. Strangelove wrote:

T14_Scholly wrote:

leeronalda wrote: Yeah, senior year was just tough for me - there were a lot of personal reasons that made it hard for me to study.

Must have been tough man, because you did poorly. Sure, the average person might consider 3.7 a good GPA, but when you're talking to law school applicants, they will see you as being on the lower end. The posters above me must just be misinformed. Your 3.9 cumulative will basically be downgraded to 3.7 because of your downward trend.

No way. They consider the cumulative GPA most because that's the GPA law schools report to LSAC which is part of the US News data.
There are so many sub 3.7 law school applicants out there.. your GPA is a 3.91.

mb88 wrote:OP, you might seriously consider retaking the LSAT. Your "downward trend" doesn't mean much of anything, and your fantastic overall GPA puts you, potentially, in the HY[strike]P[/strike]S league. The only thing holding you back is the 172. Only a few more points and you'd be having a very realistic shot at the fabled three.

If I were in your shoes, I would study study study for a few months, and if (and only if) I could reliably practice test 175+, I would retake for the chance at Top3.

stratocophic wrote:

mb88 wrote:OP, you might seriously consider retaking the LSAT. Your "downward trend" doesn't mean much of anything, and your fantastic overall GPA puts you, potentially, in the HY[strike]P[/strike]S league. The only thing holding you back is the 172. Only a few more points and you'd be having a very realistic shot at the fabled three.

If I were in your shoes, I would study study study for a few months, and if (and only if) I could reliably practice test 175+, I would retake for the chance at Top3.

1) FTFY
2) No reason OP wouldn't have as good a shot as anyone at Stan[strike]d[/strike]ford. They emphasize GPA over LSAT anyway. S and Berk (along with CCN as all three are essentially auto-admit, probably with $) would be ideal targets so long as OP doesn't have any nasty sub-3.0 community college years lurking for the LSAC to discover.
3) Retake for a swing at H and Y if you like, but if your goals are modest I'd stick with $ from CCN.

leeronalda wrote:Thanks for all the replies!! There were a lot of acronyms thrown out there, but I think I figured it out. Something about community college GPA - I took classes when i was a junior in HIGH SCHOOL (2 classes) and got a 3.5.... could that actually come back to haunt me?

And as for going in a health profession - mehhhh. I consider it still on rare occasions, but nah. It's not for me.

Thanks for the encouragements from some of you! and for the others - thanks for keeping it real too. I don't want to get cocky now. hahaha I'm considering redoing the LSAT now too!

mb88 wrote:

stratocophic wrote:

mb88 wrote:OP, you might seriously consider retaking the LSAT. Your "downward trend" doesn't mean much of anything, and your fantastic overall GPA puts you, potentially, in the HY[strike]P[/strike]S league. The only thing holding you back is the 172. Only a few more points and you'd be having a very realistic shot at the fabled three.

If I were in your shoes, I would study study study for a few months, and if (and only if) I could reliably practice test 175+, I would retake for the chance at Top3.

1) FTFY
2) No reason OP wouldn't have as good a shot as anyone at Stan[strike]d[/strike]ford. They emphasize GPA over LSAT anyway. S and Berk (along with CCN as all three are essentially auto-admit, probably with $) would be ideal targets so long as OP doesn't have any nasty sub-3.0 community college years lurking for the LSAC to discover.
3) Retake for a swing at H and Y if you like, but if your goals are modest I'd stick with $ from CCN.

1) FTFY

2) To each his own, I guess. If the OP is happy with $ at CCN, then he can happily ride out his current numbers. If it was me though, I'd be awake every night wondering: "What if I just got 3 more correct on the LSAT? Would I be at Yale right now?"

I could never live with that, personally.