3.6 Chances with possible addendum?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Hey all,</p>

<p>so I was wondering what my chances would be like to get into Top 20 schools, with 3.6 UGPA and approximately 165 LSAT.</p>

<p>So here is how my story unfolds.
I am a junior at Cornell U., and initially planned to major in econ & math, as I was urged by my parents to go into finance industry, although I wanted to go to law school.
Math wasn't so easy for me, and goofing around all the time during my freshman year, I finished my freshman year with a miserable 3.25.
In my sophomore year I noticed that something wasn't right with my life, and right after the first semester, I realized that pursuing a math major would not be very helpful for me. I decided to change my major to policy analysis, something like econ+government.
My sophomore gpa was 3.4 for the first semester with econ&math courses, and then 3.91 in the second semester with courses for my new major.
This year, I again managed to have some good grades for the first semester, 3.93.
Although grades for the second semester haven't yet come out, I am expecting something around 4.0 again. And my cum. gpa will be somewhere 3.6.
I am planning to apply to schools next semester, and having some intern experience at law firms, I think this path is right one for me.</p>

<p>So, my questions are,
1. will the admission officers give the same weight on my freshman gpa as they do on other years? that is, should I consider my gpa is strictly 3.6, although my major in gpa is slightly above 4.0?
2. can i write an addendum to explain that I had a wrong major in my freshman year? I have found that my new major is a better fit for me, as it has allowed me to get some insight on corporate law, and other law-related subjects.</p>

<p>I would appreciate any comment,, thanks!</p>

2

<p>You aren’t going to want to hear this, but…</p>

<p>The best thing you can do for yourself is to take off a year between college and law school. If you continue your good grades, that should boost your gpa significantly. </p>

<p>While an upward pattern is very good–and certainly better than the opposite–law schools aren’t going to forgive that freshman year gpa because you had the “wrong major.”</p>

<p>You may have a shot at the schools outside the top 14. Plug in your numbers at <a href=“http://www.lsac.org%5B/url%5D”>www.lsac.org</a>. Then do it again assuing you get a bump to 3.7 or so when senior year is counted. You should get a failry good idea how much it will matter if you do this.</p>

3

<p>–Your GPA will get a slight boost from the upward trend, but I’d still consider it something like a 3.65 or something very close. Major GPA doesn’t matter.</p>

<p>–No. Switching majors is not grounds for an addendum.</p>

<p>–Chances don’t work without an LSAT score, and a hypothetical one is not useful for this purpose.</p>