<p>I am a rising senior at a second-tier Ivy League school. I'd like to go to a place like Harvard law, but am a little concerned about my gpa. Right now, it's a 3.75 cumulative, and I suspect by the time I graduate it'll be somewhere between there and a 3.8. I realize this is below average for a place like Harvard and certainly for its New Haven/Palo Alto counterparts, but I'm curious to know if that is at all mitigated by the fact that my freshman year grades were far and away the lowest (cumulative for the year was in the 3.4/3.5 neighborhood). Will the fact that my grades have pretty dramatically improved given me an edge over others in the 3.75-3.8 area, or does it not even matter at that level of competition?</p>
<p>NO mention of your LSAT score. This discussion is not fruitful w/o that knowledge. 180 and 3.8 will put you in.</p>
<p>After my cycle, I'm convinced that supplementary essays can really be much more influential than most people believe. I graduated from an Ivy with a 3.75 and less than stellar freshman grades with ambitions similar to yours. Since my GPA would have been 3.9 something had it not been for freshman year, I opted to write a short 250 word statement elaborating on this fact and making light of how I was able to figure out what careers I was not cut out for during my first year of college.</p>
<p>Things worked out very well - of course your LSAT will be a determining factor, but a 3.75 does not by any means exclude you from the HYS Trinity.</p>
<p>wow, greg D, we are exactly the same person - I have a 3.75 from a non-HYP ivy with a 3.5 freshman year, too.</p>