Considerations of Theses, Honors?

Graduate School Law School
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<p>So here's a quick bio: UC undergrad, junior, major is Sociology/minor in Civic Engagement, taking a year off after graduation in 2009 to prepare for LSAT's/GRE's (and do something productive, like work on a high school curriculum proposal), will be applying Fall 2010.</p>

<p>I'm fairly new to this part of the forum, so my apologies if these issues have already been addressed.</p>

<p>I'm working on a departmental thesis and have plans to do an honors thesis during my senior year; I'm hoping to graduate with departmental and college honors. Now I know that law schools generally place a lot of emphasis on the GPA and LSAT components of the application, but do you think that graduating with honors' will make me slightly more competitive for admission? (Schools I have in mind are UCLA, UCBerkeley, UCDavis) Will it compensate for other areas that might not be up to par with others? I'm particularly concerned about my GPA. I transferred from a community college to my current institution; I spent many, many years at the cc and my academic records from the cc's are all over the place (ie: a lot of repeating and withdrawing classes). Surprisingly, I'm doing very well at where I am today. Now, when law schools calculate the GPA, do they include EVERY grade I have ever received, in their calculations? (ie: cc + UC grades) Since my school doesn't include my cc grades in my UC GPA, even if I graduate with a 3.7 or 3.8 from where I am right now, will it make no difference to the admissions committee?</p>

<p>Any insights you can offer are most appreciated!</p>

<p>Thank you so much!</p>

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<p>they include everything, including CC.</p>

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<p>Honors will not, in and of itself, matter. The thesis will, a little. All grades are included.</p>

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<p>Every grade taken at a CC or university counts, as long as you took the classes before your first bachelors. </p>

<p>If you retook classes (I’m assuming you failed them), they count both the “F” and the new grade. </p>

<p>Non-punitive withdraws don’t count, but if the withdraws were punitive, incomplete, etc. then the LSAC will count it as a 0.0. </p>

<p>To be honest, the cumulative LSAC GPA is the most important, so even if you do graduate with a 3.7/3.8 from your current place, it’s your total (cc+ University) grades that matter. Although schools like an upward trend, they look at everything because their matriculating class’s LSAC GPA is the one they report for rankings purposes. </p>

<p>Thesis will matter a little by itself, but without a high LSAT it doesn’t matter.</p>

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<p>Thanks for your feedback, everyone…I guess that means I’m screwed then…</p>

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<p>So if you take CC classes in HS they would count towards cum. GPA later on?</p>

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<p>^ Yep. In high school I took some science classes at our local university, and they counted too.</p>

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<p>What if you get two bachelors degrees and your GPA is much higher in your first? Will they look at the GPA in your second?</p>

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<p>I believe LSDAS’s policy is that only the first bachelor’s counts.</p>

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<p>They only calculate everything before and up to your first bachelors, but the second bachelors would be seen as a soft factor.</p>