<p>So I know that Law school admissions are pretty heavy on GPA. But how does Dean's List and other awards factor into this.</p>
<p>I ask because there's this class that I'm taking that's pretty beyond my realm of comfort. It's a plant identification course that I'm taking for fun. I have to memorize 150 plants in 10 weeks and ID them by their leaves and bark and stuff. I took it for fun, but there is a very very real possibility that I will not be getting an A or even an B+. I'm sure if I studied like a maniac I could get the B+/A, but it's not something I'm willing to risk; that is, I'm not willing to risk my other classes (Major courses) in order to get an A in this.</p>
<p>I could opt for pass/no pass but then, I would only be carrying 12 units (quarter system) with regular grades and this disqualifies me from getting Dean's list. For Dean's List you have to have at least 13 units on the regular grading system. </p>
<p>Which do you think law schools would rather? Me getting a ~4.0 with 12 units and no honors/awards? Or me getting ~3.6 and getting a Dean's List.</p>
<p>This decision is kind of pestering me because if I miss Dean's list this quarter, it also disqualifies me from Chancellor's List, which is given to those who get Dean's List for the entire year.</p>
<p>Like a 3.8 Dean’s list vs a 4.0 with not Dean’s List.</p>
<p>What I’m asking, I guess, is: Do academic awards matter enough for me to strive for them? Or would the Dean’s List just go into 1/4 of the 1/10 delegated for extra curriculars?</p>
<p>I had a roommate years ago at Cornell who took that course, and studied like a maniac. Meanwhile, I was studying like a maniac for first year Chinese, another notorious GPA killer.</p>
<p>My suggestion is that you study like a maniac. It really is the kind of course where practice makes perfect.</p>
<p>All those awards do is say you have a good grades.
You know what’s the best way to tell them you have good grades?
Get good grades.</p>
<p>In the end, awards like that will be soft factors, while GPA will be either tied for first or most likely the second most important factor you have. Priority is ALWAYS: LSAT, GPA, Soft Factors.</p>
<p>Law school admission is primarily by the numbers. What clearly matters most is GPA and LSAT, especially LSAT. Yes, certain underreprsented majors might get a bit of a boost, but not much. </p>
<p>Awards are irrelevant unless they are major awards such as Pulitzer Prize etc.</p>
<p>heh, ok. Thanks guys. I’ve already switched to p/np for the class.</p>
<p>I do have to say though, I’m a little bit shocked. I always thought these little academic awards meant something. But I guess I should have seen it coming right? In elementary school you get honor roll awards (or reading/math achievement awards, if you weren’t in the 4th grade yet) only to see them mean squat in middle school. And the honor rolls there don’t mean a thing in high school. And the high school honor rolls don’t do much in college other than get you in. I should have known that Deans Lists only mattered in a terms of the Chancellor’s list. I kinda feel gipped.</p>
<p>The only collegiate award that matters would be a two-step, down-the-line mattering of graduation honors, usually summa/magna cum laude or phi betta kappa.</p>
<p>They won’t matter to law/med/grad schools, which can look at your grades directly. But in ten to fifteen years, being a summa grad is a nice way of saying, “I got really good grades. Really.”</p>
<p>Actually, they don’t much matter for undergrad admissions either – high schools just tell you they do. Adcoms are smart people and recognize that a 4.0 is a 4.0, regardless of whether you were Dean’s List or National Honor’s Society. (Same rationale as the silly Collegeboard AP awards.)</p>
<p>I took the class p/np. I really enjoyed it and I got a mid B. Class average was between a C and a C-, so I actually did better than most who had it as a major requirement.</p>
<p>I only studied about 2 hours a week and never attended lecture. I took the exams almost blind except with handouts my friends gave me that were given out in lecture. I got a B on the midterm and a C on the final. I pulled Bs on the weekly quizzes. </p>
<p>The reason I’m writing this is to show how stupid I am. 2 hours of studying a week for a B could easily have been 3 hours of studying a week for an A (possibly A+). 2 hours/week is way below the average for my history classes, where it’s about 4-5 hours a week just to do the reading. This class was well within my ability, I just got spooked at the start of the term. But by the second week, I had adjusted my thinking and gotten into a rhythm. It was mostly a matter of making a switch in my brain towards rote memorization.
So to those thinking about taking p/np, give it the most time you can before going ahead with the decision. You might surprise yourself.</p>