<p>What would be looked higher upon assuming that ill major in economics.</p>
<p>4.0 GPA from Ohio State University</p>
<pre><code> or
</code></pre>
<p>3.8 GPA from a school like Northwestern or Duke</p>
<p>This is assuming that LSAT, LOR's, Ecs are all the same</p>
<p>The Ohio State University by far.</p>
<p>I'd say the Northwestern or Duke grad. Academically, OSU has a higher GPA, but it's obvious that the academics at Northwestern and Duke are considerably more rigorous. Also, if the letters of recommendations and activities are the same, that means the Northwestern/Duke grad is at an advantage because it's harder to stand out there than at OSU.</p>
<p>yeah, if it were a 3.6 at duke/nw i think the 4.0 OSU would be better
but 3.8 and 4.0 are close and the school creates the difference</p>
<p>what if the schools were closer on the list..for example a UG ranked 16-20 with a 3.9 as opposed to a 3.75 at a T 5?</p>
<p>Wait, what are we discussing?</p>
<p>For law school, the 4.0 from OSU wins by a long shot. It would put you above every school's 75th percentile, while 3.8 would do that for only schools outside the t10. Undergrad doesn't matter.</p>
<p>For the real world (business or other competitive jobs), then Duke/NW wins. </p>
<p>Also, standing out at OSU is hard because there's so many people. To get a good LOR shows a lot of industriousness on the part of the applicant, who had to do a lot to stand out in large classes as compared to smaller classes at Duke/NW.</p>
<p>I have only seen undergraduate school matter in a few select cases. Specifically, when the candidate's LSAT is extremely high, then having attended a very high-powered undergrad serves as sufficient "explanation," if you will, for a slightly-lower-than-desired GPA.</p>
<p>+1 to chocoman's response. It's all about your GPA and LSAT.</p>
<p>i have a question unrelated but didn't want to make a new thread for it.</p>
<p>does gpa within your major count for anything in the admissions process or is it more a cumulative gpa thing?</p>
<p>Cumulative GPA is all they really care about.</p>
<p>There are some situations where "degree" GPA might matter -- that is, the GPA that only includes courses taken at whatever school eventually awarded you a diploma. But Major GPA definitely doesn't matter.</p>
<p>I have a question...</p>
<p>Obviously cumulative GPA is really important...</p>
<p>Does that mean that they will not look at the grades that you got for each class?</p>
<p>I did TERRIBLY (terribly as in barely passed...yes I know) in one of my classes this quarter...but my cumulative is still pretty good.</p>
<p>The law schools to which you apply will receive a copy of each transcript you submit to LSAC. I don't believe that law schools care too much about your grades in any one particular class, but if there are unusual patterns (for example, if you did poorly in every humanities class that you took but excelled in your math and engineering classes), it might raise questions about your ability to succeed in law school. </p>
<p>Though your LSAT score and GPA are incredibly important, there is more going on in law school admissions than simply crunching numbers. Law schools are looking for a variety of things in their students in order to round out their classes, including strength in recommendations, work experience, interests outside of academia, good writing skills as demonstrated in your personal statement and grades in writing-intensive classes, different areas of interest, which may be demonstrated by having written an honors thesis, research or working in a particular field, etc. The reality is that in most cases, no amount of outstanding extracurricular activities is going to make up for a low GPA or LSAT, but once your scores are in the ballpark of what may qualify you for admission, other factors do indeed kick in. Unfortunately, there is no good way to predict how or to what extent these other factors will matter and there is no good way to predict what a particular law school will be looking for in any given year.</p>
<p>So, in a very roundabout way, law schools definitely do see your transcripts. I don't believe that one blip will make a difference, but I would explain any patterns (other than continuous good grades) to the admissions staff.</p>
<p>so, i know that the law schools see the classes you have taken. is it going to hurt your chances if your non-major classes are not as difficult as they could be? for example, if you are a political science major and you do not take like calculus or chemistry as your non-major courses</p>
<p>
[quote]
is it going to hurt your chances if your non-major classes are not as difficult as they could be?
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</p>
<p>I think that it's impossible to say for certain. Again, if your LSATs and GPA are right at the top of the scale, it's almost certainly not an issue. If, instead, your LSAT and GPA are somewhere in the middle, where you definitely have a shot at admission (and there really is no certainty with any given scores in the T14 -- just likelihoods and probabilities), then the breadth and difficulty of your courses may not matter at all, or they may be the factors that differentiate you from the other applicants, for better or for worse.</p>
<p>essentially what i am wondering is if the majority of these kids who go to t5 law schools have taken for example the hardest chemistry classes and math classes even if they are a political science major</p>
<p>Sallyawp: Thanks! But I'm afraid it's not just a blip. It is a HUGE blip...I'm so upset that I let myself stoop this low. It was a hectic quarter with reading 300+ pages a week and writing 2 papers a week for a different course that I took...I also write for the school paper and wrote 2 to 3 articles per week this quarter. I just never studied for that class I nearly failed and did very poorly on the midterms, quizzes, and finals. </p>
<p>One thing that IS for sure, however, is that it will never happen again. It's just going to be incredibly difficult getting my cumulative GPA up again, especially with being an international studies major, which is fairly difficult at my school. We're required to do a 25 page research paper before we graduate. </p>
<p>Right now I write for the school newspaper, will be the news editor for next quarter, and currently interning at a magazine for the summer (writing is my strongest skill, and I was considering journalism for quite a while before thinking about law). Should I continue with journalism while in undergrad?</p>
<p>Of course you should continue with journalism if you enjoy it! This is your life, not just a law school perparation exercise. Live! Do the things that you enjoy and that interest you. </p>
<p>Look, tennis07, you've described your semester so that it sounds a lot like law school. Not to discourage you if law school is what you really want, but the time pressure of your last semester is how every semester of law school will likely play out for you. If you really struggled as a result of your schedule, perhaps you should consider, if for only a moment, whether law school is the proper direction for you. Oh, and the 25-page research paper -- wait until you have to write a comment/note for law review or another law school journal, or until you have to write a law school upper-level term paper. They will make your 25-page paper look like a book report. </p>
<p>Best of luck to you.</p>
<p>So glad I was an English major. Reading 300 pages and writing 10-15 more per week was pretty standard for me the past 2 years...just hope this year off doesn't kill my work ethic before law school. </p>
<p>and +1 to sally's comment...you dont need to pander to law schools by dropping all your ec's to get slightly better grades. plus, all the time you spend writing articles for the paper is making you a better writer, which the law schools know and will consider.</p>
<p>^I was talking to a pre-law adviser today and that's what she said. She said she knew someone who wrote for the LA Times and NY Times before going to law school. She actually found it quite beneficial. </p>
<p>Haha, I wasn't by any means complaining about the 25-page research paper--I'm actually looking forward to it since I enjoy writing papers. I merely said that because I believe the international studies major at my school is the only major that requires a paper for completion of the major, on top of all the other papers for each class. But then I realize that law schools will never know the difficulty of a major at a school...</p>
<p>Trust me, I've done some research and I know that law school is challenging stuff. Normally, I have great time management and that's how I was able to get by fall and winter quarter this year. I don't know what happened with spring quarter (maybe it's because that class was a class I just didn't care for but had to take, which I know is a terrible excuse), but I know that will be the last time something like that will ever happen. I expect for my next two undergrad years will be similar, if not even more chaotic, to this year. So that being said, if I can't get through the next two years without keeping my sanity, then then I will reconsider. :)</p>