<p>I was recently accepted to Johns Hopkins - SAIS MA program in International Relations. I know SAIS has a joint degree program with Stanford Law, but unfortunately I am unable to go this route. After getting this degree, my ultimate goal is to either get an MBA or JD. I realize that the two largest determinants of law school admissions is LSAT and GPA. The question I have for you folks is how much do law schools weigh undergraduate GPA v. graduate school GPA? Do they put more emphasis on undergraduate or graduate grades?</p>
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But I would think that having a graduate degree is a plus for a LS applicant.
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<p>According to the book "How to Get Into Law School" the author said a graduate degree might or might not help you. She said getting an MBA at Harvard could be a plus but your change in careers could signal indecision. </p>
<p>From other comments I read, a graduate degree could be an secondary plus in your application.</p>
<p>This is interesting news for me, because the particular program I was accepted to is actually a 5 year BA/MA program. I'd spend the first 3 years undergrad (up at the Hopkins campus in Baltimore) and the next 2 years getting my masters down in DC (at SAIS's campus). Although I would essentially be done with my undergrad in 3 years, I graduate on time (after my first year of Masters study - which would have been my senior year). It'll be interesting to see if law schools take into account my grades the 3 years I'm in undergrad or if they take into account all the grades until I graduate (which would be after the 1st year of the MA program).</p>
<p>Honestly, many areas of law want you to have an advance specialized degree, so to say a graduate does not count is pure bs. It counts, but of course LSAT weighs more.</p>
<p>JNS8604, ask any law school admission rep. Go ahead, I will wait. … the score given by the LSAC only takes undergraduate GPA into account. Yes they look at the grad school grades but these only count as a very soft factor. The reasoning is that grad schools grades are known to be inflated. Moreover, not everyone has grad school grades. Using undergrad grades provides some form of comparison.</p>
<p>No where does any legal field require some specialized grad school background. You don’t need accounting to be a tax lawyer nor do you need an engineering or hard science background for IP. Do these backgrounds help? Yes! However, law schools don’t care about them. Moreover, every admission officer that I have asked has confirmed this. Thus, feel free to check out what I said.</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I feel that they should take top notch grad school grades into account. However,that doesn’t seem to be the case.</p>
<p>by the way, my son did poorly on the LSAT but graduated valedictorian from his grad program with a 4.0. This didn’t even make a dent in admission and he only applied to lower level tier 4 schools.</p>
<p>Grades in grad school don’t count. Having a graduate degree can help for admission essentially everywhere. It is maturity factor and law schools like that additonal maturity. In fact, some law schools prefer those who have some work history after college or a graduate degree (Northwestern is one). However, do not assume it is a major factor. Typically LSAT is 60% or more of everything followed by about 30% for college GPA and thus everything else together is worth no more than 10% of the decison and usually less.</p>
<p>As to the statement above about many areas of law want you to have advanced degrees, it is not true. Patent law is one area where an engineering or science undergrad degree can be important and an advanced engineering or science degree can also help but that has to do with being hired after law school (many patent firms won’t even hire those without engineering or science degrees) and being able to pass the patent bar exam and has nothing to do with being admitted to law school.</p>