Have I ruined my chances, and what's the law school policy on class retakes?

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Essentially, I'm not gonna give you guys a sob story but long story short I messed up really bad on my classes. I have a 3.8 GPA last quarter, getting these quarter's grades my GPA has dropped to a 3.4 because I got 2 Cs and a B, whereas before I was getting 80% As and 20% Bs. I am a student at UCLA and was hoping to go to a top tier Law school.</p>

<p>I have decided to focus 100% on my classes here on out and will try my best to get a 4.0 in all of my remaining classes but even if I get only 4.0s from here on out I caculated that I'll only be able to get back to a 3.8, and it's going to be almost impossible to get a 4.0 from here on out.
So at this rate the best I'm looking at is a 3.7, but more likely a 3.6. </p>

<p>I was really hoping to go to a good law school so are my chances ruined?</p>

<p>Also, what do law schools think of retaking the class, and if so, what do Law school applications think of that.. and if anyone knows how UC class retakes work.</p>

<p>And I am not a minority so that won't help. </p>

<p>Thanks a lot guys!</p>

2

<p>First of all: LSDAS takes an B as 3.2. Our school takes it to be a 3.0. So your GPA will go up by a little when you get LSDAS converted. </p>

<p>Second, 3.6 is fair enough for all the schools except for HYS. I don't know about your standard of top tier, but I will be more than happy with that 3.6. </p>

<p>AVG UCLA students have around 3.15 (UC GPA) by the time of their graduation.</p>

<p>-as for your GPA considered by the Law schools, all old grades and retakes remain together. No replacement of former grades.</p>

3

<p>
[quote]
First of all: LSDAS takes an B as 3.2. Our school takes it to be a 3.0. So your GPA will go up by a little when you get LSDAS converted.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Not true. The LSDAS takes a B as a 3.0 (see page 28)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.lsac.org/pdfs/2008-2009/InformationBook08web.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.lsac.org/pdfs/2008-2009/InformationBook08web.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>If you have received 2 C's you will need at least 2 A's to average them out to a B (regardless of what your other grades are).</p>

<p>Lets say you got the following grades in term 1 (all are worth 3 credits)</p>

<p>A
B
C
C
Your GPA for this term will be 2.75</p>

<p>the next term 2, you take 4 classes (all 3 credits) and you receive 4 A's</p>

<p>your term gpa is 4.0 your overall gpa
If you take 4 courses and receive 4 A's you will have a 4.0 GPA for the term but your overall GPA will be 3.375.</p>

<p>If your school uses the following scale</p>

<p>A =4
A- = 3.7 (use 3.6 because this is what the LSAC will give you)
B+ = 3.3
B = 3.0
B-= 2.7 (use 2.6 because this is what the LSAC will give you)
C+ = 2.3
C= 2.0
C- = 1.7 (use 1.6 because this is what the LSAC will give you)</p>

<p>Use grade * # of credits for each course = quality points</p>

<p>Assuming no grade replacements</p>

<p>example Term 1</p>

<p>B+ (3.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 9.9
B+ (3.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 9.9
C+ (2.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 6.9
A- (3.7) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 11.1
F (0) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 0</p>

<p>Total Quality points = 37.8
Divide the quality points 37.8 By the # of credits attempted (15)</p>

<p>your GPA for the term would be 2.52, Your credits earned would be 12</p>

<p>Term 2
B+ (3.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 9.9
B+ (3.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 9.9
C+ (2.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 6.9
A- (3.7) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 11.1
F (0) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 0</p>

<p>Total Quality points = 37.8
Divide the quality points 37.8 By the # of credits attempted (15)</p>

<p>your GPA for the term would be 2.52, Your credits earned would be 12</p>

<p>Overall Gpa after year 1 (37.8 + 37.8 ) = 75.6 total quality points
divide by 30 (total credits attemped over the 2 terms)
= 75.6/30 = 2.52 GPA for the past 2 terms</p>

<p>total credits earned 24</p>

<p>Term 3</p>

<p>B+ (3.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 9.9
B+ (3.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 9.9
C+ (2.3) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 6.9
A- (3.7) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 11.1
F (0) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 0</p>

<p>Total Quality points = 37.8
Divide the quality points 37.8 By the # of credits attempted (15)</p>

<p>your GPA for the term would be 2.52, Your credits earned would be 12</p>

<p>total after 3 terms
Quality Points =113.4
Credits attempted 45
GPA = 2.52
Credits earned 36</p>

<p>term 4</p>

<p>A (4) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 12
B (4) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 12
A (4) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 12
A (4) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 12
A (4) * 3 (# of credits for the course) = 12</p>

<p>Total quality points = 60
total credits attempted 15
term GPA = 4.0</p>

<p>Overall gpa (4 terms)</p>

<p>total QP = 173.4 (60 + 113.4)
total credits attempted = 60
Overall GPA after 4 terms 173.4/60 = 2.89
total credits earned 51</p>

<p>hope this helps (YMMV if you attend a school that gives grade replacements).</p>

4

<p>sybbie beat me to it, while I was searching. Go to the official source--that's LSAC.org</a> Homepage. </p>

<p>And here's the link to the grade conversion chart. Sybbie has rounded a bit. LSDAS doesn't. For people with a lot of pluses and minuses, it might matter. </p>

<p>Frequently</a> Asked Questions - LSDAS</p>

5

<p>I stand corrected. Apologies for uninteded misleading.</p>

6

<p>

</p>

<p>It depends what you mean by “good law school,” but you can still get into most schools except for HYS and possibly Boalt with a 3.6/3.7, depending on your LSAT score. One bad semester isn’t going to be detrimental to your application as long as your cumulative GPA is decent. </p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Law schools care more about your cumulative GPA than whether you’ve retaken classes or not. Sure it reflects positively on you if you retake a class and do substantially better, but you need to find out your school’s retake policy. If the first grade remains on your transcript, LSAC will count it, so the retake won’t help that much in terms of improving your LSDAS GPA, which is what law schools use.</p>