Help! Upward curve GPA for Law School

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Hi all,</p>

<p>I'm in a pretty bleak situation, and I'm expecting to hear the worst, based on my research, but I'd like to get some feedback from other people researching similar situations.</p>

<p>Basically, I am a junior at the top public university in New York state, majoring in history and minoring in both business management and writing. Basically, in my first 3 semesters of college I did abysmally (bounced around different majors, lack of motivation- you know the drill. No special reason that would excuse my CRAZY BAD grades.) The winter between semesters of my sophomore year I worked as a legal clerk, decided I wanted to be a lawyer, declared a new major, and got it together. Since then, my semester GPA has been awesome, but my overall is obviously badly bruised. If I KNOCK the LSAT out of the park (like 172 or greater) do I have any chance of going top-40 (I know T15 is most definitely out)?</p>

<p>Even though I know these rarely count for anything in apps, I'm Chief Justice of the government at my school, served as a legal clerk in a federal office, a finance intern on a campaign, and a marketing intern, and worked other jobs while doing so at school. I rowed and played rugby while at school. Sadly I have one very very minor disciplinary citation. Other than that, clean. I know this rarely affects decisions since it's usually GPAxLSAT but I should have a pretty good personal statement. </p>

<p>My GPA= 3.14 (I know, try not to vomit)
Semester GPAS= 2.33, 2.94, 2.47, 3.87, 3.93 (will probably finish spring 2014 with 3.9)
My major GPA (not that it really matters)=3.93
I'm a white female, so no edge there really. </p>

<p>Ideally I'd hope to go somewhere like UC Hastings, Pepperdine, or Brooklyn Law. Should I finish out my senior year before applying and try and boost my GPA a little more instead of applying this fall? I have a ton of credits so my GPA will probably never go above a 3.3 even if I get 4.0s out.</p>

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<p>Oh yeah, and obviously the point of this is that I have a crazy upward curve in my GPA, in a not super difficult major, so will this mean anything to law schools?</p>

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<p>If you score 172 for real then try your shot at NWU, UVA or Georgetown. Then you will still have a shot at a T14.</p>

<p>UC Hastings: Aim for 165+
Pepperdine: Aim for 162+
Brooklyn: Aim for 162+</p>

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<p>Wow, thank you Catria! That makes me feel a little better about going into this. I was considering doing an MBA program or something just to have another GPA, but I would really rather either go straight to law school or work as a legal assistant before going, rather than pay for more school. Your reply makes me feel a lot better about my options, though it is all contingent on my 172+ of course, but I have a great tutor.</p>

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<p>This will not help with your law school admissions. LSAC/LSDAS will only calculate your gpa from your first bachelor.</p>

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<p>The reason why NWU, UVA or Georgetown even showed up in the first place is that successful applicants with GPAs in the 3.1-3.3 range at these places had upward trends, too. And 170+ on the LSAT. Then again, you could have to ED at UVA or Georgetown…</p>

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<p>Catria, I’m new to this but I assume ED is early decision?</p>

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<p>ED is early decision… but can you afford to ED at Georgetown or UVA? If I’m not mistaken, financial aid is hard to come by at T14s if you are a 3.3/172 student.</p>

<p>You could expect $20-25k of financial aid yearly at Pepperdine, $30-40k yearly at Brooklyn if you scored 172+ for real… but do not expect FA at Hastings if you’re OOS.</p>

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<p>Yeah I’m not expecting financial aid with my grades, but I am blessed to have very stable parents, so ED is not out of the question. I appreciate the warning though; it is definitely something to keep in mind</p>