<p>I'm a freshman at UF with 55 credit hours and a 4.0 GPA after summer b and fall semester b/c UF allows students to bring in up to 30 credits from IB and AP. I'm currently majoring in poli sci, minoring in Spanish, and am pretty involved in ECs (Model UN, musical theater/chorus, Poli Sci Honor Society, and a pre-law group). Since I already have 55 credits, am taking 15 credits this coming spring, and am studying abroad this summer, I could easily take an easy load of 12 credits (including electives like chorus, jogging, etc.) for each of my remaining semesters, and graduate on time with a very good GPA. However, I'm worried that law schools would hold my easy schedule against me. Would law schools prefer that I increase my schedule's difficulty by either double majoring or adding another minor (but perhaps lowering my GPA) or are law school admissions primarily numbers-based (GPA and LSAT)? Thanks in advance!</p>
<p>Hardly important, if at all. Getting a better GPA is more important than taking Honors classes.</p>
<p>I was about to type the same thing ("doesn't matter"), but that was referring to the difficulty of specific classes, which law schools wouldn't ever bother to look up.</p>
<p>I'm less sure about taking very low-credit courseloads, which are instantly apparent.</p>
<p>I am a law school admissions officer. Since this is my first post, I know I probably don't have much "street cred" yet, but over time, hopefully that will change. I am posting on this board because I recognize how credible it has become, particularly as many members of the current generation of law school applicants posted here when they were applying for college. Unfortunately, there is still a lot of misinformation about law school admissions, even among this very well educated community of education consumers. I look forward to providing my own perspectives.</p>
<p>In answer to the question in this thread:</p>
<p>Low-credit courseloads, as well as light content couseloads may definitely impact an applicant in the admissions process. Bluedevilmike is correct in that law school admissions officers don't usually look up the difficulty of coursework, but at the same time, our familiary with reviewing transcripts from certain schools comes into play, and we know when an applicant is taking an advanced level class, or an upper-level seminar. Often times, an applicant asks for a letter of recommendation from that class' professor, making it easy to figure out. We also are familiar with a transcript where an applicant loads up on electives such as "jogging", which wouldn't be calculated in the LSDAS GPA anyway.</p>
<p>Law schools don't generally care if you have a double major or a minor. Taking a range of electives that show your ability to read, write, and think critically is helpful to you. As a junior or a senior, your GPA isn't going to fluctuate very much anyway, so as long as you continue to work hard, taking a more challening class may be worth the risk to your GPA.</p>
<p>My concern in Amanda's case is that the original poster is a freshman. She doesn't have much of a track record because of so many courses through AP and IB. While that is impressive, in particular after seeing a semester of 4.0 performance, she hasn't started preparing for the LSAT, nor has really done the serious research and homework to decide if law school is right for her. </p>
<p>Ultimately, many applicants to law school who don't do as well on the LSAT as they wanted , expect law schools to look at their academic transcript as a better indicator of their abilities. However, if you want a law school to do this, you have to demonstrate this though a steady and reliable history of good performance. So, as a freshman, Amanda should do the following:</p>
<ol>
<li>Take a balanced program of coursework, with at least one or two seriously challenging courses per semester.<br></li>
<li>Be concerned with GPA, but not to the point that it results in a less-than-balanced-program. Its too simplistic to just say "you need a high GPA" because you don't know what your LSAT is, and if your LSAT is lower, you'll need to show that your academic program has some meat to it.</li>
<li>Be less concerned with double majors and minors, and focus more on taking classes with topics and areas of interest that expose you to a range of both legal topics, and non-legal social science, science, and humanities themes.</li>
<li>When possible, look for classes where you might be in a smaller size class, or seminar, where faculty members will get to potentially know you, mentor you, and be familiar with your abilities. This will help you down the road, particularly when you need to choose professors to write letters of recommendation.</li>
</ol>
<p>One final thought on this topic: Yes, numbers are absolutely important in law school admissions. However, applicants often fail to realize that at some point, you will apply to a school where your numbers fall right in the middle, and require admissions officers to consider more than the GPA. In many cases, that extra "push" that helps an applicant gain admittance might be called motivation, drive, or dedication. If Amanda wants to show that, she will need to take a few risks in course selection, but the reward is that she will make the most of her undergraduate education, with whatever GPA she earns.</p>
<p>Far as I'm concerned, this post gives you all the street cred you need.</p>
<p>taylorsmith,
While you sound "legit" to me, I'd like to point out that CC rules require that you prove your credentials to one of the moderators before you identify yourself as a law school admissions officer. Once you do that, they put a little gizmo on your name, that assures folks you are who you claim to be.
Would you please make the effort to do that?
You see, in the past, this board had a poster who also claimed to be an admissions officer. When pressed to verify his status, he refused to do so. (And a lot of us thought his advice was questionable.) There was also the guy on Stanford Law Review, who turned out to be a high school student.
Pls understand that if you don't want to id the law school which employs you PUBLICLY, you won't be required to do so.</p>
<p>jonri:</p>
<p>Was not aware of this and hope not to upset moderators from the start. Is there a particular moderator I should contact? I will be happy to figure out how to do this. (Or they can contact me.)</p>
<p>Just to let you know, I am fine letting a moderator know, but I will not name my school pubically once this is verified...at least at this particular point in time. The goal here isn't to promote my school.</p>
<p>I do understand that you are not trying to promote your LS. Please believe, if you are who you say you are--and at this point, I think you're legit--I would be very, very happy to see you join. At the same time, I think the TOS rules prohibiting someone from making the claim that they are an admissions officer without proving it to the moderators is a reasonable one. </p>
<p>When you click on law board, scroll to the bottom and you will see the list of moderators. I'd recommend sending an email to the "team." </p>
<p>As I understand it, they will not ID your LS without your consent. However, they will put a special little gizmo next to your name that will let folks know you are legitimate. Instant street cred ;)!</p>
<p>taylor- welcome aboard. Once you do get your "credentials" verified, I do hope to see you post more often.
Good luck to you. You have a tough crowd here.<br>
Have a Happy Holiday.</p>
<p>taylorsmith,
Thank you SO much for all of your advice! I really appreciate it! =)</p>
<p>@ taylor smith: First, let me welcome you to the forum! It's awesome to see a law adcom provide some real useful info. I've got a few questions for you...</p>
<p>1) Do law schools care that you graduate in four years or less? Will they look down upon a person that graduates in 5 or 6 years?</p>
<p>2) Will a person who takes a relatively easy courseload (presumably because a large amount of AP credit allows them two) who graduates in four years or less be given some slack in terms of law school admissions for their less rigorous schedule? This is the predicament I am in right now. I have a ton of AP and retroactive credits now as a second semester sophmore, so I'm only taking 13-15 credits semester but will easily graduate on time at this rate.</p>
<p>3) What law school do you represent?</p>
<p>Merry Christmas! Or Channuka/other.</p>
<p>My son is in exactly the same position as the above poster except he is a junior on track to graduate a semester early.</p>
<p>he already answered 2 out of your 3 questions...</p>
<p>^^No, you're wrong.</p>
<p>Wait, taylorsmith, something you wrote didn't make a lot of sense.</p>
<p>"Yes, numbers are absolutely important in law school admissions. However, applicants often fail to realize that at some point, you will apply to a school where your numbers fall right in the middle, and require admissions officers to consider more than the GPA."</p>
<p>If you're right in the middle, doesn't that mean the adcom will probably decide in your favour? Don't you mean 'on the margin' rather than 'in the middle?'</p>
<p>Please go back and read through Taylorsmith's answer.</p>
<p>
[quote]
2) Will a person who takes a relatively easy courseload (presumably because a large amount of AP credit allows them two) who graduates in four years or less be given some slack in terms of law school admissions for their less rigorous schedule? This is the predicament I am in right now. I have a ton of AP and retroactive credits now as a second semester sophmore, so I'm only taking 13-15 credits semester but will easily graduate on time at this rate.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Answer:</p>
<p>
[quote]
</p>
<p>Low-credit courseloads, as well as light content couseloads may definitely impact an applicant in the admissions process. Bluedevilmike is correct in that **law school admissions officers don't usually look up the difficulty of coursework, but at the same time, our familiary with reviewing transcripts from certain schools comes into play, and we know when an applicant is taking an advanced level class, or an upper-level seminar. **Often times, an applicant asks for a letter of recommendation from that class' professor, making it easy to figure out. We also are familiar with a transcript where an applicant loads up on electives such as "jogging", which wouldn't be calculated in the LSDAS GPA anyway.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Take a balanced program of coursework, with at least one or two seriously challenging courses per semester. **</p></li>
<li><p>Be concerned with GPA, but not to the point that it results in a less-than-balanced-program. Its too simplistic to just say "you need a high GPA" because you don't know what your LSAT is, and if your LSAT is lower, **you'll need to show that your academic program has some meat to it.</p></li>
<li><p>Be less concerned with double majors and minors, and focus more on taking classes with topics and areas of interest that expose you to a range of both legal topics, and non-legal social science, science, and humanities themes.
[/quote]
</p></li>
</ol>
<p>
[quote]
3) What law school do you represent?
[/quote]
</p>
<p>
[quote]
I am fine letting a moderator know, but I will not name my school pubically once this is verified...at least at this particular point in time. The goal here isn't to promote my school.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>There are also a number of threads which address the graduating early issue:</p>