<p>How much value do law schools place on major GPA? Would a lower major GPA detract from an otherwise solid cumulative GPA in the eyes of law school admissions?</p>
<p>your major gpa is way more important, no contest. it just means that you either disliked or generally sucked at your major and couldn't cut it. if you were better in something else why would you end up choosing a major your didn't like?</p>
<p>ex: political science major
How could you not do better in political science than in chemistry, religion, math and engineering if you liked political science? This is the worst question I have seen.</p>
<p>farbdogg,</p>
<p>Not necessarily an awful question. What about the chem major who maybe took a lot of classes on the side to pad her GPA, but otherwise had a lower major GPA? You can enjoy your major but still be victim to strict grading policies.</p>
<p>At my school, one's major courses only make up about 1/3 of one's total undergrad courseload. Hence I find it hard to believe that such emphasis would be placed on so small a selection of classes. I just finished my sophomore year so I've only taken 3 courses from my major thus far, but my major GPA is not as high as my cumulative.</p>
<p>If the adcoms examine the transcript enough to distinguish the grades you received in and out of your major, it is my belief they would be very impressed with good grades outside of your major, while good grades within your major are expected.</p>
<p>So if they even look that close at your transcript I don't think it will matter. I, for example, got an A- in english (that's my major) and A's in my other classes (math, science). I don't think I will be penalized, or anyone else, unless the courses you got the better grades in appear to be "easy" courses.</p>
<p>I was under the impression that there is a place on your transcript that states your Major GPA, in that case it would not take any close examination for the adcoms to see it. </p>
<p>I'm a political science major, and I think it is fair to say that my non-major courses are as tough, if not tougher, than my major classes.</p>
<p>My major classes are much more difficult than non-major classes. Since the preponderance of non-major classes will be mere introductory courses to fulfill core requirements, upperlevel coursework in one's major will definitely be more demanding. If not, than the major is probably not rigorous enough for law school admissions, or general preparation for the rigour of law school.</p>
<p>The student, however, may be naturally talented at his major, thus making the courses easier.</p>
<p>Cum GPA is obviously more important (think US NEWS). Its actually a benefit. Take a guy I know who is really really political. Majored in Chemical Engineering. decent majorr GPA (3.5), but near a 3.75 cum. I think law schools appreciated that he stepped out of his comfort zone and challenged himself. So, it all depends on the context of how your grades were earned.</p>
<p>
[quote]
it just means that you either disliked or generally sucked at your major and couldn't cut it. if you were better in something else why would you end up choosing a major your didn't like?
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</p>
<p>Or it may also mean that your major was just really really hard in terms of grading. Just like John Galt's example of the chemical engineer. In fact, I know a bunch of engineering students who consider humanities classes to be easy A's that they take on the side just for the purpose of boosting their GPA. I don't know too many humanities students who take engineering classes on the side in order to boost their GPA. </p>
<p>Look, the fact is, some majors are simply easier than others, especially when it comes to the grading. There are majors in which you can be a terrible student, and get good grades anyway. And then there are other majors in which you can be one of the best students in the major, and still get mediocre grades. I'm sure ariesathena can tell you stories about this.</p>
<p>I'm fairly certain that admissions officers at law school notice not just your grades in and out of your major, but also the difficult of your coursework, the reputation for difficulty of your major, and whether the undergraduate school you are coming from tends to have grade deflation.</p>
<p>sally,</p>
<p>That would be ideal, wouldn't it? Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case in a lot of situations.</p>
<p>Actually, when my husband had his undergraduate work study job in the admissions department of the law school there (a top law school), it was exactly true. Maybe there are law schools that blindly put a candidate's statistics into a computer, come up with a number, and admit or deny them based upon that. I hope not. I've never heard even anecdotal evidence of a law school admitting students in such a formulaic way. </p>
<p>Does it make sense that a law school, with more qualified applicants than they have room for in their class, would blindly admit someone with a 4.0 from any undergrad, who took the easy road through college, over a student with a 3.6 in engineering from Carnegie Mellon or MIT? I don't think so. This certainly doesn't happen often, if at all, at the top law schools.</p>
<p>I would be really interested to hear if you know of school with a reputation for this kind of admissions policy. Thanks!</p>
<p>sally,</p>
<p>I'm not talking about 3.6s (which are hard enough for engineers) but 3.3s or so. A 3.3 is well above average for UCLA engineering, yet I doubt that a UCLA EE grad would be competitive at Harvard, Stanford, or Duke with that kind of GPA. And the 3.3 grad probably worked his butt off, while the sociology major with a 3.7 had to work half as hard. </p>
<p>And it doesn't make any sense, but admissions to law school doesn't work in favor of science and engineering undergrads.</p>
<p>UCLAri,
You may be right, but I certainly had plenty of engineers and science majors in my law school. For all I know, though, they managed to pull off 3.8 GPAs undergrad.</p>
<p>sallyawp</p>
<p>sallyawp,</p>
<p>No doubt there are a few, but the system works against their favor, really. A 3.8 in engineering or physics is far harder than a 3.8 in political science (even I must admit this as a poli sci grad.)</p>
<p>It's crap, but what're you gonna do?</p>
<p>I understand that most law schools would not look down upon a low major GPA if it is for a major that is generally said to be difficult, such as engineering. But what if the major is not known to be particularly difficult, say Political Science? (Let's assume the discrepancy between major gpa and cumulative gpa is 3.55 to 3.75)</p>
<p>it still wouldn't matter. If you apply to a school whose median is a 3.6 and 75% is a 3.75 you're in good shape. Major GPA matters insofar as it affects your cum gpa. Since most of your courses will come in you major, its nearly impossible to have a bad major GPA and a good cum GPA.</p>