<p>My son majored in accounting from a school not known for grade inflation. He graduated with a 3.1. He went on to grad school for financial planning and tax and graduated top of his class with about a 3.9+ (with high distinction). My question: many law schools post an average GPA, top 25% and bottom 25%. What weight should I give to his graduate school grades if any when deciding which law school he should apply to?</p>
<p>As an aside, my son went to a very good, well- ranked graduate program for his masters degree, although not an IVY school. Interestingly, they let him in on probation for his graduate program , and he ended up graduating top of the program. Go figure.</p>
<p>grad school gpa does not get averaged in with the undergraduate gpa in any way. he should be determining reach/match/safe schools primarily based on his 3.1 and his LSAT score. Having a graduate degree will be a factor, along with work experience, essay, references, etc. that might help him stand out among applicants with similar or slightly stronger LSATs and GPAs, but the conventional wisdom is that a graduate degree isn't a significantly better "plus factor" than anything else you could do with a few years of your life--working, Peace Corps, etc.</p>
<p>The snarky answer to "What weight should I give to his graduate school grades if any when deciding which law school he should apply to?" is "you shouldn't be deciding what law school he should apply to!" but I'm guessing that was just a typo ;)</p>
<p>I went to law school after 6 years in the Navy. My undergraduate GPA was awful (2.something) although it was from MIT. The big thing, especially for state schools (I went to U of Florida) is LSAT. It is the big equalizer in comparing applicants. I agree that "work experience, essay, references, etc. that might help him stand out among applicants with similar or slightly stronger LSATs" but for those who have been away from undergrad for a while, schools tend to focus on LSATs and what you have done in between. So while you might not be able to crunch the GPA numbers, the LSAT should be a good guage. Lesson: Study hard for LSATs!</p>