<p>I've asked a question like this on here before...
1--How would the value of the GPA be affected by the fact that courses were taken online??
I believe the consensus was that a few classes online wouldn't hurt. </p>
<p>2--But does anyone thing there's a limit that, if one exceeds, could possibly hurt the value of the GPA?
My assumption is that online classes are definitely easier than the real classes but I could be wrong about that. I go to a private University that doesn't offer classes online. I'm thinking about taking a few from another school in a few business courses I'm interested in. The flexibility makes it easy to squeeze these in, and the truth is the grading is apparently quite easy so my hope is I could get a few more A's that I otherwise wouldn't.</p>
<p>3--Of course, any bias against online courses would assume that law schools could even tell if a class was taken online, which I'm not sure of.</p>
<p>4--The school I go to is a top 25 private school where grading is quite difficult. So another issue would be that if I take more than a select few courses online from another school, perhaps any benefit I might gain from the fact rigorous curriculum and difficult major at my home University might be reduced. Anybody know how this would work?</p>
<p>bball- I don’t think anyone can give you a definitive answer. If you are taking just a few business courses (IMO 2 or 3 on line courses), I do not think anyone will look at it negatively; especially if it is taken during the winter or summer session as it would seem plausible that you do not have time to take these classes during the regular semester.<br>
You probably still need to get permission from your college advisor to take these on-line classes. If your own college is accepting of these classes and you are taking a rigorous courseload at you home university, I just can’t see that it would have a negative affect.</p>
<p>If we realized that summer/winter classes on-line or at the local community college might give a boost to my kid’s gpa, she may have pursued a class or two on her winter break.<br>
She never gave the idea much thought until her senior year- and by that time it wasn’t worth her while to do so. In the long run, I don’t think an on-line class or two will affect your gpa that much- but it may help it a bit.</p>
<p>My kid’s study abroad semester was a help. She was able to pull a 4.0 with a lot less stress than at her home school. So for those of you in a rigorous college environment, consider a semester abroad. You’ll have new experiences and it may be a way to boost your GPA too.</p>
<p>^ Unfortunately, while the grades may show on some of our transcripts for studying abroad, often they are not calculated into our GPAs unfortunately.</p>
<p>TP- study abroad grades may not be calculated into your home school GPA, but transcripts from alot of study abroad programs are sent to LSAC and will be “calculated” into your LSAC GPA. That is what the law schools look at.</p>
<p>my kid’s study abroad program was sponsored by wells college. She had the Wells transcript sent to LSAC in addition to the one from her “home school”…
Point is- transcripts from study abroad, on-line classes, summer school etc. are sent to LSAC for consideration into your LSAC GPA. Therefore, there are legit ways to boost your gpa a bit, especially if you are attending a school that has a tough grading system.
I cannot image that any admission officer will look unfavorable if a few courses are taken on-line or in summer school. MANY kids do this legitimately in order to have double majors, or a minor, or take a course that they could not fit into their regular schedule.</p>
<p>Ya that seems to be the intuitive thought on this. A few couldn’t hurt.
But i wonder if it would ever start to look a little iffy and at what point this would be the case.
For example you can really rig the system and find some real easy classes from your local state school, do the assignments online, and take the final in a month, and get an easy A</p>
<p>Clearly a couple such courses could not be read into much. but if you had 4, 5, or 6, i wonder if they would be suspicious.</p>
<p>I mean it’s hard for them to assume why you did this, or to even know if the classes were easy, because for all they know they are difficult which I’m sure some of them would be that I wish to take. </p>
<p>At the same time they may not even know they were taken online…</p>
<p>The law schools to which you apply will actually see the transcripts from each school where you took classes. Whether or not the online classes are marked as such, law schools will know the difference between the classes you took at your degree-granting institution versus everything else. If a law school sees that you were taking classes at a school other than your degree-granting institution while you were enrolled at your degree-granting institution, they will likely understand that those classes were either easy or online. I think we have to assume here that most folks who will be reviewing your law school application have been around the block once or twice.</p>
<p>ok well that’s my question. is there any accepted notion as to how much this can hurt an application?</p>
<p>and are if it could hurt to some relevant extent, should it be assumed that 2 class or 3 would pass as ok? i mean if one takes 2 or 3 i kind of want to doubt that they would feel capable of making a judgment of whether that should reflect poorly on a student.</p>
<p>a suspicious pattern on the other hand would have more an affect on your app maybe (???)</p>
<p>Though I cannot be certain, I suspect that law schools that bother to look at your transcripts and not just your LSAC GPA (certainly the top law schools do this) might go ahead and recalculate your GPA without grades from courses determines to be “fluff”. </p>
<p>I also believe that if your transcripts/GPA shows some kind of a pattern of intentionally taking easier courses simply in order to boost your GPA, it certainly may taint your application in the eyes of those who examine your application. </p>
<p>Look – all the law school admissions folks have are a few sheets of paper about you. They have a personal statement (which they know may have been heavily edited by others), they have your LSAT score, they have your GPA and transcripts, they have recommendations (which can be an incredibly helpful part of your application), they have lists of your activities and awards and they have a resume. That’s it. It is very difficult to make yourself seem a three-dimensional person with just those pieces of paper by which to judge you (in fact, your recommendations are probably the single best way to “put some flesh around the bones,” so to speak). However, if there is anything in your application that leads a reviewer to believe that you are anything less than honest or in any way trying to enhance your application by artificial means, it just can’t be a good thing. </p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with taking online courses (or any other courses, for that matter) if they reflect an area of interest that you are not otherwise able to explore through your coursework. Thus, many students take classes during the summers. However, I do fear that if you are taking online courses while you are taking a full matriculated courseload at your degree-granting school, not only will those courses be seen as easy, and perhaps as intended to artificially inflate your GPA, but they may also make you seem less than honest in some way.</p>
<p>some applications also ask you to list all colleges you attended. so it probably is necessary to list all schools on your application that you received credit from- which would include the on-line school or local community college. Why dilute the GPA from your home school.<br>
If you are occasionally taking an on line academic course, it is not going to raise any “suspicion”. But if there is a pattern of easy courses taken on line which appear unnecessary in pursuit of your degree, it may raise some concern. </p>
<p>Even if my kid took the additional 1 or 2 on line classes, it probably would not have raised her gpa that much. Maybe at best .01-.02. IMO- It’s better that she shows a solid gpa from her UG school than add a bunch of fluff classes from Nassau community college.</p>
<p>But there are still instances when it is necessary to take that additional class or two away from your home school. And I don’t want to discourage kids from staying away from on-line classes when it is academically or financially necessary to pick up some additional credits.</p>
<p>I believe we had one poster recently who took his final class during winter session at a local school. This enabled him to graduate in January. No one would expect him to pay for an additional semester when he could meet his BA requirements by taking one course over the winter session break and be eligible for graduation a semester early.</p>