Questions concerning GPA effect on Law School Admission

Graduate School Law School
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<p>I was wondering if any of you could give me your take on what I should do given my current situation. I apologize in advance if this is a tad long, but I want to be thorough so you have all the facts.</p>

<p>I'm 24 going on 25, a MD resident attending a MD state school for undergrad. However, I started college at a different MD state university as an 18 year old freshmen. I was academically dismissed after 4 semesters for too low of a gpa(1.2) for the number of credits I had attempted, mostly due to a combination of being in the wrong major for my natural abilities(computer engineering) and immaturity as an 18 year old away from home for the first time who had no concept of time management. I took a year off, realized that all the courses I did well in were my electives; classes like History of WW2, Constitutional Law, etc, and that I did well in these because the topics interested me, so I went back to the local community college to start over as a poli sci major. Earned a 3.02 gpa over 52 credits, transferred to my current MD state school, where I have a 3.9 gpa over 45 credits, have many ECs, play intercollegiate rugby for the school, several academic honors societies, multiple past internships in various levels of government and the private sector, etc. My question is this: how will the tier 1 and 2 law schools view my academic past? From my research on CC it seems they will average my gpas from my various schools together including my initial coursework at the school I was dismissed from, which if i maintain my 3.9 for my remaining 21 credits ends up giving me something in the 3.2 - 3.3 range overall. Would schools look at my upward trend in grades and give more weight to the coursework at my current school? My LSAT practice scores after doing 5-6 practice exams ranged from 168-173, which puts me in the range to potentially apply to some of the T14 schools, but I'd like to know if you think that is a waste of time due to the effect my initial grades might have on my cumulative gpa. Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated</p>

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<p>Yes, but VERY SLIGHTLY. Your 3.3 might be equivalent to a 3.35 or something like that. (Don’t quote me – I’m just trying to give you a rough idea here.)</p>

<p>On the other hand:

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<p>If you can hit the upper end of that range, then your GPA won’t be that important. A 173 stands a very good shot at T14s, even with a 3.2.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the info Mike. I’m actually now considering adding a second major so I’ll have enough extra credits to take to boost the cumulative gpa back up in 3.5-3.6 range. Do you know of a site where I could look up the average stats of the typical admitted students at the tier 1 and tier 2 schools?</p>

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<p>The official ABA guide, which has that info for most schools, is available at [LSAC.org</a> Homepage](<a href=“http://www.lsac.org%5DLSAC.org”>http://www.lsac.org).</p>