<p>Hi,
Have a few questions. I'm an undergrad student looking at attending law school.</p>
<p>Question:
I believe I have the option to retake classes to "Demonstrate Mastery", the original grade would appear on my transcript but only the better grade is factored into the GPA. How does this look? Good? Bad? I was thinking of doining it for 3 classes, in which i got a b- b and b. I could probably get a's this go around..since im not working 60hrs a week plus school....</p>
<p>Question:
Does practicing for the LSAT help dramaticlly? What's the improvment from someone who takes it blind to someone who takes one of those courses or just busts thier ass..Can it be learned or ?</p>
<p>As to the first - best bet is to check with your pre-law advisor. My hunch is no, don't retake - while your GPA will improve, you're missing out on chances to take other classes, learn more, explore during undergrad, get some meaningful recommendations, all that. Honestly, three Bs aren't going to sink your application at almost any school - and the ones that it will matter at will probably frown upon you retaking to get rid of the Bs. If you're 19, then your performance now won't count as heavily as it will during your junior and senior years. </p>
<p>Practicing for the LSAT does help dramatically - but taking courses has little, if any, effect. The best way to improve your LSAT score is to take the tests, yourself, over and over, and go through them with a fine-tooth comb to figure out where you went right and where you went wrong.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice..
Do law schools consider improvement trends when evaluating a transcript?
Like first semester was 3.2 GPA second semester 3.5 GPA third 3.9 ....ect..</p>
<p>From what everyone says it seems like these schools plug your GPA and LSAT into a computer and it spits out if your accepted...
Thats why I figured retaking the classes over the summer or something would be beneficial..</p>
<p>Also does study abroad look good or bad... Im in the last half of my soph year now and considering doing a semester in europe..</p>
<p>"the original grade would appear on my transcript but only the better grade is factored into the GPA." This may be your school's policy, but there is a standard LSAC-calculated GPA that is used by all law schools, which will count both grades into the GPA.</p>
<p>The answer to all questions may be found at lsac.org (Well, not all questions, but most.) Check under LSDAS, which will give you a lot of information about how the GPA is calculated. </p>
<p>I do believe that your entire transcript is sent to them for compilation, and LSDAS will note if you re-took a class. It honestly might not look that great to admissions. While GPA is extremely important, the difference between a 3.5 and a 3.55 is negligible. Take more courses, get more exposure to different classes. Once you start law school, you won't have much choice over what to take academically, and you'll be doing nothing save reading cases and statutes. Enjoy academic freedom while you can. ;)</p>
<p>"What if only the better grade would apear, they would have no way of knowing then correct?"</p>
<p>That's right. From LSAC's web site: grades excluded from conversion include "the original grade for a repeated course when the transcript does not show both the grade and the units for the original attempt. The total number of credits assigned to these grades will appear on the applicants LSDAS summary, but will not be included in the GPA calculation."</p>
<p>if i plan on taking a course pass/fail (i want to take real analysis mathematical proof) will this count against me? i really just want to take the course, althought i cannot guarantee a high grade in it.</p>
<p>Also, the LSAT can definintely be prepped for, and you should definitely do it. It's not unheard of to move from, say, a 150 to a 165 with enough prep, and that's the difference between a 50th percentile score and a 95th percentile score (or, in other words, a fourth tier school and a top 15.)</p>