<p>This has been bugging me tirelessly, and I've come to you for input! Please excuse my ignorance-- this is the first of what will probably be many law/grad school inquiries that I ask publicly.</p>
<p>I am a Junior at a top 30 4-year and my GPA had been fine until last year..
Then some family issues came up this year, putting thoughts of early graduation in my mind, and i took course-loads that were higher than max...</p>
<p>My GPA went from 3.85 to a 3.79 this year, and even if I finish up the 4-5 classes I have after this year to graduate this summer, I'll still not be able to get it back up to 3.85 (or above) by Fall 2008 when I apply... </p>
<p>Is it worth an extra year or extra term(s) at least to work up my GPA to whatever possible?</p>
<p>Also, I'm saying this under the assumption that admissions would focus on my grades up to fall 2008. Is this incorrect? Do I still have until the end of the 2009 schoolyear to bring my GPA up?</p>
<p>Law school applications will pay most attention to whatever your grades are when you submit your transcripts to LSDAS for processing. Subsequent grades will matter a little bit, but not much. I don't think a 3.79 is a bad GPA in the least, but bear in mind that LSDAS calculations are sometimes not quite the same as what you think they'll be.</p>
<p>LSDAS calculates your GPA. They do not make any adjustments for difficulty, either of your school or of your courseload. They do include all classes from all sources, including CC's, study abroad, etc.</p>
<p>Also importantly, LSDAS has its own method of handling -'s and +'s. They're worth a difference of 0.33, including A+'s. If this is different from your undergraduate school's way of calculating, you might see a difference as well.</p>
<p>The LSDAS GPA considers all college courses taken before you get your bachelor's degree, including those from community colleges, summer sessions, study abroad, etc. Anything after that DOES NOT COUNT. The GPA scale is:</p>
<p>P.S. Besides being a silly concern, there's no guarantee that you will actually get the grades to raise your GPA to where you want it. And as it has been said, once your undergraduate degree has officially been awarded, whatever grades you get will only give you personal satisfaction (if good enough).</p>
<p>so what would stop someone from just registering for online classes and getting say an extra 15 or so classes with A's before applying to law school</p>
<p>Aztec- Your UG school may stop you. In both my kids school, any coursework that they took "off campus" had to be approved by their advisor.
--from study abroad semester to summer Internship for credit--</p>
<p>Many schools will probably allow an occassional summer school course at the "local community college" or an on-line course. But my gut feeling is that most schools aren't going to be thrilled with more than 2 or 3 classes taken away from the "home school" and may not approve them if taken in excess.</p>
<p>My d did get a "hidden benefit" from her study abroad experience.<br>
She got a 4.0 GPA that semester while studying in Italy. Trust me- it was a heck of a lot easier for her to get a 4.0 from the Study abroad institute than her own college. So that semester's grades will boast her LSDAS GPA, though it will not be calculated into her own school's GPA.
If we understood all the intracacies of LSDAS GPA, she may have tried to do study abroad through a college that awarded A +'s.</p>
<p>I think there are legitimate ways to boost your GPA - but don't go overboard!!</p>
<p>and shpeel- your GPA is fine. In general a 3.6 GPA of higher will not keep you out of any top law school. Your acceptances will be based on your LSAT score.</p>
<p>marny- I enrolled at a community college while at my UG school. I didnt need permission- the only thing i would have needed approval for is if i wanted to use those credits.....but what would stop me from graduating this spring, and then during the 2 years I take off to work or travel or do nothing i load up on joke online courses. Over the course of 5 semesters I took 12 online courses that were all 4.0...i could keep doing that every semester.</p>
<p>The point is that if you keep doing this, over and over again, law schools are not idiots. They will overlook a few CC or online courses, and probably they won't care enough to penalize you for it. But if they see that a large fraction of your coursework is from outside your home institution, they'll simply look at what LSDAS calls your "degree" GPA.</p>
<p>And in any case, nothing that comes after your first bachelor's matters anyway.</p>
<p>"but what would stop me from graduating this spring, and then during the 2 years I take off to work or travel or do nothing i load up on joke online courses."</p>
<p>LSDAS. Once your undergraduate institution awards your first undergraduate degree, the LSDAS people (the people in charge of calculating your GPA) will stop counting undergraduate classes towards your reported GPA on the application. You would have wasted 2 years of your life for nothing. Good thing you asked.</p>
<p>Your college cannot stop you from taking online or CC courses, even during the regular school year. However, it would be useful to do so after graduation since the grades don't count.</p>
<p>I'm sure i'm not the only one that sees the flaws in the LSAC GPA. Personally I think your degree school should be all that matters- I currently have 4 community colleges, and 2 undergraduate colleges for my LSAC gpa..it just seems so fake that 1 community college is a 2.7(from when I was an ambitious high school freshman taking college classes) and one is a 4.0 (when I was piling on units for fun)....my only GPA that adequately describes me is my undergrad school now..</p>
<p>^ Plus some people major in something very easy; others in engineering. Some go to MIT; others community college, etc.</p>
<p>This is why the LSAT is and should be the greatest part of the application. I personally think it should matter even more than it does now. (In Europe and Asia entrance to some grad programs is based purely on standardized exams, and not on grades whatsoever. )</p>
<p>I hate the idea that one test can override the importance of 4 years of UG study , and be the "deciding factor" in law school admission. So maybe the balance of GPA as well as the LSAT score is not such a bad thing.</p>