<p>
[quote]
They won't count when calculating your LSAC gpa either.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Sorry, I meant it WON'T be useful to take classes after graduation.</p>
<p>
[quote]
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.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>LSAT roughly measures intelligence (logic reasoning and fast reading comprehension) and GPA roughly measures work ethic. Both are necessary for success in law school, but if law schools had to choose one over the other, it would be intelligence every time. When you're paying $200,000 for a law degree, it tends to make people work hard even if they underperformed in college. Even though the LSAT has flaws, it's still more reliable than GPA, which has lots more variation due to different grading standards and course difficulty.</p>
<p>Yeah, I certainly think LSAT should heavily outweigh undergrad GPA. This seems sort of counterintuitive in that you spend 4 years accumulating your GPA, while you spend 4 hours on that test, but the test is standardized in every way and is a solid scale of assessment. However, a GPA has too many factors that can skew it. As people have mentioned, they may take a class in a field they find out they hate, do terrible in the class, then transfer to something they love and do really well. In the grand scheme of life, this is a good situation because you learned from your mistake, and also found something you enjoy. Yet for GPA purposes, they hold it against you as a negative. I had circumstances out of my control freshman year that led to terrible performance. And those are being held against me even though I'm a near 4.0 student. Its really sort of stupid.</p>
<p>I understand your point regarding work ethic and GPA. From what I've heard, America's education system is somewhat more "forgiving" than other nations'. For example in Asia, standardized tests determine your fate completely. One of my parents went to graduate school in engineering there and said that college grades didn't matter at all when applying to grad school; one standardized test determined everything. My other parent grew up in Europe and apparently entrance to university is determined purely on standardized tests (over 50% is the actual exam itself while the other consists of coursework, you also have to interview, but you only get an interview based on your exam results.) Essentially the testing process weeds out people at each crossroad. There are no "transfer" programs either.</p>
<p>wait.
If I took college courses during my senior in high school, they are calculated in the LSAC GPA too???????
oh man I failed a class.</p>
<p>Yes, that's correct.</p>