<p>hi,
i'm a rising junior at one of the top 10 LACs. i've just declared myself as an english major, and i'm doing well in the department (3.7 gpa); however, during my freshman year i took a variety of courses that didn't necessarily cater to my strengths (mainly two semesters of calculus, in which i received a 2.7). at the end of my freshman year, my overall gpa was a 3.0 (though apparently the average freshman overall gpa at my school is a 2.7). i've managed to bring my overall gpa up to a 3.3+ (hopefully a 3.4 once i receive grades from this past semester) by the end of my sophomore year, having received nothing less than a 3.7 in any english class (including a very difficult upper-level course in which there were only two other senior and junior majors) and having done well in political theory & sociology courses.</p>
<p>aside from academics, i'm a member of our varsity xc & track teams. i served as somewhat of an RA this year for a freshman hall, and next year i will live with freshmen again serving as more of an academic advisor. i'm also a member of a religious group on campus as well as a political group. i'm not going abroad as a junior, but i received an internship in europe this summer concerning social justice in a particularly violence-ridden country. i also have a work-study job in a cafe on campus early in the mornings before classes.</p>
<p>i realize 3.3/3.4 is fairly low, but i would like some feedback on the reality of my getting into a top law school. apparently the grades at my college are deflated; for instance, a graduating senior from my school was accepted to Harvard Law with a 3.6 gpa. hopefully, if i continue to do as well as i did this year, my gpa will raise to around that level. i'm not sure if there's a correlation between SAT performance and LSAT performance, but in high school i received a 1510 on my SATs. on that note, i'm interested in rutgers newark, seton hall, harvard, yale, columbia, villanova, boston college, northeastern, nyu, penn, georgetown, and uva.</p>
<p>sorry for the formality of this, but i figured i need to start realistically considering which schools i plan on applying to! thank you.</p>
<p>Depends on what law school you're attending. Yale and Stanford are especially notorious for wanting stellar EC's as well as great numbers. Harvard and other top law schools such as Boalt (Berkeley) and UChicago are known to be more numbers-oriented in their admissions. Of course great EC's will help you anywhere, but you can certainly get in to Harvard or other top law schools if on outstanding numbers alone---it has been done several times. That said, don't count on getting in to Yale/Stanford without any (amazing) extracurricular stuff.</p>
<p>As for GPA, it is an important factor in all law schools. Couples with the LSAT score it makes about 70-80% of admissions criteria at most schools, from what I hear. Supposedly the LSAT is weighed more heavily at most schools, but without a competitive GPA (above 3.5) the best schools are pretty much out of the question. With a 3.3-3.4, you will need to nail the LSAT to have a shot at the coveted "top 14" law schools. Sorry to say, with a GPA in that range Yale, Harvard and Stanford are out of the question, unless you pull something ridiculous out of your hat in the next two years. Other schools in the top 14 are reachable if you slay the LSAT...I'm talking 170 or higher.</p>
<p>LSAT is the single most important factor. The LSAT is basically 60-70% of admissions, with the rest allocated to GPA and other factors. Just keep in mind that if your LSAT is top 25th percentile and GPA is bottom 25th percentile, you're still better than the average accepted applicant. </p>
<p>Since you're at a top 10 LAC, 3.4 is good enough for all schools other than Harvard, Yale and Stanford as long as you get top 25th percentile for the LSAT.</p>
<p>I think to say 60-70% of the decision is based on LSAT is exaggerating big time. That would mean only 10-20% would be based on GPA, with the other 10-20% based on things like ECs, letters of recommendation and personal statements? Yes, the LSAT is the most important factor, but not THAT important.</p>
<p>i don't know if i'm completely convinced, trizkutt, though this is not, by any means, to devalue your knowledge on the subject.. my professor/minor advisor went to reed undergrad and harvard for graduate school. he said it's harder to get an A at my school than it is at schools, such as harvard, where grades are severely inflated: his best students generally receive 3.3s in his classes. another one of my friend's fathers works for admissions for a top 20 medical school; he said they instinctively add onto gpas they receive on applications from my college. not sure if this carries over to law school admissions, though.. thus my initial question on how gpas are compared from school to school when undergraduate difficulty varies so drastically.</p>
<p>My advice would be to take a year or two off between college and law school, partly to give you the opportunity to raise your GPA as much as possible before you apply, and also because you have a freedom to do something fun and interesting right after college that you may not have after you graduate from law school (when you'll be studyig the the bar, and presumably getting a job to start paying back those loans).</p>
<p>That hiatus is also a good time to make sure you really want to practice law.</p>
<p>I think 60-70% is a good range. Each school has different weights on different criteria but I think that's a good rough average. </p>
<p>The reason is pretty simple: there is no standard GPA, which varies across schools, major to even professors. There is a standard LSAT score and that's why the LSAT is far more important than GPA.</p>
<p>"Yale and Stanford are especially notorious for wanting stellar EC's as well as great numbers."</p>
<p>This is true, but none of the ECs that OP mentioned are the type that will impress SLS or YLS, with the possible exception of the summer in Europe (depends on what the OP's responsibilities are there). Being an athlete, RA, etc. is great in and of itself...it just doesn't make that much of a difference to law schools.</p>
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Since you're at a top 10 LAC, 3.4 is good enough for all schools other than Harvard, Yale and Stanford as long as you get top 25th percentile for the LSAT.
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<p>This is untrue. a 3.4 with a top 25% LSAT will not get you into CCNP The likes. A 25% lsat is nice, but it wont make up for the 3.4. 3.6 and you're in, but 3.4 is just to low</p>
<p>well a 3.4 and hopefully rising, i reiterate that i took calculus/economics/etc my freshman year, but now that i've declared english as my major, i'm consistently getting 3.7s+ in my classes... i can't believe law school admissions are so technical! this is crazy!!</p>
<p>I hear you Jouiss. I'll be a junior next year w/ a 3.5 (4.0 soph year after 3.0 fresh). If you apply early in the cycle (by nov) then a 3.5 + 170 should get you into one of the lower T14 (cornell, gtown, duke, nw w/ work exp). Just concentrate on the lsat...that's the most important factor.</p>
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This is untrue. a 3.4 with a top 25% LSAT will not get you into CCNP The likes. A 25% lsat is nice, but it wont make up for the 3.4. 3.6 and you're in, but 3.4 is just to low
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<p>You'll have a decent chance at CCNP with a 3.4 and a 173 or so. I'd be pretty surprised if somebody with those numbers didn't get into at least one of them.</p>
<p>Is it more ideal to be high LSAT okay GPA (172+, 3.6) or High GPA Okay LSAT (3.75+, 168) because I have to decide how I'm going to divide my time next year</p>
<p>A high LSAT would be better because it's a standard test whereas GPA varies. You shouldn't sacrifice your grades for the LSAT though, or vice versa. Try studying during the summer and taking the Fall LSAT or studying during Winter Break and taking the December.</p>