lovemydaughters

Hi,
My daughter is a junior, political science major in the honors program at UGA. She has a 3.88 gpa ( would be a 4.0 except for a couple college courses taken in high school.). She will be graduating next May. She is also fearful that she may be getting a couple B's this semester.
She has been told that she must have a 4.0 to get into law school. I think this came from another student - nobody in authority. She is now thinking that she will not make it into a good law school and is beginning to give up on it. She also didn't do well with the LSAT prep questions that she began to look at over spring break. She had done no prep before this.
One other thing that she has been told is that UGA doesn't take people with UGA undergrad degrees.
First, what are the facts about gpa needs for getting into law school? Second, does anyone have knowledge of UGA accepting UGA grads? Lastly, does anyone have any words of wisdom that I can give her. My husband and I are both musicians with no experience or knowledge of any of this. We don't care if she goes to law school. We just want her to be happy. She is really stressing and doesn't know what to do now.
Thanks for any help and guidance.

Senior's Dad

Your daughter should check in with UGA's Prelaw Advising Office. University of Georgia: Office of the Vice President for Instruction

She'll need the best GPA she can earn as well as the highest LSAT score she can garner.

UGA undergrads are certainly admitted to UGA law.

jonri

You don't need a 4.0 to get into law school.

Every law school takes undergrads from its own college.

She can raise her LSAT by studying.

The words of wisdom I would offer--other than the excellent suggestion to see the pre-law adviser at UGA--is to go to www.lsac.org and read through the material there. She can put in her gpa with various LSAT scores and see a list of law schools with the percentage of students with those #s who were accepted at those schools in a recent admissions cycle.

PS: I just put in a 3.70 and a 165 LSAT and in a recent admissions cycle, roughly 75% of applicants with those numbers were admitted to the U Georgia Law School. Hope that calms her down.

MomofWildChild

Despite what you read on this forum, most very excellent college students do NOT have a 4.0. You can graduate cum laude from highly selective schools with a much lower GPA than that, and I assure you that with a decent LSAT score, these students are getting into law school.

lovemydaughters

Thanks everyone for the words of encouragement. I don't know who the person is that is giving her this misinformation. I believe it's a "friend" of hers that may be jealous. I will pass all this along. The answers you all gave were in line with what I was thinking they would be. The suggestions were wonderful.
She has had a really tough year - first away from the family -we moved to MD last April. She has also had room mate issues. I just think this stuff is getting to her. She has fears of getting b's in two classes but she has thought that of other courses before and always gotten the A's in the end. Next year should be better. She will hear next week if she was accepted into the Washington semester. If she is, that will be a great thing for her on many levels.
Thanks again for the great information and advise.
It's tough being a non-hovering helicopter mom!

smlsandy

what would the above be

Spanks

I got a 2.8 first semester and have a C on my transcript and I'm going to Columbia (I applied with a 3.62, but still nowhere near a 4.0), so whoever told your daughter that is misinformed or being malicious. A 3.88 is a great GPA and won't keep her out of any law schools.

For LSAT prep I recommend the Power Score Bibles. They do a great job of explaining how to approach each question type on the test.

mikecerang

^ what was ur lsat score?

Spanks

175... but my freshman year was abysmal.

ssl307

Spanks, is that the score you worked hard to get? Or was it the score you got on your first try? Dang..that's an amazing score. What study guides/materials (Kaplan, Princeton Review, etc) did you use?

Spanks

Thanks, ssl307.

I took the actual LSAT only once, in October, but it was certainly not my "first try." I self-studied pretty intensely for three months using the Power Score Bibles (just LR and LG, but now there's an RC one too) and took ~30 old PrepTests before the actual LSAT, so I was thoroughly prepared for the real thing. My GPA is mediocre, so I needed to guarantee that I'd score over 170 on the LSAT by studying a lot.

magicmaclen

To get into UGA with a 3.88, she probably only needs a 160-ish LSAT (164+ to be absolutely safe), which should be pretty easy for anybody capable of getting a 4.0. No law school is going to fault you for having a 3.88 GPA. For every single law school in the United States except Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, 3.88 is significantly above average. Even for Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, it's pretty close to the median of accepted students.

Claymangs07

Spanks,
Where'd you go for undergrad?

kwu

Tsk... No luck with HYS?

I'll have a similar UGPA and LSAT, which is why I ask.

law_applicant

It's very hard to get into HYS with anything below a 3.8.