Academic exploration vs. maintaining GPA???

Princetonian2012
Fri, 06 Jun 2008 09:55:16 +0000

I am so ashamed of myself to even be thinking about this, but after hearing all these horror stories about the GPA we need to get into the top law schools and Princeton’s grade deflation, I absolutely HAVE to ask.

Here’s the thing. I have broad and far-ranging academic interests, and want to take all sorts of classes ranging from philosophy to english to german to physics to art. Ordinarily, I’d say to hell with grades: college is about exploring and taking risks and learning what you love. But there’s the other part of me that dreams of becoming a lawyer, and to get into HYS law schools, I need a stellar GPA. From what I hear, LSAT and GPA are by far the most important, and the school you go to, your major, your extracurricular activities, and the courses you take matter A LOT less, if at all. Law school admissions don’t give a hoot that Princeton has grade deflation, or that a 3.9 at Princeton is waaaaaay harder to get than a 3.9 at a school with less academically excellent students.

I am now stuck with the trade off between my two goals of academic exploration and getting into my dream law school. It sucks that I have to consider GPA but there it is. Picking classes I have a natural talent in (as well as enjoy) will be better for my GPA, but taking ones I like but am terrible at will lower my GPA and thus my chances at HYS law. The same goes for picking a major. I’d love to do aero eng or economics, but my talents lie with english, etc.

What should I do?? Do any Princeton students / potential law school applicants have a similar problem, or can anyone offer advice? The adventurer in me really wants to do the HUM sequence, for instance, but the aspiring lawyer side of me keeps wondering whether it will be hard to earn good grades! This seems ridiculous to me, but it does seem to be an issue.

(I am not one of those people who obsesses over grades just for the sake of getting perfect grades. If this law-school dilemma didn’t exist, I wouldn’t even care about GPA.)

If you’ve gotten this far, thanks so much for reading and I appreciate any help!