artificially boosting GPA

[bball101]

<p>For anybody who might know, I was wondering How do schools view a transcript with easy classes on it?</p>

<p>I’m a philosophy major that is going to be viewed favorably on some level.
However I have some easy Health and Excercise classes and journalism classes on my transcript.
Might classes like this be disregarded in the application process?
Might it even weaken the strength of an application, in addition to being disregarded?</p>

<p>Also I was considering either doing summer classes at a different school then the one I attend, or even doing online courses at that school. Both would be very easy A’s but I’m wondering if these would be even more negatively viewed than easy classes at my own school, since they would basically be total joke classes.
I’m also wondering if the answer to this question would depend on the difference in difficulty of my home institution vs. the school I would take such summer/ or online courses at. I go to Wake Forest, which apparently is viewed among graduate admissions departments as one of the most difficult to get A’s.
I have heard many schools will use only the grades from your home institution, especially if your home institution is seen as a higher caliber, since they might want to create consistency among the courses viewed, and then view the weight of the GPA appropriately.</p>

<p>If anyone knows how this all works I’d really appreciate if you could help me out. I’m tempted to try and boost that GPA by all means but I don’t want it to backfire. I’m sure its somethin most applications have thought about so hopefully some of you guys may have some insight.</p>

[bball101]

<p>anybody???</p>

[stacy]

<p>They’re going to have to report your LSDAS-calculated GPA to US News, so that’s the one they care about most. </p>

<p>With that said, if there’s two applicants with similar LSAT scores, similar recommendations and extracurriculars, and similar GPAs–but one took hard classes and one took easy ones–well, who would you prefer?</p>

[bball101]

<p>oh ok thanks</p>

<p>I wonder though, are online classes pretty much seen as ridiculous. I pretty much always considered them a joke. If so, it probably couldn’t be a good thing to have them on the transcript.</p>

[marny1]

<p>bball- Re: Online courses-
Page 1 story today’s NY Times- “high cost of driving to College Ignites Boom in Online Classes”. Someone may be able to link it up.</p>

<p>There are solid reasons why kids may take a few on-line courses.

1. lessen the course load during the regular semester
   2. try to graduate a semester early, so may take a summer or winter session class on line
2. change majors or add a minor and need to take additional courses in order to graduate on time.
3. and as the article pointed out to SAVE MONEY on gas.
   so I don’t think on line courses necessarily are a “bad thing”. Some of the large state U’s have a very extensive selection of courses to choose from. I’m most familiar with the SUNY system as d # 2 did do an on-line course for her major during her winter break last year. As she is now thinking of doing a communications minor she may really need to take a few on-line classes during the summer/winter session in order to graduate in 4 years.</p>

<p>but with all that said for law school admission, I’d limit the amount of on line courses (1 or 2 classes shouldn’t be viewed too negatively) And I wouldn’t take basketweaving 101. There are alot of normal academic classes to chose from- sociology 101 to history courses.<br>
and if you can get an A or 2 and it does boost your GPA a bit, there’s little downside to this action.</p>

<p>ps- d #1 (who will probably be applying to law school in the next year or 2) kinda lucked out with her Study abroad semester. She easily pulled a 4.0 while studying in Italy. It was a heck of alot easier to get the 4.0 abroad then in her home school. I wouldn’t categorize her study abroad semester as an artificial boost, but it did bring up her LSAC GPA just a bit. </p>

<p>and to be totally honest,- if we knew then what we know now–
my kid may have taken one or two on-line courses to give her GPA a boost. But luckily her GPA is pretty good as it stands.</p>

[bball101]

<p>cool thanks. i mean it seems as if a few definitely couldn’t hurt.</p>

<p>anyone have an opinion on how much would be too much?</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>going to be long so stay with me…</p>

<p>As stated in one of my previous posts, if you have not already done so I would recommend purchasing How to Get into Top Law Schools by Richard Montauk. </p>

<p>It the book is approximately 500 pages and gives a very comprehensive overview of the college process and discusses applications, essays, LSATs, majors, etc.</p>

<p>Chapter 8 of his book discusses Making the Most of Your Credentials, Montauk states:

Your specific major matters less than the type of major you choose. What matters is that you choose a serious major. Schools are leery of pre-professional subjects such as business, and those that reward performance talents such as acting. Any subject that requires serious analytical work and dedication attract at least a reasonable % of the best and brightest will meet with approval.</p>

<p>The ideal undergraduate record would thus include all of the following:</p>

<p>Top quality school</p>

<p>Demanding course load (no path of least resistance) advanced work in a second unrelated (to your major) filed is particularly helpful</p>

<p>Top grades throughout (with few courses taken pass/fail) but especially in junior & senior years</p>

<p>Courses requiring substantial reading, strong writing ability good research skills and analytical prowess</p>

<p>Courses developing useful substantial knowledge for your future legal field.</p>

<p>When posed with the question: What factors do you consider when evaluating an undergraduate record admissions officers at various law schools state :</p>

<p>What ever the major, there should be variety including some clearly demanding analytical courses. There is not set preparation for law school, but some majors may be of less value than others (for ex. Pre-law) I examine the undergraduate transcript very closely. I look at what the applicant has done both in and outside of their major- Faye Deal, Stanford</p>

<p>What we are looking for is both breadth and depth. We favor applicants who come to us from broad liberal arts education. They learn about human vision from the arts, how the world works from math and the sciences and the human condition from philosophy and history. We don’t want academic dilettantes however; we want applicants to have taken the most analytically rigorous courses in their field- Jim Mulligan, Columbia</p>

<p>Not all UGPAs are created =. Swat and William and Mary, for instance have refrained from inflating grades; their averages are between 2.8 & 2.9. At the other end of the spectrum, Stanford and Yeshiva have mean GPAs over 3.4- Mulligan, Columbia</p>

<p>The GPA number is just a starting point. Our first concern is how rigorous the course load has been. We look at academic letters of recommendation, which are particularly helpful if they address the difficulty of the course load ex: the grading policies of professors from whom the applicant took multiple courses. Other factors we c examine is whether there were substantial barriers to performance such as the need to work many hours per week- USC</p>

<p>I know what the strongest and weakest programs are at some 50 to 60 schools. At some smaller commonly seen schools (and programs) it can be helpful for the student to provide detailed information. –GWU</p>

<p>We see a # of pre-med students who did poorly as pre-meds but then did well in their next field. The key for them is to make sure they get out of pre-med early so they can fully demonstrate their talents.- UCLA

</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>Section does it Matter what a candidate Major is?</p>

<p>

We do not give any advantage to those who major in political sciences, philosophy or history. The reason we have a lot with these majors is they self-select.- Columbia</p>

<p>I like unusual majors. I like math majors, philosophy majors, because you have to read and think critically, challenge your personal views and analyze a wide range of materials engineering and sciences, because these are tough across institutions- you know you are getting some one who had to work hard to perform- Duke</p>

<p>When I see some majors, I shudder: criminal justice, elementary ed. Music (performance) theater arts (performance) hotel/restaurant management, leisure studies,. At some schools these are solid programs, but not many- GWU</p>

<p>We want diversity. We have so many applicants who do the “right “things (majoring in poli sci, history or english, taking a semester or year abroad, doing political internship) all which are perfectly fine, but to stand our you have do so something a bit different, such as taking courses out side your area of interest. We want to see courses that require substantial writing, research and analysis-the skills necessary to succeed in law school- Penn</p>

<p>IF you major in hard sciences or in business, be sure to take a few classes that involve lots of writing as well as some that involve reading and interpreting text- Yale</p>

<p>Students should favor a curriculum that requires them to read dense, complex primary source material, analyze it closely and present reasonable conclusions in writing- UVA</p>

<p>Weak majors vary by institution. I do not favor narrowly vocational non-academic majors; PT, culinary arts, hospitality mgmt, etc. but I also worry about some accounting and engineering programs that allow little opportunity to develop skill sin reading and writing at a sophisticated level- UVA</p>

<p>There is a rebuttable presumption that certain majors are suspect; communications, criminal justice, which are popular majors for people who don’t want to work hard, even though it can be rigorous at some places.- Duke</p>

<p>In general we like t see people writing a senior thesis. It requires commitment and self discipline. It gives them a sense of intellectual ownership of a topic. The process engenders real growth and development- Columbia

</p>

[sybbie719]

<p>Anna Ivey- former Dean of Admissions at U of Chicago Law school and now private consultant, and author of The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions: Straight Advice on Essays, Resumes, Interviews, and More
has an Ask Anna Column on Vault.com. </p>

<p>In her column, she answered the question this way:</p>

<p>

Question: I am a freshman in college who is interested in going to law school after college. My question is, is there a particular major that impresses law school admissions officers? Some people have told me that Political Science is the best. I am particularly interested in an English major but will choose whichever major is most appealing to law schools. Thank you! </p>

<p>Anna’s Answer: Good for you for starting to plan ahead so early! Make sure to keep an open mind, though, because you don’t want to lock yourself into a particular career goal too early. It’s tough trying to make career-related decisions as a freshman. You wouldn’t start law school for another four years at the earliest, and who know what you’ll want out of life at that time? Think back to four years ago, when you were about fourteen, and think about how much you’ve changed since then, your priorities, your outlook, your maturity. Your personal development proceeds at lightening speed during your high school and college years. You’ll need those first couple of years in college to try out different subjects and disciplines and to think about different career paths. </p>

<p>Once you’re a junior and ready to pick a major, go with your heart. That will be the best outcome for you personally, and it will be the best outcome for you in terms of law school admissions (if that’s still what you want down the road) for two reasons: </p>

<p>First, while it’s true that the most popular majors for law school applicants are Political Science, History, and Economics, that phenomenon just reflects the popularity of those majors among people who end up applying to law school; it does not reflect a preference on the part of law school admissions officers. You absolutely do not have to pursue one of those majors to be a successful law school applicant; if anything, you might have a harder time distinguishing yourself from the pack as a Poli Sci major.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp...21&cat_id=2711[/url]”>http://www.vault.com/nr/newsmain.jsp...21&cat_id=2711&lt;/a&gt;

</p>

[bball101]

<p>thanks. </p>

<p>so you’re sayin the philosophy major wouldn’t help?</p>

<p>but how many online courses do you think would hurt?</p>

[Aztec09]

<p>how does one know you took a online course? I have taken over 10 and my transcript does not specify that they were online</p>

[marny1]

<p>Aztec- you’re making a good point. I’m not sure if my kids transcript notes that the course was taken on-line either. It may show it was taken during the winter session, but that really would not make a difference.
what I can say, is that my d was thinking of taking a pre-requisite course that was being given online by one of the SUNY community colleges as she was closed out of this class for the fall semester. I don’t even know if it would show as a community course college or just SUNY.<br>
I guess what I’m trying to get across is it may not be wise to take too many easy community college courses to artificially boost your GPA. But I don’t think anyone would question a few on line courses taken from another institution. There really are legitimate reasons to take summer/winter session courses either online or at the local community college.
Law schools really do consider the course curriculum and classes you take while in college.</p>

[sallyawp]

<p>Though LSAC reports your UGPA to law schools along with your LSAT scores, recommendations, etc., they also send a copy of each of the transcripts that you submitted to LSAC. Therefore, the law schools to which you apply will indeed see which credits and grades came from your own university/college, as well as which credits and grades came from summer courses and other sources. </p>

<p>It has been my experience that law schools do indeed review the actual transcripts as part of reviewing a prospective student’s application. Any pattern of taking “easy” classes or of getting good grades mainly in those “easy” classes would be apparent. That said, while law schools are most certainly interested to see that a prospective student has taken rigorous courses and done well in them, anything short of an obvious attempt to inflate one’s grades by taking irrelevant or unnecessary classes would be unlikely to hurt one’s chances.</p>