Best major (choosing between better employability and poli sci).

HappyAlumnus
Sat, 09 May 2015 16:15:23 +0000

Claims that law schools care only about GPA/LSAT and URM status are demonstrably false.

Those are certainly the most important things, but law schools also care about work experience, difficulty of school/major and the like, all of which can help a marginal candidate get in. Law schools say that they care about those things (see Dean Minow at HLS), and they do.

Look at the “scattergrams” that show who gets admitted and who gets rejected based on GPA/LSAT combinations. Above the medians, more people get in than below the medians, but a GPA/LSAT score above a school’s median- even far above- won’t necessarily result in admission, and a GPA/LSAT score below a school’s median doesn’t necessary result in a rejection. If GPA/LSAT scores and URM status were the sole criteria, then there would be a much clearer distinction between who’s admitted and who’s not, taking just numbers and URM status into account.

Look also at entering class stats: a growing number of students at HLS and other schools has work experience after college, which is consistent with what Dean Minow says she wants.

Look also at GPAs for admitted students; some law schools, such as HLS, give a GPA “boost” to people who went to Harvard College, for example.

Top law schools (e.g., Yale, Harvard and Stanford) still get plenty more applicants than they need in order to fill a class just with candidates who meet GPA/LSAT/URM criteria; of the large numbers of people who meet those criteria, they can be picky about who they take.

Back on track, OP, I would pick whatever gets you the higher GPA as long as (1) you’re 100% sure that you want to go to law school and (2) your GPA will be enough to be within a range of getting into a good school, but I’d also be aware that there are other factors that schools will consider, and so you should plan on taking a year or so off if needed after college, and having interesting experiences during college, in order to make your application as strong as it can be.