GPA questions

sallyawp
Wed, 18 Jun 2008 08:25:34 +0000

The law schools to which you apply will receive a copy of each transcript you submit to LSAC. I don’t believe that law schools care too much about your grades in any one particular class, but if there are unusual patterns (for example, if you did poorly in every humanities class that you took but excelled in your math and engineering classes), it might raise questions about your ability to succeed in law school.

Though your LSAT score and GPA are incredibly important, there is more going on in law school admissions than simply crunching numbers. Law schools are looking for a variety of things in their students in order to round out their classes, including strength in recommendations, work experience, interests outside of academia, good writing skills as demonstrated in your personal statement and grades in writing-intensive classes, different areas of interest, which may be demonstrated by having written an honors thesis, research or working in a particular field, etc. The reality is that in most cases, no amount of outstanding extracurricular activities is going to make up for a low GPA or LSAT, but once your scores are in the ballpark of what may qualify you for admission, other factors do indeed kick in. Unfortunately, there is no good way to predict how or to what extent these other factors will matter and there is no good way to predict what a particular law school will be looking for in any given year.

So, in a very roundabout way, law schools definitely do see your transcripts. I don’t believe that one blip will make a difference, but I would explain any patterns (other than continuous good grades) to the admissions staff.