Welcome to the latest installment of Law Admissions Q&A, a monthly feature of Law Admissions Lowdown that provides admissions advice to readers who send in questions and admissions profiles.
If you have a question about law school, please email me for a chance to be featured next month.
[Check out three law school admissions trends to expect this cycle.]
Dear Shawn: I recently submitted my transcripts to the Law School Admission Council’s credential assembly service and noticed that there was a difference between my cumulative GPA on my undergraduate transcript and my cumulative GPA as reported by LSAC, with my LSAC GPA a few hundredths of a point lower than my school’s GPA. Why is there a difference between the two numbers, and is there anything I can do about the issue? -GPA Confusion
Dear GPA Confusion: First of all, it is actually common for there to be a slight difference between an undergraduate institution’s calculation of your GPA and LSAC’s calculation. This is caused by the fact that schools vary in their policies for calculating GPAs, while LSAC uses one policy for all GPAs. Undergraduate institutions differ, for example, in their treatment of AP credits, transfer credits, study abroad credits and taking a course more than once.
Although law schools see the LSAC’s GPA numbers, they are quite sophisticated in their evaluation of an applicant’s undergraduate record, so you shouldn’t assume that you are at a disadvantage because your LSAC GPA ended up being a bit lower than you expected.
However, if your LSAC GPA is significantly lower than your undergraduate institution’s calculation of your GPA — approaching one – tenth of a point — you may consider writing an addendum to explain the discrepancy. An addendum would be particularly appropriate if the discrepancy is caused by something that indicates a development in your academic ability.
For example, if you took a course twice and got a much better grade the second time, explain why you took the course twice, what changes in your approach enabled you to improve your grade, and how the second grade is a better reflection of your academic abilities. -Shawn
[Get tips on using GPA and LSAT scores to set a law school application strategy.]
Dear Shawn:
As the October LSAT approaches, I fear that I am not quite ready to get the best score I possibly can on the test. I am currently scoring in the high 160s, but I continue to have difficulty on the logic games section. My GPA is above 3.8, so I am hoping to push my score into the 170s and vie for admission to the top schools.
My dilemma is that I’m currently a senior in college, and because of my classes and extracurricular activities, I know that I won’t be able to devote much time to LSAT preparation in November and early December. So if I postpone taking the test, I will have to take it in February and postpone submitting my applications for a year. Should I take the test now and see how it goes or wait until February and apply next year? -LSAT Dilemma
Dear LSAT Dilemma: The question of when to apply to law school is almost entirely a personal and not a strategic one, dependent primarily on how quickly you want to start your career and the opportunities you have for a potential year between college and law school. Since these are factors you will have to weigh yourself, I will focus on the strategic side of the equation.
If your goal is to get into the very best law school possible, you should not apply without having done everything you can to maximize your LSAT score. It’s just too important not to.
[Learn to cultivate essential skills for each LSAT section type.]
In your situation that is particularly true. You will be applying to the top schools in the country, and the difference between a 169 and a 172 is significant for schools like Harvard, Stanford and Yale.
Another element that you shouldn’t overlook is the opportunity that a gap year would give you to gain valuable work experience and strengthen parts of your application that might be weak. If, for example, you haven’t done much volunteer work, you can volunteer part-time during your gap year. If you know what area of law you want to practice, you can strengthen your case by gaining experience in that field, whether it’s corporate law, social activism or government.
From a pure strategic perspective, I think you should finish your fall semester strong, resume your LSAT preparation as soon as the semester ends, put everything you can into the February LSAT, and apply at the beginning of the cycle next year.
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Know the Difference Between LSAC, Undergraduate GPA Calculations originally appeared on usnews.com
