help! I have no GPA! What to do?

rsrochlin

I go to a small liberal arts honors college (New College of Florida) which doesn't offer traditional grades. All of my classes are pass/fail and have a narrative evaluation system. Some of the places I've talked to don't want to see my evals at all, and will just bank my application on my LSAT. How much higher should I try to score to convince these schools to admit me?

Does anyone else have experience applying to schools with no GPA?

Seeking Perfection

I don't have any experience, but I doubt it will hurt you much for admissions. It will probably just shift focus from your GPA to your LSAT and letters of rec.

You should be competitive wherever you are above the median LSAT.

It might hurt some with scholarships since you can only help one of their medians.

FixedDice

"If you attended a college in the United States that provides evaluations rather than grades... schools will review your evaluations to determine whether you were a serious and committed student... [and] will be forced to rely more heavily on your LSAT score to determine your potential to succeed." - Ann K. Levine, The Law School Admission Game, 34.

I don't think a liberal arts college graduate necessarily has to score higher on the LSAT to convince those schools. Wouldn't hurt, of course, but there are so many factors that goes into the magical calculus that is law school admissions.

studyingandrestudying

For your letters, maybe request that they get really detailed about the classroom environment. Also, maybe you made a great presentation or did well in a debate or on a panel and they might talk about this. Or maybe you did a research poster or similar project. And/or maybe there's a paper a prof really liked and can comment on.