Admissions Question

LawschoolhereIcome

Hi everyone! I'm dedicating most of my time to achieving the highest LSAT score possible. However, I'm curious as to what role one's GPA plays in the admissions process. Are the LSAT and GPA of equivalent importance or can a higher LSAT compensate for a GPA that may fall at or slightly below the 25th percentile? I understand the process is subjective and depends on a case-by-case basis. I studied abroad for a semester and the overseas school's grading system is stricter than the way my home university transferred my semester GPA so I graduated with a 3.82 (magna cum laude) but LSAC has processed my cumulative GPA to be 3.78 (still magna cum laude). Will this .04 drop have a significant impact on my application? I identify as a minority but probably not URM and I will be applying to T-14 schools aiming for 171+ LSAT score.

jaiden.medford

You have an amazing profile, if you don't get into law school, off to bigger and better things you go.

Matt Sorr

The general wisdom is that your GPA and LSAT scores constitute about 80 to 90 percent of your application package. This isn’t a hard and fast rule, but if you look at admissions trends since data has been collected, your GPA and LSAT matter far more than anything else. With this being said, the LSAT is generally given a fair amount more weight than GPA. This is for a multitude of reasons: the LSAT is standardized while your GPA isn’t, the LSAT is thought to more directly test skills needed in law school, and, most importantly, a school’s median LSAT score is 12.5% of its USNWR rank while its median GPA is only 10%. As a result, a higher LSAT score can make up for a lower GPA quicker than a higher GPA can make up for a lower LSAT score. Some T14 schools, like UC Berkeley and U Chicago, seem to place more emphasis on GPA than their peer schools, but the LSAT is still king at both places.

A general saying you’ll hear tossed around is that your GPA won’t get you into a T14, but it can certainly keep you out of a T14. They say this because almost all schools, and particularly those in the T14, care about your GPA to the extent they don’t want it to drop their median, but they are willing to take a lower GPA for a stellar LSAT. This isn’t totally true; reverse splitters (people with higher GPAs compared to their LSATs) get admitted to T14s every year, but traditional splitters (people with higher LSATs compared to their GPAs) generally have a much better/easier run.

The point is that an LSAT score above a school’s 75th percentile can often make up for a GPA at or below its 25th percentile. It is far from guaranteed, but that’s true for all applications to any T14 school. Study hard, stay focused, and know that people with higher LSATs than GPAs often do quite well with admissions. Good luck and I hope this helps!