Relatively Low GPA from a competitive School

bpowell4

Hey guys,

Just want advice from people on the application process. I'll be brief. I went to a very good school for undergrad, Notre Dame, but because of the difficulty of the school and a few personal issues and learning disabilities, my GPA was a little lower than I'd like it to be.

I ended senior year with a 3.54. Just wondering whether or not law schools take into account the difficulty of your undergraduate school when assessing your GPA

Taylor749

I believe they do! People on the admissions committee for multiple schools in the top 25% told me that writing a GPA addendum can help, so I would recommend doing that and highlighting personal issues/struggles for admissions committees to take into account.

Matt Sorr

I know some former admissions officers answer questions on this forum, so definitely get their input if you can. From my understanding, though, law schools take undergrad rigor into account to an extent.

What I mean is if they’re deciding between you and someone with a similar GPA from a much lower ranked school and/or much easier major, they’ll likely go with you. I think the main way to make them view your GPA in a broader context, though, is to apply with an LSAT score above their 50th percentile (and ideally 75th percentile). I know it may seem like a broken record on law school forums to keep hearing "LSAT is king," but, until proven otherwise, it has just been borne out by admissions trends. I personally know a couple of people that applied to law schools in the past or are currently applying with lower GPAs and higher LSATs, and it seems schools are often willing to look past their lower GPAs because of their LSATs.

Think about it: if you score well on the LSAT, a test that admissions officers know is challenging, it makes it far more believable that your GPA was more a result of a difficult school/major than a poor work ethic. Additionally, because your GPA isn't super rough by most standards (I'm talking sub-3.0), I think your explanation would be even more believable.

I don't say all of this to be negative but rather to try to prepare you for the worst case scenario. It's totally possible that you have great soft factors or a great personal statement that would cause admissions officers to look past your GPA regardless of your LSAT score! But I think it's important to put yourself in the shoes of the admissions officers. If you have a GPA below their 50th or 25th percentile, you write a solid addendum about your GPA, but then you also apply with an LSAT that's not very good by their standards... why should they believe you (barring some impressive or unique outside factors)? They don't know you and they're already inundated by applications. On the other hand, if you have a GPA below their 50th or 25th percentile, you write a solid addendum about your GPA, and you apply with a great LSAT score, that makes your case much stronger.

Sorry for how long winded this response is, but to answer you original question, yes, I believe schools will take the difficulty of your undergrad education into consideration. But I don't think that consideration, alone, will get you as far as you'd probably like. Paired with a great LSAT and great application package, however, you can probably do extremely well with admissions!

Selene Steelman

Former admissions officer here. Admissions folks are aware of the academic rigor from different undergraduate institutions as they review the entire application. They are mindful of this as they build their incoming class. In your situation, it seems like an optional GPA addendum would be a good addition to your application. While I would not try to explain the strictness of your school's grading policy or the competitiveness of your undergraduate program, I would offer information about any personal obstacles you faced and overcame during the time in question. Good luck!