Splitter Advice?

KuwasiLico

Alright, first things first, I've never made a forum post before, so I apologize if this one is bad, but I needed to get some insight from people.

As the title says, I'm a bit of a splitter. I have a CAS GPA of 3.43. I haven't taken the LSAT yet, but I took my diagnostic about a month ago and scored a 157, and I'm averaging around a 164 now. I'm aiming for around a 168, but I believe it's realistic that I could score a little higher.

The issue is that I transferred to a different school after freshman year, and it hadn't occurred to me that law schools would look at my grades from that school. Not counting my freshman year I have a 3.65, and every year after freshman year I have consistently increased my GPA. I genuinely believe that I had extenuating circumstances that affected my GPA freshman year, and I'm planning on submitting an addendum, but I'm wondering how much of a difference it'll make.

If one ignores my freshman year grades, then I have a competitive GPA and a presumably competitive LSAT for some higher ranked schools (t50 I'm guessing), but obviously these grades will not just be ignored. I guess what I'm asking is whether or not I could still consider myself to be a competitive candidate for these schools despite my low GPA, or if I should just significantly decrease my expectations.

For context, I have one or two good softs, but generally not great. I have held multiple leadership positions in clubs and my fraternity, was a varsity athlete for two years, briefly competed in powerlifting, and worked with a local music artist who had an album reach the iTunes top 200 chart. I'm also working on an Economic Honors Project, where I'm creating an index to calculate a country's level of geopolitical risk, doing a research fellowship on sustainable energy policy, and am a writing tutor at my school.

My mom suggested that I stay in college for an additional term after I receive my degree to boost my GPA, but this would have pretty marginal benefits, and be pretty expensive, so I think this isn't a great idea.

Sorry I probably rambled for a bit. Thanks for any advice.

GNA451--

First, I'm not an expert, but I do think it depends what schools you're hoping for - if you do get a 168 or higher on the LSAT, that'll be a huge boost as it would make you a "splitter" for a good portion of schools even in the T50 and in isolation, the LSAT is the most important single aspect of your application -

I'm sure you've looked at 7sage admissions predictor, but it looks like you'd have a 25%+ chance at all schools outside the T14 if you get the 168 even with the 3.43. And just note how material even a few LSAT points is - e.g. if you go up to 172 you would have a 50% chance at a T14 (UCLA). Obviously take those %s with a grain of salt, but it gives you some great directional insight.

In short, I agree that the advice of taking classes to try to boost your GPA isn't the best investment of your time/energy - I would focus on crushing the LSAT as that'll have the biggest return by far.

And lastly, I think the addendum makes sense and could definitely help - especially since you showed improvement.