Low GPA but Athlete

Gukmonster

Hey guys so I am a football player at a Division I football school with a scholarship. I'm not trying to say that being a student athlete is a justification for a low GPA but I am sitting around a 3.3 cumulative but a 3.9 major GPA. However, I'm scoring in the high 160's/low 170's for the LSAT, and I still got 7 more weeks till I take it in December. I also have 2 years of law internship experience and I have three solid letters of recommendation. I also know that some applications allow you to justify a low GPA in an essay. However, I heard that the Law School application process is computerized, and it automatically denies students below a certain combination of GPA and LSAT score. So am I kind of already screwed over in the application process? or do I just need to increase my LSAT score even more? Anyone's opinions would be nice. My goal schools are NYU, Columbia, and USC. Thanks!

Sprinkles

Lol, accidentally clicked post before I finished! BRB

Sprinkles

@georgeliang6469 said:
I'm scoring in the high 160's/low 170's for the LSAT, and I still got 7 more weeks till I take it in December.

Very nice!

@georgeliang6469 said:
I also have 2 years of law internship experience and I have three solid letters of recommendation

This is also nice to see! are the letters from professors?

@georgeliang6469 said:
I also know that some applications allow you to justify a low GPA in an essay.

Every application allows you to justify your LSAT/GPA, aka the addendum

@georgeliang6469 said:
I heard that the Law School application process is computerized, and it automatically denies students below a certain combination of GPA and LSAT score

False lol, people say the darnedest things! Every application will be properly reviewed by an actual human on the admissions team

@georgeliang6469 said:
So am I kind of already screwed over in the application process?

No sir!

@georgeliang6469 said:
or do I just need to increase my LSAT score even more?

This depends on your target schools! You say you're considering NYU, Columbia, and USC. I just checked their class profiles and it seems as though your cumulative GPA falls below their 25th percentiles. This is usually combated with an LSAT score that is at or above the schools 75th percentile. Let me give you a quick breakdown:

USC:
25th percentile GPA: 3.56
75th percentile LSAT (score needed to have a competitive application): 166+

NYU:
25th percentile GPA: 3.7
75th percentile LSAT: 171+

Columbia:
25th percentile GPA: 3.56
75th percentile LSAT:174+

So with all that being said, it looks like your target LSAT varies quite largely from each school. If you score a competitive LSAT (at or above 75th percentile), you will be considered a splitter applicant, and splitters are not uncommon; but maybe you should also look into splitter friendly schools such as Northwestern. Either way, the best advice I can give as of now is if you're still in undergrad, try to maintain your grades as much as possible, get recommendations from professors if that hasn't been done yet, and then just focus as much as possible on getting a great LSAT score. No matter the circumstance, the LSAT outweighs everything on your application - even your UGPA.

Alex

@montaha.rizeq said:
No matter the circumstance, the LSAT outweighs everything on your application - even your UGPA.

Well said, Montaha! Very true!