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Related Discussions
GPA and Major Consideration
futurelawyer22
Alum Member
Can anyone offer any anecdotal or empirical evidence on whether adcoms consider your major against your GPA? I've heard it's all GPA and they barely consider what you studied.
I certainly don't mean to offend anyone but it seems absurd for an adcom to equate a 3.8 in chemical engineering with a 3.8 in english. Personally, I finished with a 3.7 in finance from a good Midwestern business school and I'm really hoping the difficulty of my major helps compensate for a low-ish GPA, at least by T14 standards.
Comments
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From what I’ve seen, adcoms do slightly factor in things like major. However, rankings are based on numbers alone so if a school wants to keep GPA medians up, they have to focus on the number, not a major. It’s more like a soft factor. It may give you a slight boost but softs don’t majorly change outcomes for the most part.
There are certainly some majors that tend to be more rigorous and have lower average GPAs. But I also think many majors have different challenges that could be accounted for. I was a music major, and though we do tend to benefit from slightly inflated GPAs, music programs are very rigorous in their own ways. Many required courses are only 1-2 credits, and some were 0 credit. I was physically in classes on average about 40 hours per week, not including additional time spent practicing my instrument and performances nearly every weekend. And like everyone, we also had assignments, reading and papers to write. Not to mention the stress of having to perform exams and be graded in front of peers.
Just a ramble to say, even a major that many think isn’t as rigorous can have its own challenges. But it is a slight consideration for STEM majors, to my knowledge.
Well.. that link makes me feel better about how I'm doing in comparison.
Apparently, I should have went for linguistics, though. Wow.
The general conclusion is that majors don't matter much.
But to be honest, in cycles like the one we're in right now, anything helps
I will say my one beef with GPA calculations. LSAC standardizes them but it doesn’t account for the fact that some schools allow A+ grades and others don’t. I think they should standardize that and have highest grade be an A. But that’s just my personal irritation haha. Obviously, every school grades differently though and you can only standardize things so much. It’ll never account for all the variations in grading.
@"Leah M B" I'm totally with you on LSAC's GPA system. I would have definitely had some A+s but the highest grade my school offers is an A. It would drastically change my LSAC GPA for the better. For a system that's meant to be standardized, I don't think it's fair at all by giving some people a big advantage. LSAC should convert the A to an A+ if the situation warrants it. The nature of law school admissions isn't fair to begin with and there's really nothing that can be done to change that, but this aspect really bothers me.
I'll generally agree with what the other guys have said. UG major doesnt seem to give you much, if any, boost. In my personal experience, my 3.6 in a rigorous engineering program definitely seems to be hurting me compared to others with a 3.9 in a softer field.
I think it goes like this:
If Applicant A is identical to Applicant B in every single way, but A has two majors whereas B has only one, then A wins. Your majors are "softs." Think of softs in this context, and then try to imagine a world in which these things could be weighted objectively. It's difficult to gauge chances based on softs. This is why "standardized testing" is what it is, essentially. This is why the 'numbers' matter so much, even if one could easily make the case that a 3.6 engineering GPA should far outweigh a 3.9 ceramics GPA.
That said, of course softs can provide a significant boost. Without the numbers, however, softs are unlikely to get you "past the line" unless they're truly unique.
While I agree a bit with lsac needing to change their gpa standards, the A+ thing is a gift and a curse, and I think most people only see the positives of the way they weigh things.
Classes that give A+'s also give A-'s. Which means, yeah, you may have earned an A, but you're going to be smacked if it is a low A. Whereas for schools that only give A's and not + or -, it doesn't matter whether it's a high A or a low A; you're good.
To get an A+ in my classes, you have 3 points in order to get it. Even on easy classes, getting a perfect grade is killer. A few points shy of perfection, and you get a 3.67 via Lsac; Instead of having a 10 point window for a 4.0, we have a 6 or 7 point window before we lose that 4.0. So, while this grading has benefits, it also comes with a major downside. Every class that grades with +'s and every semester kicks it up a notch, because you can't afford to lose any points. At all. 92% in a class would hurt my efforts. That's pretty insane.
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Same. Generally 95-100 was A, 90-95 A-, and then on down. So still tough to get 4.0 with zero chance of A+s
It seems much more impossible to 4.0 every class to me than to get a few A+'s to balance out a few A-'s. As such when I know someone on law school numbers has a 4.01 LSAC GPA I find it dramatically less impressive than a actual 4.0 from a place without A+'s.
Whether having a 3.0, 3.5, 4.0, 4.33 or a 3.0, 3.33,3.5,3.66, 4.0, 4.33 type system is harder or easier overall is a slightly harder question. Having more gradations seems better to me though whether it is easier or harder.
Agreed.
Ouch. That is harsh.
Ditto. I transferred after my freshman year from a school that allowed A+ (which I got one, and am very thankful because that year was rougher grades-wise than my others haha), to a school that caps at A. But +/- were all available, it just stops at A. I think ours was more generous though, like 93 and below was A-, anything above was A. Just would have been nice to have the availability of a 4.33 potential grade to offset some of the other ones.
It doesn't make a huge difference, obviously. Few people are racking up tons of A+s. I just think if we're going to standardize things, LSAC should change any A+s to As, cap the system at 4.0. That would be more representative. But oh well... is what it is. I have no idea the percentage of schools that use either grading system though, so don't know how much it affects. I'm just bitter! Haha
I think a number of factors are considered that impact your GPA. In addition to the subject of the major, you have to consider the school as well; certain institutions are well known for grade deflation/inflation.
Yes, there are softer majors out there. That said, I think it's important to note that humanities and social sciences prepare people well for law school. In fact, some law schools even note that they prefer a classical liberal arts curriculum over preprofessional courses of study (business, pre-law, etc.). That's not to say that poli sci kids are smarter or inherently better prepared; I don't think that at all. But do bear in mind that law school is a lot of reading and writing, so students who spent a ton of time doing those things will likely be at an advantage. I definitely don't want to be interpreted as suggesting that engineering students are automatically worse at these skills, but they likely have not been reading and writing -- especially crafting arguments -- to the same extent.
Overall, from what I've heard, STEM majors (but not really business majors) get a bit of a break. If your school had a curve in the business program, note that in an addendum and, if true, point out that your higher grades tended to appear in reading/writing-intensive courses (indicating strong skills for law school). If you can tie your course of study into your law-related aspirations, do so. And make sure your supplementals are outstanding. Of course, LSAT is a great place to make up for a slightly lower LSAT, and people who are better with numbers tend to be good at logic games (or so it seems)