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Distance from GPA/good work experience

pomegranatepomegranate Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 27 karma

I have a solid but not amazing undergrad GPA, with a double major and a lot of on-campus involvement and leadership activities. I will have 3 years of great work experience when I apply to law school this fall (client-facing, well-known consulting firm, earned a quick promotion). Will the longer amount of time between my college years and my law school applications help alleviate my less-than-impressive GPA (3.65)? Only interested in T-14. Hoping to score in the mid-170s.

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  • calcal101calcal101 Alum Member
    582 karma

    In the grand scheme of things, 3 years isn’t that much. The work experience will help you, both for law school admissions and OCI, but it’s not enough to make them disregard your GPA. It would probably take 5+ years. 3 is a very standard amount of time to take between undergrad and law

    You’ll want to target schools that are splitter-friendly. If you score as high as you want to, Columbia and a big scholarship to Northwestern will be in play. T6 (other than CLS) will be an uphill battle with that GPA unless you have some real mitigating factors (like 2 STEM majors, a prestigious undergrad institution known for grade deflation, URM or first gen, major upward trend in grades, illness or family disaster during school, etc). 3.65 is a good GPA—and in fact a great one in most cases—but the reality is that applicants to elite law schools tend to be a pretty neurotic bunch of liberal arts majors, so the grades are inflated. Since you’re in consulting with a not crazy high GPA, I assume you have a STEM background. That’ll help somewhat in many cases. Honestly, I think you have a very good shot at getting in to lower T14s with a 169+ LSAT, but as most on this site and others would say, paying sticker isn’t a good move for most people.

    Your time now is best spent on the LSAT. With good work experience and nice softs from your undergrad years, you’re in a nice position. But, as you probably already know, scoring in the mid 170s is really hard—especially when studying while working a demanding (and I assume travel-intensive) full-time job! Take your time, and good luck :)

  • pomegranatepomegranate Alum Member
    27 karma

    @calcal101 thanks so much for the thoughtful and informative response :) Forgot to mention I am a first generation American, but am guessing that won't help (might even hurt?) because I'm Asian-American... Will have to focus on getting a really absurdly good LSAT score!

  • Seeking PerfectionSeeking Perfection Alum Member
    4428 karma

    @pomegranate said:
    @calcal101 thanks so much for the thoughtful and informative response :) Forgot to mention I am a first generation American, but am guessing that won't help (might even hurt?) because I'm Asian-American... Will have to focus on getting a really absurdly good LSAT score!

    Being Asian American won't help or hurt in law school admissions. It's not like undergrad where Asian Americans are dramatically overrepresented and it will usually hurt.

    Your work experience is good, but it is nit going to make them ignore your GPA. You'll want to focus on getting a good LSAT score first and then let your work experience and hopefully good essays work for you. Hopefully you'll get a good enough LSAT score that you'll be a splitter at most of your target schools. This will make admissions a little bit unpredictable so you will want to apply broadly to a bunch of great schools.

    Good luck with the LSAT and then with your applications!

  • samantha.ashley92samantha.ashley92 Alum Member
    1777 karma

    T14 schools really look at EVERYTHING on your application to see who you are as a person. I would think that it would help you a little... maybe if they're deciding waitlist vs acceptance or denial vs waitlist. I don't think that it would necessarily influence how they feel about your GPA, though.

  • FixedDiceFixedDice Member
    1804 karma

    Will the longer amount of time between my college years and my law school applications help alleviate my less-than-impressive GPA (3.65)?

    1. Probably not.
    2. Even if it does, there are plenty of others who have +3.7 and took off +3 years.
  • calcal101calcal101 Alum Member
    582 karma

    @pomegranate said:
    @calcal101 thanks so much for the thoughtful and informative response :) Forgot to mention I am a first generation American, but am guessing that won't help (might even hurt?) because I'm Asian-American... Will have to focus on getting a really absurdly good LSAT score!

    This could make for a good diversity statement, but yeah, being a first gen American on its own won’t help you (unless you’re also working class or a first gen college student). Being Asian won’t help or hinder—it doesn’t make you URM

  • NerdSquad11NerdSquad11 Alum Member
    30 karma

    You have a shot at T-14 but i'd say T6 is a stretch unless you break 175 (which is no easy feat).

  • PearsonSpecterLittUpPearsonSpecterLittUp Alum Member
    588 karma

    http://www.law.columbia.edu/admissions/jd/experience/class-profile

    Columbia's AVERAGE GPA is 3.67, and you're at or above the 25th percentile GPA for every T14 school from Columbia down, except for Berkeley.
    SO if you get a kickass LSAT score, apply early and have a solid PS based on your experiences, I think you should be okay :)

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