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Related Discussions
Master's Degrees
heathkimberley
Free Trial Member
Hi everyone,
I'm just wondering if anyone has any insight as to the value a master's degree holds in the admissions process? I personally have trouble with the LSAT but my undergrad GPA is fairly high and I have a 4.0 GPA from a master's degree. I'm hoping that I can rely on this at least a little but if anyone knows what kind of value it holds, any insight is greatly appreciated! In case it changes anything, I am applying to Canadian law schools.
Thank you!
Comments
From what I read it is nice to have it on the application but might not give you a huge advantage. If you published research that is definitely a leg up . I’m applying to Canadian schools too . What schools are applying to ? Numbers schools vs holistic schools will determine the answer to your question
If by high you mean 3.7 plus you might be able to get in with a lower Lsat , but that depends on the exact cgpa and your softs (lor ecs, personal statement) and the school you want to get into . For example western is mostly a numbers school
It's a plus for sure. It suggests to the admissions officers that you are more than capable of doing graduate-level work. Since your UGPA is the only one calculated by the LSAC, your masters GPA will only be a "soft" factor, that is, one that is evaluated after your numbers qualify your application for serious review.
It would certainly be a plus, to what degree is hard to say. I can only speak for my law school: 20 percent of my entering class at U of T had a graduate degree and that was fairly typical. The law school takes a holistic approach, so they might value a graduate degree more than others, but I'd find it hard to imagine any school not factoring it into their decision, especially if the graduate record reflects an improvement and upward trend in achievement.
I'm not sure how much this applies to Canadian schools, but generally it is considered a "soft". It's nice to have, but won't have a drastic effect on your admissions cycle. The GPA doesn't get calculated in to your official GPA, but they will have the transcripts available to see that you have a 4.0. Generally speaking, it's nice to have, certainly doesn't hurt, but will likely only have a negligible effect on your admissions.
Your LSAT will hold a lot more weight. We're all happy to help if you need it! It looks like you haven't signed up for the 7sage course. I highly, highly recommend it! I don't know what you've been using to study, but the 7sage course material is second to none in quality.
If you had a nice GRE score, lots of law schools are now accepting those in replace of the lsat. Which can easily be helpful for people like you and I, who have a Masters, now looking for law school in the future! Having a higher education before going for your J.D, will always look positive on your resume & transcripts. I recommend you look into if the places you want to apply to, and their accepting different entrance exams. What did you get your M.A in?
Hi,
From what I have heard from admissions officers it's a nice plus but the factors that influence your chances of acceptance tend to be your undergraduate gpa, lsat scores and other activities you have done on campus. Admissions officers like to see trends in your undergraduate grades and how they have been influenced by the classes you have taken. I would recommend really focusing on your LSAT and highlighting the things you have done in your undergraduate program.
Good luck
Good for you. A very successful Masters program can't hurt.
It won’t hurt but it won’t help overcome a UGPA or LSAT issue. Have 2 4.0 Masters degrees and while it was a nice soft didn’t help with admissions in almost all cases. I asked the schools I was admitted to if it helped being admitted and most said it played more of a factor with scholarship allocation vs admittance.
Thanks everyone!
Now I just need to get my LSAT score up...
Sorry for the late post but I have some information to add. People are saying a Master's won't hurt. To clarify, I know for a fact (as someone with a Master's degree myself) that they don't make any difference to a low UGPA. If they have a candidate with a 3.7 and no Master's, and a candidate with a 3.3 and Master's, the 3.7 is still going to be held in higher esteem. Master's degrees only help in receiving scholarships if the GPA is decent. I know for a fact I got my full-scholarship due to this, even though my LSAT was 50 percentile there.