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Distance from uGPA

CincinnatusCincinnatus Alum Member
in Law School Admissions 20 karma

I have an embarrassingly low uGPA from my first pass in college with a cumulative 2.86 from 2010-14 as a result of being a lazy and unmotivated college student. I spent 2014-2018 on active duty with the United States Army and have re-enrolled in college to complete a second Bachelor's degree before attending law school. I just completed my first semester back with a 4.0 on 15 credit hours.

What will be taken most into consideration by admissions offices - the 2.86 from 2010-14, 4.0 from 2018, or an adjusted cumulative of 2.99 that combines 2010-14 and 2018? Do I bother writing an addendum?

I know a solid LSAT score will help pick up some slack and I will be taking the January 2019 exam.

I am not attempting to make it into a top-notch law school, just one located locally as my wife and I are homeowners in the area and plan to be here for quite sometime. Their class of 2021 profile is 155/3.64 - 152/3.42 - 148/2.93. I have read as a rule of thumb that if one of your GPA/LSAT is in the 25th percentile then the other should be in the 75th - can anyone offer any insight to this?

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Comments

  • AudaciousRedAudaciousRed Alum Member
    2689 karma

    It will be a weighed average of all the credits you have ever done. So, the plus side is, if you have any A+'s, they are counted fully as 4.33. 7sage has a predictor (https://7sage.com/gpa-calculator/) for how LSAC will calculate your grade. It's not 100% perfect, but it was really, really close when I did mine (0.01 difference).

  • john1234-1john1234-1 Alum Member
    edited December 2018 426 karma

    @Cincinnatus said:
    Do I bother writing an addendum?

    I would say absolutely; from my understanding, these are the sort of things addenda are for.

  • LSAT_WreckerLSAT_Wrecker Member ⭐
    4850 karma

    First, from one vet to another, thanks for your service. FWIW, my uGPA is worse than yours. You can overcome it. Now for your questions:

    1. Schools will only "count" your first GPA. They will see all of your academic history, so keep achieving in your current course of education and reference that in a GPA addendum. You'll want to distract them, "Hey, look over here at this shiny LSAT and amazing other academic achievement after my first shot at college." Also, have a concrete story about why you chose to get a second bachelors (and then apply to law school). That might raise some concerns if left unexplained because you keep jumping from one thing to the next.

    2. You will want to be a splitter. With your low GPA, you'll want your LSAT to be as high as possible, at a minimum at median and ideally over the school's 75th%. That will give a school "incentive" numerically to take you.

    3. Given your school's LSAT and GPA range, make sure you take a look at their bar passage rate, employment statistics, and non-transfer attrition numbers. The fact that they matriculate students with a 148 is a sign of concern about the quality of their institution. No judgement, just make sure you are fully informed on the range of outcomes they offer.

    Good luck. Hit me up if you want to take a peek at my GPA addendum. Its worked for at least 4 schools so far.

  • LSAT_WreckerLSAT_Wrecker Member ⭐
    edited December 2018 4850 karma

    @AudaciousRed said:
    It will be a weighed average of all the credits you have ever done. So, the plus side is, if you have any A+'s, they are counted fully as 4.33. 7sage has a predictor (https://7sage.com/gpa-calculator/) for how LSAC will calculate your grade. It's not 100% perfect, but it was really, really close when I did mine (0.01 difference).

    Note the OP is seeking a second bachelors. Anything after the first bachelors is not counted:

    https://www.lsac.org/applying-law-school/jd-application-process/cas/requesting/transcript-summarization

    Bullet point 4 under "Grades Excluded from Conversion".

  • AudaciousRedAudaciousRed Alum Member
    2689 karma

    @LSAT_Wrecker said:

    Note the OP is seeking a second bachelors. Anything after the first bachelors is not counted:

    Ah.. I missed that it was a second Bachelors. My bad. Yeah. What LSAT_Wrecker said. Grades only count up to your first BA/BS.

  • CincinnatusCincinnatus Alum Member
    edited February 2019 20 karma

    .

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