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How to Recover from a Low GPA
Okay, in retrospect, it was not the best idea to take
Advanced Organic Chemistry during your first, chaotic year
of college-- your transcript easily could have done
without the C- you worked your butt off to score.
Maybe you could say the same for Latin III, Ancient Greek
History, or any of the other classes burning a hole in
your transcript and making you feel like you will NEVER,
EVER get into the law school of your choice. We
understand: You'v
e got the low GPA blues. But you're not
alone! And you have no reason to feel doomed. Here are
some tips for bouncing back from a low GPA and developing
the confidence necessary to take the law school admissions
process by the reigns.
Take a Deep Breath and Relax!
Wesley Thorne, a pre-law advisor and assistant director of
the Career Resource Center at Wesleyan University, says
that he works with students in the low-GPA predicament all
the time. While you might imagine the law school applicant
pool brimming with 4.0 superstars just waiting to blow
your application out of the water, it's not. You're in the
company of plenty of people who wish they had performed
better during their undergraduate years, and who are now
suffering from similar crises of confidence. The good news
is that most of you can still get into law school if you
keep your cool and approach the process strategically.
Choose a Realistic List of Schools--The GPA Scale is
All Relative
Have you made friends with your college's pre-law advisor
yet? If not, hop to it! The job of the pre-law advisor is
to help you locate a list of schools that will
realistically suit your needs and strengths. He or she
will be the first to discourage you from having impossible
expectations, and will coach you to be flexible. If you
think exclusively in terms of top 20 and second-tier
schools, there's a good chance you'll be disappointed. And
you're probably right to think that Columbia or Cornell
won't look enthusiastically upon a 3.0 GPA. But you can
get a great education at many schools that will, and your
job is to figure out which ones they are. Keep in mind:
one school's lower-range GPA is another school's highest.
Do your research: Books such as The Princeton Review's
Best 159 Law Schools, and online searches like such as the
Advanced Law School Search, will give you a concrete sense
of how your GPA and LSAT scores match up with students who
have been accepted at the schools you're considering. The
Boston College Law Locator Matrix can also provide you
with a list of realistic schools to consider based on your
stats.
Ace the LSAT
The LSAT is often weighted as heavily as your
undergraduate GPA. So get cracking! Aim to score above the
median score of your chosen schools. A high score will
help you stand out from applicants with equal or higher
GPAs.
Communicate with Your Recommendation Writers
According to Thorne, your letters of recommendation are a
valuable opportunity to compensate for a low GPA. "Speak
very candidly with the professors writing your
recommendations. Say, 'My GPA isn't as high as I think it
should be, and here are some circumstances relating to why
that is the case.' This allows someone with academic
credibility to address your concerns, and that can be very
persuasive to an admissions committee." If your transcript
shows an upward trend, find professors who knew you in the
later period of your academic career. They can highlight
your strengths and emphasize your progress while
acknowledging the reservations you have about your GPA.
Related Links
Beyond the
Numbers
The
Admissions Index
Things to Avoid Including in Your Essay
The
Application Process
Law School Application Checklist
The Personal Essay and Addendum
The personal essay is one of your best chances to
distinguish yourself as something greater than the sum of
your stats. Talk about particularly interesting
accomplishments, experiences, aspirations, and obstacles
you've overcome. Communicate with personality and
conviction, and don't be modest! You may or may not want
to address the issue of your low GPA in the essay--while
Thorne encourages a candid discussion of GPA in law school
applications, he suggests that you attach a separate
addendum with a short paragraph containing some
justification or explanation of an upward trend. If you
switched your major mid-way through college from a hard
science to a more appropriate discipline, or if you took
time off and returned to achieve a more impressive record,
this is your chance to make it clear. Writing a separate
addendum will allow you to keep a positive focus in your
personal essay.
The Real World
Only an estimated 40 percent of law students enter
directly from college. If you feel that you could use some
time after graduation to demonstrate your ability in a
non-academic environment, you might get an edge over
candidates with similar GPAs and LSAT scores. However,
Thorne insists, you should resist the urge to take
graduate-level courses with the intent of boosting your
overall GPA. Law schools won't pay much attention.
Instead, find work related to your field of interest and
take time to reflect on your career choice.
Law School Admissions Officers Are People, Too
Remember: Your application will be considered by human
beings with subjective criteria. Instead of envisioning
the admissions staff as a group of heartless automatons
eager to toss your application into the proverbial
"circular file," imagine them as a thinking body open to
seeing the best in what you have to offer. Convince them
of your virtues, and trust them to be impressed by your
strengths. Contrary to what you might hear, law school
admissions is not just a numbers game. |
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