Re: Help! 'low' undergrad grades

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On 12/19/03, kb wrote:
> Most law schools use an objective admission formula that ONLY
> considers two variables-- undergraduate GPA and LSAT.
> Unfortunately, your graduate GPA will not be used in this
> equation. However, schools will consider subjective criteria
> such as graduate school performace but it weighs very little as
> oppossed to undergraduate GPA and LSAT. Some schools like to
> admit students based on background and work experience. You will
> need to contact the individual schools to find out their
> admission criteria. Note that admission into the top law schools
> is extremely competitive, with average GPAs around 3.5. It is
> not impossible to get in with a 2.3 GPA but you need to be
> realistic about your chances. You definitely must ace the LSAT!!
>
> Think about this very carefully. Law school is very expensive
> and time consuming. Note that even after graduating law school,
> there are lots of folks that are unemployed or underemployed.
> The market is flooded with an oversupply of lawyers, so only the
> top 10&37; of the graduating class from the top 10 ranked schools
> get the really good ($100k+)paying jobs.

I had a similar problem. My undergraduate GPA was 2.1. My
graduate GPA was 3.8. For some reason, law schools ignore the
graduate degree and only use the undergraduate. My LSAT was 164,
in the top 10%, but still I was only able to get into a second tier
school. Luckily, I was hired by a firm when patent attorneys were
in huge demand, not the current case. Strangely, no one ever asked
me during an interview for my undergraduate GPA.