Law School Admissions GPA

1. Grade Point Average – GPA is one of the key portions of the application package so you should do all that you can to improve your GPA as early as possible. If you plan to enter law school the Fall after you graduate from college, you will have to apply during your Senior year which means your Senior year grades will not be on the transcript that the law school evaluates. Do not be discouraged if you have a low GPA. Admissions committees will look favorably on significant improvement shown from year to year even if the overall GPA is relatively low. You may also draw attention, in your personal statement, to specific areas of improvement, or areas in which you have excelled. If grades are entered on your transcript after your application package is mailed, be sure to have the registrar send off an up to date (official) copy of your transcript for the admission committee to add to your application file.

2. Academic Load – Law schools do not require you to take certain classes as an undergraduate. You are free to pursue any academic major before you apply to law school. The most common undergraduate degrees of law students are: Political Science, History, English, and Philosophy. These majors share the common element of requiring students to read a lot of information and write papers frequently. The more your chosen major challenges you to improve your reading and writing skills, the better prepared you will be for law school. That being said, there are plenty of students in law school who have studied Engineering, American Indian Studies, Journalism, Drama, Psychology, and other fields which may seem unrelated to law.

Any classes that make you read, write and analyze material will be helpful in law school. Although they may be helpful, do not feel that you need to take undergraduate classes concerning law subjects (many political science programs offer constitutional law for example) in order to improve your chances of being admitted. Remember that the admissions committee will see your full transcript, not just your GPA. If you only take “fluff” classes to boost your GPA, it will be apparent on your record.

3. Extra Curricular – No law school requires you to participate in extra curricular activities. However, it certainly doesn’t hurt, and it may just be the thing that sets you apart from the rest of the applicant pool. It doesn’t really matter what you participate in: student government, Indian student association, community/public service, pre-law, mock trial, speech, business club, drama, etc. You will especially want to point out any leadership experiences you have had with those groups.