Aside from your LSAT score, your undergraduate GPA is the most influential factor when it comes to law school admissions. This is for two reasons: (1) It is a quantifiable number that can be easily compared to other applicants, and (2) It represents your academic track record over a substantial period of time.
However, while quite decisive, undergraduate GPA is not the end-all-be-all of your law school application. Due to the countless number of academic institutions with an equally countless number of grading policies, what might have been an “A” at one school may have only been an “A-” at another. Furthermore, different undergraduate majors carry with it different skill sets that are harder or easier to master when compared to others. An undergraduate GPA, while showing an overall trend, doesn’t completely indicate how Applicant A’s ability to succeed in law school compares to Applicant B’s ability, considering that the two of them come from different schools and different areas of study.
There is also a contextual aspect of undergraduate GPA that must be kept in mind as well; especially when the applicant is someone who has been out of school for a significant period of time: Most people in the United States attend college between the ages of 18 and 22. This means that many students of that demographic may be more concerned with partying and developing social relationships than with sticking their nose in a book for those four years following high school. Simply put, GPAs often represent a student in their most immature and undisciplined state. Thus, for law school applicants who have since spent several years working a career, starting a family, and attaining other hallmarks that represent “adulthood,” an undergraduate GPA may not be the best measure of that individual’s aptitude toward learning the law. In the cases of older students, undergraduate GPA slowly loses its significance..
Overall, undergraduate GPA is a very important decision making factor for law school admissions committees. However, because they essentially derive from a non-uniform set of individualized circumstances, it is not dispositive of an applicant’s ability to succeed. If you have a great GPA, be sure to emphasize that in your application. On the other hand, if you have a subpar GPA, be sure to work extra hard in obtaining a great LSAT score.
