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.

Once you’re confident in your decision to attend law school, it is time to begin sending out your applications. Despite all of the required documents that each school may request from you, the bottom line is that there are two factors that matter most in affecting their determination: Undergraduate GPA and LSATscore. Due to the thousands of apps each school inevitably receives, it is these two pieces of quantitative data that schools rely upon the heaviest when making preliminary selections from the applicant pool. In other words, if you have a sub-par GPA and a sub-par LSAT score for the particular school you are applying to, chances are that those letters of recommendation from Senator Doe and eloquent personal statement you spent two weeks drafting will never see the light of day.

With that in mind, be sure you are realistic about where you send the bulk of your applications so as to save unnecessary expense and time. It is okay to apply to a couple of dream schools, but just don’t kid yourself by applying solely to Ivy League institutions if you have an LSAT score less than 160. In the next few upcoming posts I will introduce the effect and weight of each law school application factor, and what you can do to maximize its acceptance garnering potential.

You might have just achieved your undergraduate diploma. Or you may have been out of school for ten years. It makes no difference. You have concluded that you want to attend law school.

But why?

Certainly, the first step in determining whether law school is worth your time and money is to understand your personal motivations. Many people go to law school for all the wrong reasons: family pressure, pursuit of vast wealth, fear of leaving academia for the “real world.” If you base your decision primarily on any of these reasons, you are likely to be sorely disappointed once you set your first foot into the law school lobby.

It is true that there can be large sums of money to be earned, and a J.D. can sometimes enhance a run-of-the-mill undergraduate degree. But such rewards come at the risk of great sweat and treasure. American law school curriculums require three years of full-time study and nearly six figure’s worth of tuition dollars. Lucrative law firm jobs are readily available to maybe only one-percent of the law school graduate pool that enters the workforce every year. And three years of blood and tears is a long time to delay the inevitable job search simply because you aren’t quite sure what to do with your life.

In deciding whether or not you really want to be a lawyer, it is important to understand the truisms of law school and law practice in general. Legal practice consists mainly of analyzing a client’s fact pattern and applying applicable law to that client’s situation. This translates into countless hours of reading, writing, and research. Quite honestly, most client situations are boring and not very exciting. Was the defendant negligent when he rear ended my client? Is my client able to seek a remedy from his employer for the busted knee he sustained when he fell from the company ladder? Can the State prove all the elements of the accused’s misdemeanor DUI charge beyond a reasonable doubt? Unlike television and Hollywood, the work of a lawyer can be quite mundane. If you are banking on trial work to add some excitement to your legal career, keep in mind that approximately 95% of all civil lawsuits never make it into the courtroom. They are instead settled out of court. And for you burgeoning prosecutors out there, many criminal cases are settled via plea bargains before a jury is even selected.

Law school, like practice, also demands countless hours of reading, writing, and research. But instead of receiving a paycheck for your time, you get a letter grade for all your effort. And because first year classes are curved, not everybody can be at the top. Considering that only the top echelon of students easily obtain jobs after graduation, pray you earn no less than a “B.” This is not always as easy as it sounds. Unlike undergrad, law school is full of your intellectual equals, and is therefore very competitive.

If you really want to go to law school, make sure you know what you’re in for. Make sure you understand the statistical probability of being weighed down by massive loan debt, yet only being able to land a mid-50k job to start. Understand that you really need to enjoy reading, writing, research, and analyzing in order to love being a lawyer. Realize the intense strain upon your relationships with loved ones it is capable of placing. And overall, understand that going to law school is a very serious decision and commitment. There is much at stake.

There are indeed benefits and joys of going to law school and practicing law. Prestige, guiding clients through difficult situations, and intellectual challenge are just a few of them. Being fully informed of the negatives that come along with them is only necessary before you can accurately determine whether or not you’ve correctly made such an important choice.

This blog is meant to serve as advice to those looking to apply to law school, as well as for those currently attending. As a recent student, I merely hope to communicate my personal experience in order to instill confidence to folks daunted by the application and schooling process. By reading about my own mistakes and achievements, perhaps you will be able to avoid what’s bad, and apply what’s good, to your own legal journey.

Thank-you for stopping by