While the LSAT is the one astoundingly influential law school requirement that every candidate can control with a little bit of work, the undergraduate grade point average is a law school requirement that some students can control and others can’t.
Obviously, for candidates who have already received their first undergraduate degree, there’s just not much that you can do to change your undergraduate GPA. If you are currently in your first undergraduate degree, however, your undergraduate GPA is subject to a few manipulations that can be expected to influence the degree to which you meet the admission requirements of any particular law school.
First Tip: Take Hard Classes at an Easier School
You need to understand how your undergraduate GPA (UGPA) is calculated by the law school admission council (LSAC) for the purpose of law school requirements. The first thing that you need to know is that grades from all post-high-school coursework count toward the UGPA.
Let’s see how this plays out. Assume for a second that you attend a university with very high standards in mathematics. Assume that your university requires you to take calculus for your degree. Further assume that your university gives out very few “A”s in calculus. Now, if your university will accept transfer credit for calculus as counting toward your degree, you may be able to “game the system” by taking calculus at an easy university, getting an “A”, and transferring the credit into your university to count toward your degree plan.
You win on 3 fronts. First, you avoided getting a bad grade on your transcript at your college. That’s good, in and of itself. But, even better, grades from all post-high-school coursework count toward the UGPA law school requirement, you will get credit for the “A” in comparing your grades to the law school requirements for the schools to which you apply. This is huge.
Third, you don’t have to deal with the anxiety of having to take a hard class at a hard school with a bunch of smart people. Many colleges will let you transfer credit from colleges for dumb people. When your law school admission is on the line, it makes more sense to compete with dumb people.
A great example of a way to get college credit from an institution with a reputation for low standards is to use the distance education program Texas Tech University. They have an established reputation for mediocrity, and that reputation is reinforced by easy course offerings that may transfer into your college or university. Texas Tech has been helping dumb people get undergraduate degrees for 80 years, and they’ll be happy to help you meet the law school requirements that you are facing.
Second Tip: Take Some Easy Classes
Another way to boost your GPA is to take easy classes. If you have a choice between science electives, and you can fill your credit requirement with “statistics for scientists and engineers” (which is calculus based) and “statistics for business majors,” which usually isn’t, you should take the class for business majors. You should do this for three reasons. First, the law school requirements include a good GPA, but they don’t include actually knowing anything about math. So, if you take an easier class and get a better grade, you’ve done a better job toward meeting your law school requirements, even though you have learned less.
Second, in the paragraph above, I recommended competing with dumb people by transferring credit from an inferior institution. You can also get better grades by finding dumber people with whom to compete in classes where they tend to congregate. Thus, you don’t want to take classes with the engineering and physics brainiacs if you have the alternative of competing with business or liberal arts majors, who typically aren’t as smart.
Third Tip: Select Easier Professors
Some schools are big enough that you can take the same class from different professors. Some schools also let you know what the grade distributions for those professors are. To the extent that you can do this, take your classes from someone who gives out lots of A’s, even if you learn less along the way.
Fourth Tip: It May Make Sense to Switch to a Major for Dumb People
This tip is sortof an extension of the second tip. Some majors are full of easy classes for dumb people. As far as the law school requirements are concerned, you need to get an undergraduate degree and a high GPA. You don’t necessarily need to learn anything. If there is a major where they hand out 4.0 GPAs like Halloween candy, but there’s not much learning on, that may be a good choice for you.
In summary: Know your objective and stick to it. If there is any way to get an “A” rather than a “B,” get the “A,” even if you learn less. Whether you want to go to Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, or some random online law school that I’ve never heard of, meeting admission requirements like a good GPA and a good LSAT counts. Having actually gotten an education along the way does not count.
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