The Experiment

I spent a couple of hours last night trying to get some definitive idea about how valuable my PhD will be when I send in my law school applications. I couldn't find anything that made a clear case that it will basically override my UG GPA or that it is something nice to have but they really only care about those undergrad grades (that is what US News and World report really cares about after all). I've read snippets from different books about how adcoms look at advanced degrees, but the information is always too general to be of much value. I look at forums where people weigh in on this issue and for every person that posts one perspective (be it little impact or a huge impact), there are a few other people who post something else. Each person is probably accurately relating whatever information they've been given, but every admissions officer at every law school probably has a slightly different perspective on how to weigh an advanced degree and work experience against undergraduate GPA.

As I was thinking about this frustrating dearth of solid information, it occurred to me that I could do something about this lack of insight. Why not do a little research project to find out just how much value admissions committees put on experiences like mine? I don't think you could artificially generate a better experimental profile than what I already have. I have a good LSAT score (I talked about that here) but mediocre undergraduate grades (I'll talk more about my GPA in a later post). My LSAT score is competitive at all but the top 5 or 6 schools. How much will my PhD mitigate my undergraduate GPA in the eyes of admission committees? Finding the answer to that question is the mission of this blog.