GPA in Context

I found a site that tracks changes in the GPA at different schools. William and Mary happens to have some data on the site. It turns out that my GPA is almost right at my class average. The average GPA in 1998, the year I graduated, was 3.08. I am only 0.03 from the average. For all intents and purposes, I'm at the average. I'm not proud of that, but it's better than I thought. The average GPA for the class of 2005 was 3.23. Yikes, it's a good thing my GPA is less critical to an admissions decision that those people that graduated a few years ago.

GPA Addendum Decision

One last benefit of my visit to U of R. Given that my undergraduate GPA will not be taken too seriously, thank God, I will not be writing an addendum to address my sophomore year dip. This was something I debated doing earlier. My visit clearly indicates that I don't need to put too much emphasis on anything relating to my grades.

U of R Visit

I used my second to last half-day Friday to pay a visit to Richmond Law. I really just wanted to ask somebody in admissions a few questions, but when I called to set up the appointment they offered to let me sit in on a class. Well, why not? I sat in a Civil Procedure class. They were discussing Pennoyer v. Neff. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. Of course I had never heard of the case before sitting in the class (and I can't remember the last time I was in a class where there was nothing written on the board. The chalk board is critical to a chemistry lecture), but I had the gist of things by the time I left. I felt bad for the kid (and they are kids, by the way) who was called on to start the discussion. He had read the case, but he didn't understand it (I'm sure he will now though). I can see why they make such a big deal about faculty in rankings and such. Running that discussion would not be easy. I will read the case later just to get an idea of how long it takes to get through one of these things. I might have a bit of a head start having heard the important points of the case, but I found the text of the case through a link on Wikipedia. The site had a decent synopsis of the case, at least it looked that way from what I was able to gather from the class. I will just start there when I start reading these things for real.

I had a tour too, which was pretty uneventful. It's just one building after all. They were having OCI with some firms so there were plenty of nervous looking people walking around in their Sunday best. There were some interesting points raised in the few minutes I talked to an admissions rep. The most relevant thing she mentioned for readers of this blog was what her response to my question about my GPA. They have to look at it because that is what gets reported to LSAC and the ABA, but for somebody like me, and this is her word, it's basically irrelevant. I will be evaluated based on what I've done since graduation. She basically told me that I would be admitted with my LSAT score. I'm glad I asked about my GPA before I told her my LSAT score.

Given that there was OCI going on today, she also had some interesting views on how employers view U of R. Keeping in mind that she is trying to get me to think seriously about her law school, she told me that employers in Richmond see the Virginia schools on par with one another when evaluating applicants. She also noted that any employer would rather see somebody from the top 10% of a U of R class than from somebody who is an average student at UVa. I agree. It's all about what you do, not where you do it.

Grade Breakdown

My undergraduate GPA is a lowly 3.05. I was just taking a look at my transcript to see if writing an addendum might be a good idea. I had a very pathetic sophomore year. I torn my ACL during football practice that year. I lived in an off campus apartment. I couldn't study in my apartment, it was hard for me to get to campus (I hurt my left knee and my car was a stick shift), and I just generally wasn't into my studies that year (I met my wife that year so my personal life was great). I'm torn about whether or not I should write a short note explaining that circumstance. (Both semesters were in the 2.5 range.) My GPA for the other three years comes out to a 3.2 or so. Still not great but better than a 3.05. On a positive note, I managed to get a 3.7 in my final semester. I think a short note would explain the dip in my grades, but how much will it really matter?

I've been out of college for 11 years and how relevant are undergraduate grades in chemistry for a person who now has a PhD in that subject? (I would get an A in every one of those classes now.) I don't want to draw attention to my grades when some schools might not put too much credence in those grades in the first place. I still haven't decided what I'm going to do.

I also thought about calculating my GPA in classes that required significant writing assignments. My best grades are in those classes, but when I honestly calculated a GPA with the classes that I remember writing long papers, the GPA wasn't all that great either. So much for that tactic. Maybe a short sentence noting that I did well in writing intensive classes will suffice. Although writing this post has shown me that all of these arguments are pretty weak. Maybe a comment that I injured my knee and that will be that.

Controlling a big variable

I knew going into this that I needed to find a single resource that will give me some insight into the law school application process. I would hate to do something stupid that would kill my application regardless of my numbers. This is a single replicate experiment so there will be no second trial. I read plenty of forums and follow a few blogs. Ann Levine's book seemed like the best choice for my go to guide for how to navigate this process. Her book is short but the information is dense. She has a nice breakdown of the relative importance of LSAT score and undergraduate GPA. The book is more guidelines than specific steps. I like that. I recommend taking a look at it if you are so inclined. You can buy it her site or Amazon.

My numbers

So what are the two numbers that will define me through this process? I've already revealed my LSAT score. From what I've been able to tell by looking at the 25-75% numbers that are posted with law school rankings, 168 is a very competitive score. (You can read about a week of my LSAT preparation in the LSAT diary that I wrote for LSAT Blog: Ace the LSAT.)

My other number, my undergraduate GPA, is a bit less competitive. I wasn't sure of the exact number until I requested a copy of my unofficial transcript a couple of weeks ago. Brace yourself. 3.05. Of course, to keep all law school applicants on the same level, the GPA is adjusted according to a common scale. I was aware of this LSDAS adjustment a few months ago, but seeing that I didn't remember my cumulative GPA, much less any individual grades, I had no idea how my number would adjust when put into this new scale. I breathed a sigh of relief when I found out my undergraduate school, William and Mary, uses the same scale. (I used this calculator for the calculation.) I'm just happy to be above 3.0.