Bad UG GPA and a Decent MBA GPA...

[Gpasqua]

Hi everyone this is my first post and I am glad to be here.  I am a 31 year old husband with a 7 month old.  My undergrad was in Psychology and I walked away with an embarassing 2.1 or 2.2 GPA. Awful.  I screwed around for 4 and a half years and loved every minute of it.  I eventually got a job in a giant Telecommunications Company who pays the tuition on any type of educational program.  As I matured I decided to get an MBA from Long Island University, CW Post Campus.  I graduated with Honors and 3.6+ GPA.  Now I know the LSAT score really weighs heavily but will LSAC differentiate between my two Grades and two Degrees or will they review my transcipts and "decide" what my GPA is?
If they do "decide", does anyone know how they get to a number?  What would mine be?
Also a little off topic, I have several choices for Part Time programs.  How "lighter" is the load in comparison to a FT program?  I work Full time, so I am just curious if anyone had any generalizations about PT programs...
Thank you for your time...

[forthguy]

Hi everyone this is my first post and I am glad to be here.  I am a 31 year old husband with a 7 month old.  My undergrad was in Psychology and I walked away with an embarassing 2.1 or 2.2 GPA. Awful.  I screwed around for 4 and a half years and loved every minute of it.   I graduated with Honors and 3.6+ GPA.  Now I know the LSAT score really weighs heavily but will LSAC differentiate between my two Grades and two Degrees or will they review my transcipts and "decide" what my GPA is?  If they do "decide", does anyone know how they get to a number?  What would mine be?

The GPA the schools will received from the LSDAS will include only your undergraduate grades.  They don't consider graduate school -- or even second bachelors -- grades at all.

There's no decision going on.  This page on LSAC's site describes how it's calculated.

Greg

[Revenant]

Hmm, are you sure about the second bachelor's thing?  I have two and everything counted for me, but that might be because I got them concurrantly?

[rucchin]

The GPA the schools will received from the LSDAS will include only your undergraduate grades.  They don't consider graduate school -- or even second bachelors -- grades at all.

.  This page on LSAC's site describes how it's calculated.

Greg

They don't consider graduate grades when it comes to the actual calculation of the GPA, But they do consider it in the admissions process as a whole. Just send them your grad transcripts and it will help.

[CaliforniaLaw]

LSAC calculates your GPA based on all college courses before your first bachelor degree.  Courses after your first bachelor are considered part of your graduate degree.  That includes a second bachelor.  Since lawstudent2007 received both bachelors concurrently, all courses he took before receiving them count.  Graduate GPA is noted in the report, but is not the one that is widely used when looking at acceptance numbers.  It would surprise me if law schools did not take graduate grades into consideration.  That would not give them an accurate evaluation of that student's potential for law school.

My two cents.

[shadowcreeper]

I have to disagree. Graduate school grades are absolutely taken into consideration. They may not get sent through the LSAC, but they are worth mentioning. A majority of the students entering law schools are out of undergrad for awhile. They work in the real world, and many of them move onto a graduate degree.

I have called some of the schools that I would be interested in, low first teir, and top/middle second teir. They said that the longer a person is out of school the more weight they would put on their graduate degree as opposed to their undergrad. So if you do well in grad school and you are out of school awhile, definately mention it... it gives you something that the people coming right out of undergrad do not have.

I think that if a person is out of school for 10 years, their undergrad GPA is for the most part useless... so having a masters in something will give them a better idea of the kind of student you are now.

Just my thoughts.

[forthguy]

I have to disagree. Graduate school grades are absolutely taken into consideration. They may not get sent through the LSAC, but they are worth mentioning. A majority of the students entering law schools are out of undergrad for awhile. They work in the real world, and many of them move onto a graduate degree.

Well, I don't know who you're disagreeing with, but I'm guessing you're disagreeing with me, as others did.  I'd suggest folks read what the OP asked, which was about how the LSAC would differentiate.  And the answer is, the LSAC won't consider graduate grades whatsoever.

The law schools themselves will take a lot of criteria into account.  Most all of their websites even say as much.  None of that changes the LSDAS GPA.

Greg

[shadowcreeper]

Greg,

I was not disagreeing with you, in fact I agree with you because I know what you are saying to be a fact.

I was disagreeing with the opinion that law schools do not look at graduate school grades. I have already given my opinion above, and I am not going to rewrite it here.

Sorry for the confusion.

~Kim

[Gpasqua]

Thanks for the input everyone.
I was afraid the LSAC only looked at UG and now my fears have been realized. I can only hope the Admissions officer takes the MBA into some consideration.  But I checked my UG transcripts and it wasn't a 2.1 it was a wopping 2.4+, hehe...Maybe if I look at them tomorrow my UG will be a 2.7, and so on and so on...

Anyone know of anyone who had crappy UG but got into a law school program?  I only read about how accomodating admissions are for non-traditional students but never actually know one.

[forthguy]

Thanks for the input everyone.
I was afraid the LSAC only looked at UG and now my fears have been realized. I can only hope the Admissions officer takes the MBA into some consideration.  But I checked my UG transcripts and it wasn't a 2.1 it was a wopping 2.4+, hehe...Maybe if I look at them tomorrow my UG will be a 2.7, and so on and so on...

Anyone know of anyone who had crappy UG but got into a law school program?  I only read about how accomodating admissions are for non-traditional students but never actually know one.

Well, a number of folks, depending on the schools you shoot for.  I'm still waiting to hear (2.45 LSDAS), but I know of people lower than I who've gotten into good schools.  It can be done, and the MBA certainly won't hurt.    If you do well on the LSAT, you likely stand a good chance of getting that GPA further out of sight of the admissions comittees.  It's hard to judge what "well" is; mostly it depends on the school you're shooting for.  Between that, a good personal statement, and good letters of recommendation, you can get into a good law school.  Do well on just the LSAT, and you'll still find schools that will take you.

Greg