Second UG Degree after First / Admissions

[Broncos15]

Hello,

Sorry for the double post, but while it is a holistic process ( PS, work experience , resume , etc).....I was wondering how would top law schools look at my coursework after receiving my first degree?.....I may seek a second undergraduate degree after my first one and which would mean my LSAC GPA is locked in.....How my LSAC GPA being locked in affect how they would view coursework in the second degree? I know in other cases such as the LSAT scores, how scores are reported play a role ( ex. Many schools even the top 14 have incentive towards only considering the highest score whereas 10 years ago the average of LSAT scores was used in admissions decisions)

I am doing a pros and cons analysis of adding a second degree (not just from a law school admissions but also from a time, money perspective and other factors,....although I feel the factors outside of law admissions such as time and money are only questions I could really answer, so that is why I'm seeking advice on the law school end)

My concern while if I added the second undergraduate degree, while I would put my best foot forward, since I attend a competitive university where good grades are hard to come by, there is a risk of the GPA falling....I am near the lower 25%GPA for the schools I am looking at so my goal is to make my other pieces look strong ( PS, resume, LOR, LSAT etc)

Thanks

[Dave Killoran]

Hey Broncos,

They won't give it a whole lot of consideration, unfortunately. Even if you go out and get a graduate degree, that is considered less important than your undergrad work (as an aside, I don't love that policy, but the reason they do it is that everyone has an undergrad degree and thus can be compared, whereas not everyone has a grad degree; what they want is a universal measuring stick, and only undergrad (and the LSAT) allows for that). So, if they give a graduate degree lesser consideration, you can imagine that a second undergraduate degree gets even less than that.

With that in mind, if you are doing a second undergrad degree, it's not worth it solely from a law school application standpoint, so if you do it, do it for yourself or for other considerations.

As far as the GPA, as I discussed on this forum just the other day (http://forum.powerscore.com/lsat/viewto ... 892#p17892), you are better off getting a few more LSAT points than a small GPA bump, and obviously if there's a reasonable chance that you lower your GPA then it's even more of a concern. If they see that your second degree GPA was lower than your first degree GPA, it's not a positive reflection.

Please let me know if that helps. Thanks!

[Broncos15]

I wouldn't be seeking a second degree to boost my application but rather to gain experience in an interesting field....My concern is I would be taking business coursework which would probably be more difficult than my liberal arts program ( although I do come from a challenging university so Liberal Arts isn't "easy")

Would I be accurate in saying if my LSAC GPA is 3.6 that a small dip ( lets say in this hypo a 3.4 in the second degree) would not really hurt my chances as while it would appear on the transcript, it would not factor into the LSAC GPA which is the number law schools report to the ABA....but a significant dip lets say a 3.0 in the second degree would have a negative effect even though it would not factor in LSAC GPA.

i am not trying to get an increase in admissions chances,but rather wondering on the risk side of the equation if a potential dip occurred. I'm evaluating the whole picture and other aspects so I can be aware of the possibilities and know what the risks/cons are and weigh them with the pros/positives. I hope this helped clarify my position about the information I was seeking!

[Dave Killoran]

Alright, I see where you are going now

You are basically correct in your thinking about this situation. The statements I've heard from Adcoms about lower subsequent GPA lead me to believe that they don't want to see any dip at all, but if it was statistically in the same vein as where you are now, I think you'd be ok.

Best of luck!