What if I have a high GPA and a low LSAT?
Asked by: Ms. Karlee Brakus MD | Last update: September 13, 2025Score: 4.1/5 (62 votes)
Popular to contrary belief, the LSAT is not more important than the GPA. And in my experience, law schools are often more forgiving of a low LSAT if the applicant has a proven record of academic success. A strong GPA would be above a school's median, or at the very least within the school's median.
Can a high GPA compensate for a low LSAT score?
The rest of your application must be as strong as you can make it to offset a low LSAT score. The first thing an admissions office will want to see to balance out a low LSAT score is a high GPA. This is a high cumulative GPA.
What LSAT score do I need if I have a low GPA?
General rule of thumb, you need to aim for an LSAT score in the mid-170's and have a flawless application.
Is LSAT more important than GPA?
Those rankings unquestionably value median LSAT score more highly than they do UGPA; in fact, a peek at the full details of the rankings (only available to those willing to pony up $29.95 for inside access) shows the LSAT score placed front and center, whereas it takes several clicks and some scrolling to discover the ...
Can a 2.5 GPA get into law school?
But to answer the question what GPA do you need to get into law school, any law school, then the answer is at least a 2.5. That is realistically the lowest GPA you can have to get into law school. But even with a 2.5, you have an uphill battle to climb as that is in the lowest category of GPAs any school accepts.
how to get into top colleges with bad grades or low gpa or low SAT I my true story + mistakes
Is a 2.7 GPA bad for law school?
Can I Get Into Law School With a 2.7 GPA? Most law schools will not consider a 2.7 GPA to be competitive. However, all hope isn't lost if this is the GPA you have. 25% of Western Michigan's accepted students have GPAs of 2.64.
Can you get into Harvard law with a 2.8 GPA?
There's no lowest GPA but you probably won't get into Harvard with a 2.5 GPA. Your GPA still needs to be somewhat competitive with the median GPA. That said, you can get into Harvard Law School even if your GPA is 3.82 or lower.
Is 158 a bad LSAT score?
As mentioned above, the average LSAT score nationally is a 152. Generally speaking, a score of 160 and above is necessary to guarantee admission into top-100 schools like Tulane, UC Hastings, or Case Western Reserve.
What LSAT score does Harvard look for?
So let's take a look at what it actually takes to have a chance of being admitted to the most prestigious and preeminent law school in the world. As you can see from these numbers, an LSAT score of 170 or higher and a GPA above 3.75 will give you a chance of gaining admission to Harvard Law School.
What is a good GPA for 1L?
3.0 first year, 3.1 upper years. No mandatory curve; 3.1 to 3.3 mean for 1L courses, except First-Year Rhetoric. 3.25 to 3.45 mean for most upper-level courses.
Is a 2.9 GPA bad for law school?
Your low GPA doesn't guarantee rejections from law schools. Law schools look at who you are as a person, not just how well you perform academically. If your GPA was all that mattered, there would be no need for such extensive application processes.
What is a poor LSAT score?
A 144-145 is generally considered to be the lowest acceptable score to attend law school. The median LSAT score is around 151-152, so 144-145 is significantly lower than this. As such, the majority of law schools will not accept scores below this.
Is 143 a low LSAT score?
If your LSAT score is in the 140s or lower, you need to spend some time looking at the 25th percentile LSAT scores for the schools you were hoping to attend.
Is it bad to keep a low LSAT score?
Most applicants who consider canceling their LSAT score do so because they think that having the lower score on their record will hurt them, even once they have a higher score. This is, for the most part, not the case.
Can I get into law school with a 136 LSAT score?
Quite frankly, if your LSAT score is below 145, it will be difficult for you to be admitted to an accredited law school – not impossible, but very difficult. And if your LSAT score is low, your GPA will need to be higher to compensate for it.
Is it possible to raise your LSAT score 20 points?
Students have successfully improved their LSAT score by over 20 points, but it required several months, even years, of dedicated study, trial and error, and unwavering focus.
Is your GPA or LSAT more important?
Most law schools tend to give LSAT scores a bit more weight, but some schools care more about grades. The admissions process is inevitably subjective, and some admissions officers might be more forgiving of a gap than others.
What was Elle Woods' LSAT score?
Elle Woods, a fictional character portrayed by Reese Witherspoon in the movie Legally Blonde, is known for her remarkable LSAT score—179 out of 180. Portrayed as a stereotypical "valley girl," she embarks on a journey to Harvard Law School in the movie that has since become a cult favorite.
How hard is a 172 LSAT?
Your percentile on the LSAT shows how many people you outperformed on the test. Scoring 172 typically puts you in the top 1.3%, surpassing 98.7% of other test-takers. LSAT percentiles may change slightly each year based on everyone's performance.
How rare is a 160 on the LSAT?
A student scoring a 180 is in the 99.9 percentile because the student scored better than 99.9% of test-takers. A student scoring a 160 is in the 74.8 percentile because the student scored better than 74.8% of test-takers. You can hover over the blue outline to see a tooltip for all each LSAT/percentile combinations.
How hard is it to get a 167 on the LSAT?
You don't have to be perfect to do well on the LSAT. On a typical LSAT, you can still get around 18–19 questions wrong and still end up in the 160s—or around 10–12 wrong and get a 167, which is a 90th percentile score. Even a perfect score of 180 often allows you to miss a question or two.
What is the hardest law school in the USA?
1. Yale University. With an acceptance rate of just 6.9%, it's no wonder that Yale is the hardest law school to get into. Only around 1 in 15 of their highly qualified applicants makes it through.
What's the lowest GPA Yale accepted?
We do not set a minimum GPA, nor do we attempt to re-weight GPA's to any standard other than what a school provides.