How do DO schools consider law school GPA?

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pmn1234

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Hi everyone,

The question is self-explanatory. I have a higher UGPA (3.66) but a B average in my law school (there is a strict B curve and most people end up with a B average in law school). I still have to take some classes to fulfil my pre-req assuming I do well on those, how do DO schools view my law school GPA?

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Hi everyone,

The question is self-explanatory. I have a higher UGPA (3.66) but a B average in my law school (there is a strict B curve and most people end up with a B average in law school). I still have to take some classes to fulfil my pre-req assuming I do well on those, how do DO schools view my law school GPA?
We need more information to help u.
Are you a current law school student thinking about D.O. school?
Have you taken law courses in the past?
Have you graduated from law school?
What else have you done to work on your med school application, assuming that you have already taken some of the pre-reqs (clinical exp., volunteering, shadowing, etc.)?

Thought the average in law school was a C (like med school) but I may be mistaken. YMMV.

To answer your question, law school is viewed as grad school.
Good luck.
 
@jhmmd Thanks for your response. I have graduated from law school, I'm currently working in law. The curve in law school is B in both Canada and US as far as I know (I'm Canadian). I don't have a lot of clinical experience other than some shadowing I have done. I have tons of non-clinical experience and research experience in Psychology. I'm planning to study for the MCAT and take the rest of the pre-req while I work full time. I have applied for clinical volunteering positions but due to Covid, it doesn't seem like I can do much till next year. Since, this is going to take me a couple of years, I'll make sure to have clinical experience by the time I apply. I just wanted to know if I still have a shot at DO schools considering my Law school GPA.
 
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@jhmmd Thanks for your response. I have graduated from law school, I'm currently working in law. The curve in law school is B in both Canada and US as far as I know (I'm Canadian). I don't have a lot of clinical experience other than some shadowing I have done. I have tons of non-clinical experience and research experience in Psychology. I'm planning to study for the MCAT and take the rest of the pre-req while I work full time. I have applied for clinical volunteering positions but due to Covid, it doesn't seem like I can do much till next year. Since, this is going to take me a couple of years, I'll make sure to have clinical experience by the time I apply. I just wanted to know if I still have a shot at DO schools considering my Law school GPA.
Schools don't really care about grad school GPA (and it's definitely not as important as undergrad GPA). Your answer for "why medicine" is way more important, and you will need to demonstrate, as a law school graduate, that you are not in this for the money.

Hard to give you further advice w/out a MCAT score, but GPA & MCAT tend to be pretty similar for most applicants, so I'd say that you have a good shot. :)
 
Hi everyone,

The question is self-explanatory. I have a higher UGPA (3.66) but a B average in my law school (there is a strict B curve and most people end up with a B average in law school). I still have to take some classes to fulfil my pre-req assuming I do well on those, how do DO schools view my law school GPA?
Even if AACOMAS counts it, at my school, we ignore it. You need to show us that you can handle the sciences
 
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Schools don't really care about grad school GPA (and it's definitely not as important as undergrad GPA). Your answer for "why medicine" is way more important, and you will need to demonstrate, as a law school graduate, that you are not in this for the money.

Hard to give you further advice w/out a MCAT score, but GPA & MCAT tend to be pretty similar for most applicants, so I'd say that you have a good shot. :)

Even if AACOMAS counts it, at my school, we ignore it. You need to show us that you can handle the sciences
Great! I'll post again once I have my MCAT and final science GPA score.
 
Schools don't really care about grad school GPA (and it's definitely not as important as undergrad GPA)
Can someone explain why this is? I understand the reasoning that some grad schools have rampant GPA inflation, but it seems way too broad of an answer. Getting a 4.0 in a MS in Biomedical Engineering program seems like it should count for something vs a 4.0 in an MPH...
 
Can someone explain why this is? I understand the reasoning that some grad schools have rampant GPA inflation, but it seems way too broad of an answer. Getting a 4.0 in a MS in Biomedical Engineering program seems like it should count for something vs a 4.0 in an MPH...

1. Grade inflation is pretty rampant in many grad programs like you said. I maintained a 4.0 gpa while also playing World of Warcraft like 30 hours a week minimum in my masters program for social work.

2. You are expected to do well in a grad program because it’s an area of interest. Most people don’t take on an extra 30-50 k of debt in student loans to study something they hate.

At least for me subjectively when I went back to school to take my science prerequisite courses, the amount of work I had to put into getting A’s in the sciences far exceeded the amount of work I put into any masters level class.
 
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Can someone explain why this is? I understand the reasoning that some grad schools have rampant GPA inflation, but it seems way too broad of an answer. Getting a 4.0 in a MS in Biomedical Engineering program seems like it should count for something vs a 4.0 in an MPH...
Don't overthink it. It's not about the value of the degree to you; it's about the value of the degree for med schools/Step 1/Step 2/Step 3/and so on.
 
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playing World of Warcraft like 30 hours a week
Same. Got my MBA while playing in top guild back during vanilla. Definitely couldn't do that in my SMP or med school.
 
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Law school is not like thesis driven master/graduate programs. It's extremely hard to get good grades in it and no matter how much you study you still end up with a B (most of the time). For me law school was considerably more difficult than undergrad and I was getting straight As and A+ in undergrad. I think law school is similar to probably Pharmacy or Dental school . Either way I hope medical schools are lenient with respect to my law school grades as they do bring down my cumulative GPA.
 
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Law school is not like thesis driven master/graduate programs. It's extremely hard to get good grades in it and no matter how much you study you still end up with a B (most of the time). For me law school was considerably more difficult than undergrad and I was getting straight As and A+ in undergrad. I think law school is similar to probably Pharmacy or Dental school . Either way I hope medical schools are lenient with respect to my law school grades as they do bring down my cumulative GPA.
I could be wrong but I believe that med schools look more at undergrad GPA when they are speaking about cGPA. Probably more so for D.O. schools but js
 
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Don't overthink it. It's not about the value of the degree to you; it's about the value of the degree for med schools/Step 1/Step 2/Step 3/and so on.
I can accept that line of thinking, but I don't think that explains why med schools would value an undergraduate GPA more if my undergrad was in something like.... Cultural Studies and Finance. There are just as many grade inflated undergrad degrees as there as masters degrees, so it seems hypocritical to say "Oh masters degrees have grade inflation so we don't care" but "Oh undergrad degrees, yeah they're totally important."
 
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I can accept that line of thinking, but I don't think that explains why med schools would value an undergraduate GPA more if my undergrad was in something like.... Cultural Studies and Finance. There are just as many grade inflated undergrad degrees as there as masters degrees, so it seems hypocritical to say "Oh masters degrees have grade inflation so we don't care" but "Oh undergrad degrees, yeah they're totally important."
Another reason I think they don't weigh grad school GPAs that much is that not everyone has it, so it's hard to standardize. It's already hard to evaluate the differences in undergrad GPA, I imagine it's just easier to not place that much weight on something with so much varaince that only a few students have.

Still, I think there are exceptions and I have to imagine that someone who aced their PhD at Stanford bioengineering is going to be desirable and would offset an otherwise lackluster undergrad performance.

Unfortunately for OP, I don't think most adcoms know about the grading system of law school. I for one, thought it was similar to business school where it was mostly partying.

It might help if it's a T14? I heard in the law world, it's T14 or bust, so maybe if it's from a prestigious program they might be more understanding?
 
Another reason I think they don't weigh grad school GPAs that much is that not everyone has it, so it's hard to standardize. It's already hard to evaluate the differences in undergrad GPA, I imagine it's just easier to not place that much weight on something with so much varaince that only a few students have.

Still, I think there are exceptions and I have to imagine that someone who aced their PhD at Stanford bioengineering is going to be desirable and would offset an otherwise lackluster undergrad performance.

Unfortunately for OP, I don't think most adcoms know about the grading system of law school. I for one, thought it was similar to business school where it was mostly partying.

It might help if it's a T14? I heard in the law world, it's T14 or bust, so maybe if it's from a prestigious program they might be more understanding?
I went to a Canadian law school and we don't have a tier system here like in the states. I did go to one of the "best" ones for what its worth.
 
I can accept that line of thinking, but I don't think that explains why med schools would value an undergraduate GPA more if my undergrad was in something like.... Cultural Studies and Finance. There are just as many grade inflated undergrad degrees as there as masters degrees, so it seems hypocritical to say "Oh masters degrees have grade inflation so we don't care" but "Oh undergrad degrees, yeah they're totally important."
You are confusing UG major with UG as a whole. The purpose of UG is to teach you to learn how to learn. Your major is irrelevant. And don't forget that you still have to take the pre-reqs.

And as to trivializing something like Cultural Studies, while I agree that this is worthless for getting a job in the real world, one has to remember that every two weeks, you're writing essays on "Influence of X on Culture Y in Z time period".
Another reason I think they don't weigh grad school GPAs that much is that not everyone has it, so it's hard to standardize. It's already hard to evaluate the differences in undergrad GPA, I imagine it's just easier to not place that much weight on something with so much varaince that only a few students have.

Still, I think there are exceptions and I have to imagine that someone who aced their PhD at Stanford bioengineering is going to be desirable and would offset an otherwise lackluster undergrad performance.

Unfortunately for OP, I don't think most adcoms know about the grading system of law school. I for one, thought it was similar to business school where it was mostly partying.

It might help if it's a T14? I heard in the law world, it's T14 or bust, so maybe if it's from a prestigious program they might be more understanding?
Grade inflation is a real thing at grad programs, plus it's hard to see the rigor in courses like "Molecular Biology Techniques" or "Seminars in Neuroscience". And don't forget that "Thesis Research" makes up a good deal of the coursework taken
I went to a Canadian law school and we don't have a tier system here like in the states. I did go to one of the "best" ones for what its worth.
Sorry, but no Adcom member in the US is going to have any idea of the rigor or rep of any Canadian law school. Hell, we couldn't even name more than 1-2 Canadian medical schools!
 
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