What GPA do you need for law school? The number is not the one you think

There is no minimum GPA for law school as a category. There are medians at individual schools, they are published, and they are the only version of this question with an answer.

Start with the right number

So before you compare yourself to anything, find out what your LSAC GPA is. If you retook courses under a grade-replacement policy, it will be lower than the number your university prints — sometimes substantially — and every school-list decision made from the transcript number is being made from the wrong figure.

Where the real medians are

That is the primary source, and it is free. Every ABA-approved school's entering-class LSAT and GPA medians are in there, along with the twenty-fifth and seventy-fifth percentiles — which are more useful than the median, because they show you the width of the band a school actually admits from.

Use the 25th percentile as the honest read on whether you are in range. A quarter of an entering class is at or below it, so a GPA near that number is not disqualifying; it means the rest of your file has to do more work.

When your GPA is below the range

The GPA is finished and the score is not, which makes the arithmetic simple. A strong LSAT is the only large lever left, and at schools where you are above the LSAT median it can offset a GPA below theirs — schools weigh both medians and have reason to protect each.

• Put the months into the LSAT. It is the only number still moving.
• Write an addendum if there is a factual explanation — a documented illness, a semester with a cause, a grade-replacement gap between your transcript and LSAC figures. Explain, do not plead.
• Widen the list downward as well as upward. A strong applicant at a school where you are above both medians is where the scholarship money is.
• Consider the timing. Applying early in a rolling cycle matters more when your numbers are asking a school for a stretch.