1. Pursue your genuine interests, with an eye to the fact that your GPA will be a significant component of your law school applications.
Many people will tell you that your GPA, and not the classes you take, will affect your candidacy. This is untrue in important ways, although it’s not completely untrue.
It is untrue because taking classes you care deeply about will boost your application in many crucial aspects:
You will be more motivated to understand the content, and will be intrinsically motivated to build connections with professors of these courses. It might be easier for you to go to office hours to ask questions and draw connections when you have a background interest in the field. These professors will see you at work in a realm you’re passionate about; this will likely lead to a deeper connection with them, and a more robust law school recommendation.
Your personal essay can come from academic experiences, and your academic experiences will be richer if you're exploring existing passions and potential new interests in your coursework. These courses may spark something you feel moved to write about. Relatedly, you will be telling your personal story in your essays and interviews, and courses that build on your interest development with make that narrative coherent and enrich it.
You will get a better sense of whether you actually want to go to law school. In interviews, “Why do you want to go to law school” will be one of the first questions schools ask you, and it will be one of the most important ones. You should have reflected on this deeply, and exploring the full range of your interests will enable you to speak to this question with the conviction that schools seek.
At the same time, drastic claims about the importance of your GPA are true in the sense that law schools have historically cared about their rankings, and students’ GPA distribution has been a significant role in the way those rankings are calculated. But perhaps most enduringly, schools want students that they know can thrive at their school, and the best indication of how students will perform in law school is how they performed at their undergraduate institution. Even while law schools move away from the LSAT and law school rankings systems, GPAs remain of the upmost importance for the latter reason.
What should you do with this information when it is time to choose courses?
Prioritize your graduation requirements and think about how you will distribute them. This will prevent semesters later on in which your course-selection agency is severely restricted, and your GPA may suffer as a result.
Identify all the classes that interest you. You’ll narrow down the classes you will actually take from this subset of those you care about.
Eliminate classes that pose an undue risk to your GPA.
Consider curves. Some departments curve to a certain letter grade. Before you take a fascinating class outside of your major, make sure you understand how that department will be grading you. If you are striving to maintain an A- minus average, given the median GPA at your target law schools, and the economics class you’re interested in curves to a B+, think about whether you will welcome or dread the pressure to score better than half the class.
Consider professors’ teaching and grading styles. Chat with students that took classes you’re unsure about to understand the type of class assignments. Reflect on your strengths – do you score better in essay-forward classes as opposed to exam-forward? Is it important to you that your class participation be incorporated into your grade?
Create balance. Given the above considerations, mix challenges with certainty, classes you know you’re passionate about with topics that will expand your horizons, class that use your favorite methodologies with classes that will expose you to new ways of learning. Balance will help you stay engaged, stay motivated, and avoid burnout in undergrad. Save burnout for law school.
Prioritize scheduling that will allow you to perform your best.
Don’t overlook your quality of life. For the same reasons that courseload balance is important, make sure you curate a schedule that involves breaks in the day (to rest or get assignments done) and gives you time for breakfast and lunch. This can make all the difference in how a semester affects your overall GPA.
2. Cast a wide net of faculty connections.
While you will certainly need 2 recommenders, many schools allow you to submit recommendations from more. Submitting a third recommendation would boost your application, provided it’s equally as strong as the others and provides information that is a little bit different.
The strongest connections likely come from thesis research with a faculty advisor or research assistant positions, and so if these opportunities are available for you at your school, certainly pursue them. However, you can make connections with faculty in simple ways; don’t overthink it. Prepare yourself well for class, and at least every once in a while, contribute something that you believe in during discussion. Seek out professors outside of class to have discussions about the material, their research interests, or your curiosities about their field in general.
Even though you have an eye on an eventual recommendation, keep these relationships genuine. It is better to go to office hours or make an appointment less frequently, but bring questions or topics you’re genuinely interested in, than speaking with a professor outside of class every week because it might give you an edge.
3. Involve yourself in campus groups or offices in a way that will further the personal narrative you will tell in your essays.
Don’t let your passions lay latent. If you find yourself curious about something or motivated about a certain cause, allow it to manifest in action. Look for a campus group or employment opportunity that will allow you to learn more about that area and demonstrate that you are action-forward.