Advice: JD to PhD

[Bill Parcells]

I graduated law school not too long ago and do not see myself continuing my career in law for a substantial period of time. Since beginning law school, I have always considered entering a graduate program for political science; however, I wanted to pay off some law school debt and get some real world experience first. With that said, I am now strongly considering taking the GRE and starting the application process. As for some general information about myself:

Undergraduate: 3.9 GPA in three years from a typical, non-elite state school.

Law Degree: 3.3 GPA from a top 20-25 school.

One publication from my law school's law review.

Any advice, suggestions, or comments would be appreciated, although I do have some specific questions for someone looking at top 25 PhD programs where I would face little, if any, debt.

How much will a B.A. from a mediocre undergrad hurt my chances? Does it help that I accelerated my education?

How favorably are publications looked at?

I'd imagine a law degree would help, but my GPA was a little below average. Would the admissions committee look down upon this?

Thanks!

[GopherGrad]

Received wisdom is that rigorous professional programs like JDs will help your case to the extent it shows an ability to take on heavy work loads and see yourself through advanced degrees. At some point, I was also told it would make one's background seem unique, but if this board is any indication, that won't be the case in the coming application term.

Whether your grades matter gets a less consistent answer, but it seems safe to say "less that undergrad grades". The reputation of your law school might.

The thing about your law school grades is this: who cares at this point? If you're like me (another lawyer turned PhD seeker), you won't go back to school for seven years unless you get into a great program and have the opportunity to leave with little or no additional debt.

Do well on your GRE and your chances on the numbers are as good as anyone's. The rest relies on the fit, clarity and persuasiveness of your SoP and other supplemental materials, and that's a crap shoot to some extent.

[Danger]

I am in a very similar boat and would love to hear what people have to say on this topic. My big concern is that law school is graded on a harsh curve wherein only about 20% of the students in each class receive some form of A. I also have a 3.3 GPA in law school, and while this sounds terrible, it actually places me within the top-25% of my class--I'm hoping that folks keep this in mind when looking at my law school grades.

Anyway, my vitals are:

- 3.75 GPA from top-20 undergrad (BA in history)

- 2 years with Teach For America

- J.D. from top-30 law school, top-25% of my class

No GRE score yet. I'm hoping I have a shot somewhere competitive and that my JD/TFA experience will make me stand out a bit, but in this economy I think there are a lot of lawyers avoiding the job market any way they can.

[GopherGrad]

Law schools seem to either grade at about a 3.0 average or a 4.0 average. I don't know for sure how adcomm know which is which, but it seems unlikely that they are unaware of the difference. One thing is for sure: no adcomm is going to look at an "average" B curved out of a room full of geniuses the same as a "B" straight graded in Geology 1001. They know most law schools are harder and more tightly curved than most undergrad programs.

To compensate for the uncertainty, we apply to a slightly wider range of schools, then we do what all the other kids do: cross our fingers.