Hello everyone,
I want to ask a bit about the prospects for potential applicants with a low GPA but otherwise (hopefully) impressive profile, as well as some suggestions down the line.
My current situation: about to graduate from the undergraduate faculty of law at the University of Tokyo, fluent in English, Chinese, and Japanese due to my Chinese background and previous elementary and high school education in the US, and going to enter into one of Japan's largest corporate law firms after one year of training starting this March.
Five years down the line, my firm offers an opportunity to study for a maximum of 2 years at any graduate program of my liking (though my senpais usually go to LLMs), but I am a bit concerned about my prospects due to my GPA (2.5ish/3.3, or an average of B/B+).
The main reason for this is because I dedicated a lot of my time (6.7 hours per day purely for exam prep during my busiest year) during undergrad years towards studying for the extremely difficult Japanese bar exam (in Japan, you can take the bar exam as long as you pass a very difficult preliminary exam (the pass rate the year I took it was 3.7%), making a JD unnecessary for a bar license). Japanese big law firms also heavily favor those who pass the bar exam early instead of going the JD route, and don't care much about GPA. (My GPA during my last semester, when I did not have bar exam obligations, were 3.0/3.3, or an average of A) This has lead me to disregard my GPA, which I now feel like to going to bring me trouble down the line, after checking the GPA requirements for some prestigious programs.
Another contributing factor was the fact that I took all of my university lessons in a third language (Japanese) that I only began learning during junior year of high school.
Given my circumstances, I would greatly appreciate any advice on the following questions:
Which prestigious LLM programs (US, UK or places like Singapore, Hong Kong, and China work as well) would be a good fit (The main purpose of a LLM degree for my case, based on what I see my senpais are doing, is less for actually research and more for building connections), considering my low GPA but unique background? Is there still hope for me, or should I look into an MBA or something that could also advance my career but has less hard requirements on GPA? (I will be most likely able to get a strong letter of recommendation from a famous lawyer at my firm that also attended the LLMs that I will be apply to. I am also highly confident in my abilities to do well at standardized testing such as the GRE, TOEFL, or any equivalent exams. Will this improve my chances by any means?)
What steps can I take over the next five years of working at my Japanese law firm, to strengthen my LLM application? For example, would pursuing additional certifications, publications, or pro bono work be beneficial?
Thank you everyone in advance for your advice and support!
[Edited by Leez on Mar 06, 2024]
