Questions from a prospective law student Forum

[KARL_MARX]

Well my first thread wasn't a hit, so lets try again. First of all, I'm a first generation Mexican-American, who is currently attending a top 20 institution. I was raised in a rural area of California, and my parents only had elementry education. Consequently, we lived on a very meager income. With this in mind please answer the following questions:

1) Will law schools consider my socio-economic background?

2) The average GPA at my institution is a ~3.3-4, which will likely be my GPA, assuming there's an upward trend as I expect. Will law schools consider the grade deflation at my institution?

3) How big a role do extracurricular activties play? I've done the following:
-- Attended a top pre-management program.
-- Worked from 8th Grade till now.
-- Conducted research in rural mexico; specifically on entrepreneurship.
-- Countless hours of volunteer work.
-- Started a heterodox economic club and philosophy club
-- And much much more

4) Can I get into top 14 law school with a 160 LSAT? I know from reading these boards I should probably aim for a +170, but I old enough to realize that I'm quiet horrid when it comes to test taking.

5) Is it harder for URM's to get into top management or law schools?

6) My top choices are Yale, Harvard, Colombia, Stanford, NYU, U Chicago, U Pennsylvania, UMICH, Northwestern U and Cornell U.
I know there all reaches, but give me an estimate in terms of percentage.


Thanks!

[digitalcntrl]

Well my first thread wasn't a hit, so lets try again. First of all, I'm a first generation Mexican-American, who is currently attending a top 20 institution. I was raised in a rural area of California, and my parents only had elementry education. Consequently, we lived on a very meager income. With this in mind please answer the following questions:

1) Will law schools consider my socio-economic background?

2) The average GPA at my institution is a ~3.3-4, which will likely be my GPA, assuming there's an upward trend as I expect. Will law schools consider the grade deflation at my institution?

3) How big a role do extracurricular activties play? I've done the following:
-- Attended a top pre-management program.
-- Worked from 8th Grade till now.
-- Conducted research in rural mexico; specifically on entrepreneurship.
-- Countless hours of volunteer work.
-- Started a heterodox economic club and philosophy club
-- And much much more

4) Can I get into top 14 law school with a 160 LSAT? I know from reading these boards I should probably aim for a +170, but I old enough to realize that I'm quiet horrid when it comes to test taking.

5) Is it harder for URM's to get into top management or law schools?

6) My top choices are Yale, Harvard, Colombia, Stanford, NYU, U Chicago, U Pennsylvania, UMICH, Northwestern U and Cornell U.
I know there all reaches, but give me an estimate in terms of percentage.


Thanks!

1) Yes the will. Mexican American gives you a URM boost, though not as big a boost if you were black or Native American. You should also write a diversity statement about your family's meager income.

2) Law schools don't take into account grade inflation or deflation (too much work to figure it all out), they only look at your LSAC GPA (and maybe the prestige of your school for T-14s).

3) LSAT and GPA far outweigh extraciriculars unless you have done something extraordinary, but they don't hurt to have.

4) T-14 with at 160 is near impossible, even the lowest of the T-14, Georgetown, only goes down to 166 or 165 for URMs even.

5) Zero clue as I have never researched management schools

6) Try Law School Numbers, otherwise no idea

[merichard87]

All of your top choices are T-14, with the exception of Cornell although many of us from URM backgrounds don't know the difference. The above poster is correct in stating that a 160 is pushing it for T-14 but I would apply to some schools in the T30. If you have a solid application you should be pretty good at some of those with $$.

[ck3]

4) Can I get into top 14 law school with a 160 LSAT? I know from reading these boards I should probably aim for a +170, but I old enough to realize that I'm quiet horrid when it comes to test taking.


Thanks!

I do not think it is wise for you to limit your LSAT potential based solely upon how you have previously performed on other standardized tests. It is probably doubtful that you prepared for the PSAT, ACT, or SAT with the same rigor that you will want to prepare for the LSAT. You can take some time off after you finish undergrad and just concentrate on prepping for the test. Having confidence in your abilities to score much higher and putting for the effort to match that confidence I think will give you a shot at an increased LSAT score which will in turn give you much greater chances at the schools you want. I would definitely save about $1300.00 and take one of the best prep courses.

[trialjunky]

A good friend of mine got into T6 with a 162 LSAT, he had 4.0 though.

[de5igual]

All of your top choices are T-14, with the exception of Cornell although many of us from URM backgrounds don't know the difference. The above poster is correct in stating that a 160 is pushing it for T-14 but I would apply to some schools in the T30. If you have a solid application you should be pretty good at some of those with $$.

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[elmagic]

Well my first thread wasn't a hit, so lets try again. First of all, I'm a first generation Mexican-American, who is currently attending a top 20 institution. I was raised in a rural area of California, and my parents only had elementry education. Consequently, we lived on a very meager income. With this in mind please answer the following questions:

1) Will law schools consider my socio-economic background?

2) The average GPA at my institution is a ~3.3-4, which will likely be my GPA, assuming there's an upward trend as I expect. Will law schools consider the grade deflation at my institution?

3) How big a role do extracurricular activties play? I've done the following:
-- Attended a top pre-management program.
-- Worked from 8th Grade till now.
-- Conducted research in rural mexico; specifically on entrepreneurship.
-- Countless hours of volunteer work.
-- Started a heterodox economic club and philosophy club
-- And much much more

4) Can I get into top 14 law school with a 160 LSAT? I know from reading these boards I should probably aim for a +170, but I old enough to realize that I'm quiet horrid when it comes to test taking.

5) Is it harder for URM's to get into top management or law schools?

6) My top choices are Yale, Harvard, Colombia, Stanford, NYU, U Chicago, U Pennsylvania, UMICH, Northwestern U and Cornell U.
I know there all reaches, but give me an estimate in terms of percentage.


Thanks!

1.) Some schools, although the only ones I can think of off the top of my head are Berkeley, UCLA, Hastings, take into account socio-economic situations.

2.) Unless you went to Amherst, or did engineering at Caltech (which means you probably have better options available to you than law school) grade deflation is going to mean very little when your application is evaluated.

3.) Honestly, those are all great things, but if you don't have the numbers to go with your softs, they will make less of an impact on your admission chances.

4.) Let's assume 3.5 160. The likelihood of you making the T-14 is probably limited to Cornell. However if you can get anywhere between 166-170 and maintain a gpa between 3.4-3.5 your chances at everything outside of HYS go up tremendously. Bear in mind your gpa is relatively low, and as a urm candidate having one number at or above median can make things go a lot smoother. Since the chances of you getting your gpa above a 3.7 seem slim, I would try my hardest to get my LSAT score above median at the schools I am interested in.

5.) I thought about going this route, but ultimately decided against it, but from what I learned in the process even for URM candidates, work experience is key. So unless you have 2+ years of post-graduate work experience things will be difficult. Although if that is something that interests you working for a few years and then reevaluating your situation gives you an opportunity to both study more for the lsat/gmat and also decide which path is ultimately more suited for you.

6.) Without a gpa or lsat score no one can give you an estimate, even with both of those numbers any estimate is going to be inaccurate at best. Good luck!