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Hello everyone,

I'm currently a rising junior at a solid business school in NYC. I just started studying for the LSAT. My first dry run, not knowing the sections even, was 164. I took a second test a few days later and got a 168 because I was more familiar with it. I anticipate that if I do a thorough job studying throughout this next year, I'll be able to hit mid-upper 170s. A score like this would make me a bit of a splitter.

My GPA is currently 3.62 thanks to some stupid mistakes and slacking on classes while running an online business freshman year.
Normally, I'd still have 4 semesters to bring it up still. However, I'm studying abroad for Fall 2013 so that won't count for my GPA and senior year, I'll have applied to law schools before second semester even starts. This means that I only have one semester to bring up my GPA, and even getting a 4.0 that semester will leave me just short of 3.7.

I'm hoping for HYS, but would be fine with CCN or a lower t14 with a lot of money.

Should I plan on working for a year after I graduate and catching the cycle after that? It seems like as long as my GPA goes up more than a few hundredths of a point, there would be no point in applying my senior year because I'd potentially get better scholarship offers and a better acceptance if I wait a year.

JDPowerhouse wrote:Should I plan on working for a year after I graduate and catching the cycle after that? It seems like as long as my GPA goes up more than a few hundredths of a point, there would be no point in applying my senior year because I'd potentially get better scholarship offers and a better acceptance if I wait a year.

Yes. The work experience will help a lot, too.

Kill the LSAT.

TripTrip wrote: Yes. The work experience will help a lot, too.

Kill the LSAT.

Thanks. I didn't think work experience made that big of a difference. Will it help a lot even if it's a finance or an accounting job?

Also, senior year, would it make sense to apply just to Harvard (and maybe Yale) as a long shot, since I wouldn't be getting money there anyway? Then, if I miss, I can apply fully the next cycle and get the most $$$ I can elsewhere and have a better shot at HY.

Bump

Hi OP I chose to apply after graduating instead of senior year for the same reasons. I gambled on keeping perfect grades to get my gpa to 3.76 from about 3.64 and it paid off for me. The year off is good too you should relax after graduation. Now I have a shot at H and I'm in better shape re: ccn

JDPowerhouse wrote:

TripTrip wrote: Yes. The work experience will help a lot, too.

Kill the LSAT.

Thanks. I didn't think work experience made that big of a difference. Will it help a lot even if it's a finance or an accounting job?

It won't make that big of a difference, but it will be a solid plus. It'll help a lot when finding a job. And finance/accounting jobs are actually at the top of the list of jobs that will help in the process.

Also, senior year, would it make sense to apply just to Harvard (and maybe Yale) as a long shot, since I wouldn't be getting money there anyway? Then, if I miss, I can apply fully the next cycle and get the most $$$ I can elsewhere and have a better shot at HY.

There's no reason to get rejected by those schools if you're not going to appreciably change your application (i.e. significantly improve your GPA or LSAT) before reapplying. I wouldn't feel comfortable with a marginal GPA improvement and no LSAT increase, even with work experience. I'd want to see a few more LSAT points before I would recommend this course of action.

No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

JamMasterJ wrote:No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

This. You'll need a 176+ for a solid shot at H with a 3.7.

JamMasterJ wrote:No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

I'm already committed to studying abroad so that isn't an option.

I'll have a 3.7 after graduation, it will just not be in time if I wanted to apply for my senior year cycle. So if I don't hit 3.7 before that cycle (would only be possible if I did extra classes and got perfect grades), I'll just wait the extra year to apply everywhere.

Lastly, a bit off topic, but is there any way to easily multiquote on this forum?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

JDPowerhouse wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

I'm already committed to studying abroad so that isn't an option.

I'll have a 3.7 after graduation, it will just not be in time if I wanted to apply for my senior year cycle. So if I don't hit 3.7 before that cycle (would only be possible if I did extra classes and got perfect grades), I'll just wait the extra year to apply everywhere.

Lastly, a bit off topic, but is there any way to easily multiquote on this forum?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

do you mean quote a quoted thing? You just have to quote the second post. OR if you mean

Quote
response
Quote
response,
you just quote the first thing, then write some stuff, then scroll down below submit, scroll on the list of messages then hit the quote button

JDPowerhouse wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

I'm already committed to studying abroad so that isn't an option.

I'll have a 3.7 after graduation, it will just not be in time if I wanted to apply for my senior year cycle. So if I don't hit 3.7 before that cycle (would only be possible if I did extra classes and got perfect grades), I'll just wait the extra year to apply everywhere.

Lastly, a bit off topic, but is there any way to easily multiquote on this forum?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

randomly quoted message

Take some online classes, now if you can, or during your study abroad. You really wanna get above the 3.8 mark so you are in the running for full rides at schools.

JamMasterJ wrote:

JDPowerhouse wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

I'm already committed to studying abroad so that isn't an option.

I'll have a 3.7 after graduation, it will just not be in time if I wanted to apply for my senior year cycle. So if I don't hit 3.7 before that cycle (would only be possible if I did extra classes and got perfect grades), I'll just wait the extra year to apply everywhere.

Lastly, a bit off topic, but is there any way to easily multiquote on this forum?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

do you mean quote a quoted thing? You just have to quote the second post. OR if you mean

Quote
response
Quote
response,
you just quote the first thing, then write some stuff, then scroll down below submit, scroll on the list of messages then hit the quote button

JDPowerhouse wrote:

JamMasterJ wrote:No shot at HYS for white people under 3.7. You should actually consider not going abroad just so that you can break 3.7 (I'm not kidding)

I'm already committed to studying abroad so that isn't an option.

I'll have a 3.7 after graduation, it will just not be in time if I wanted to apply for my senior year cycle. So if I don't hit 3.7 before that cycle (would only be possible if I did extra classes and got perfect grades), I'll just wait the extra year to apply everywhere.

Lastly, a bit off topic, but is there any way to easily multiquote on this forum?

Thanks for all the advice everyone.

randomly quoted message

Ahh thanks, that makes things easier.

Desert Fox wrote:Take some online classes, now if you can, or during your study abroad. You really wanna get above the 3.8 mark so you are in the running for full rides at schools.

I started doing two courses on Udacity, but those are currently not available for people seeking credit. I plan on having them pretty much done and then signing up immediately when they open for credit again so I can do that.

Where else would you recommend I take online courses?