Texas

[ifiknew]

Appreciate any and all input, thanks.

[Tekrul]

My takeaway from this is I have to make my gf my wife in the next 3 months.

With your fixed raise schedule, I can see law school being a solid investment for you. But how long have you been working? Work for a few years and you can start to outpace that UG GPA. Meaning better schools and more money at the schools you mentioned. UT with $ and SMU with $$ should be your goal and your threshold of tolerance as well.

http://www.lstscorereports.com/?r=tx

40-45 hours a week gives you ample time to really get serious about the LSAT. You are at the cusp of making or breaking some great schools. Get to 170+ and reap the rewards. My lsac GPA was 3.2, not much better than yours, I took philosophy, not a difficult serious technical valuable major like yours. Don't let the GPA inhibit where you apply.

My LSAT score was around where yours is at one point. But I went first gear and red lined for a month all the way to test day. By that time I was averaging 177 and underperformed a 174 on the real thing. From someone who's done it, you can bring that score up. You can check my profile to see how my cycle went, despite my low GPA. Don't let it hold you back. Crush the rest of your app and watch that GPA start to mean less and less.

I'd like to add, however, that paying sticker at UT (in state) or SMU should give you pause, even though your wife is financing it. At a certain cost, the investment is just not sound. If the rest of your app doesn't BRING it and you don't get good offers, you have other considerations to make, especially is LS is right for you?

[BigZuck]

UH and SMU are basically the same schools job prospects wise, it's just that one places almost exclusively in Houston and the other in Dallas. Probably would come at a similar cost too, although SMU is more splitter friendly so they might be cheaper. Because you want Dallad your targets should be SMU and UT. Forget about schools like Texas Wesleyan, if that's your only option just stick with your current job.

Definitely retake the LSAT. I think you could probably snag SMU now with maybe even a modest scholarship (but probably not enough to make attending worthwhile). I think if you break 170 you have a really good shot at UT and probably a 12K a year scholarship. UT is well worth attending at that cost. They are general pretty gpa whore-y but I think they would make an exception for an instate splitter with a hard major and a 170+. There are a few instate splitters who have had some good success with UT this cycle, PM me if you want their LSNs.

Good luck!