173, 3.7 Forum

[Stonecoast]

Hello all, I just found this site today, and it has been useful so far in giving me some insight as to what I can possibly expect in the coming application cycle.

A little background: I took the June LSAT and received a 173. I went to a top west coast engineering school (Stanford/Caltech/Berkeley), and my GPA was ~3.7 in electrical engineering. I've been working for a fairly well known engineering company in CA for the last several years. I was involved in some engineering honor societies and EWB in school, but no especially fantastic extra curriculars. I have published a few papers in engineering magazines/publications since graduating school, but certainly nothing groundbreaking. Essentially average "soft" factors is what I'm trying to say.

Curious about my chances at Berkeley and Stanford? I don't really wish to move out of NorCal due to having my life set up here, etc. While I orginally thought I might be competitive at these schools, it seems as though 3.7 may be thought of as fairly low in the law school world, even though it was quite high in my program. I've checked lawschoolpredictor.com and it has me at "consider" for both schools. Would it be smart to retake the LSAT? or just try with what I have and see what happens?

I am also considering Davis and Hastings if they were to give large enough scholarships.

Thanks

[MumofCad]

Seems to me that you would be strongly considered at Stanford and Berkeley. I'm no expert though. If you have numbers they would consider, which you do, I think your engineering background will bode well in the admin process for a strong IP school like Stanford's. A good PS and strong recs on your technical and analytical background, I certainly wouldn't write them off.

Apply to Davis and Hastings too of course.

[094320]

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[bk1]

Ignore LSP. Use http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com . You are competitive at Berkeley but Berkeley can be unpredictable (plus you might get better offers from other T14 schools). I would at least apply to other T14s to use as leverage for scholarship negotiations and to keep your options open in case you change your mind about moving.

I don't think an LSAT retake will help you. Maybe at H if you scored a 175+? I haven't looked at H's LSN graph in a while.