160 Lsat, 3.48 GPA

[tmj830]

Hi,

I would like to come back to Texas for law school and would love some feedback on my chances at these schools:

SMU and Houston Law Center.


160 was my score on my LSAT after the retake. It's not the ideal score, but I worked as hard as I could to bump my score up to that. I'm a terrible standardized test taker, and I'm fairly confident this is the best I can do.

I went to undergrad at a top 20 university. I will have two years of work experience through Teach For America. I understand this is not necessarily helpful for the numbers game this is law school admissions, but perhaps it get me in if I'm on the bubble.

I understand quality of life is great at SMU, and from what I've gathered, not so great at Houston (although employment prospects seem pretty comparable in their respective markets). If anybody could shed some light on how people enjoy their time while studying law at Houston, please let me know. I haven't been able to find much on the culture of Houston's law school other than knowing the building is a bit run down and in a less-than-desirable area. I understand law school is a means of obtaining employment, and not "enjoying" yourself exactly, but I do not want to be miserable at my school of attendance.

Thanks!

[NYCbound35]

You really should consider a retake. As of now, you probably are not going to get SMU or UH. If you do get in or waitlist/in, it will probably be without money; which is most likely a bad financial decision. With 2-3 more points on a retake, you should be in at at least one of them with some money. Also, if you think that you can improve 6 or more points; UT is in the discussion...and that is a MUCH better option. You have nothing to lose.

Also, if you do get into SMU or UH, you're most important consideration (after CoA of course) is whether you want to live in Dallas or Houstn. These schools are peers that feed into these respective markets; just don't expect much portability.