2.9 / 169 / EXPERIENCE Forum

[WAREAGLE31]

Throwing out this profile...Interested if anyone would tell me what they think of my chances at law school. Also, if someone could also recommend a strong counseling advisor for the law school application process. I am interested in applying to the following schools in order:
1) UVA
2) GWU
3) William and Mary
4) UNC
5) UGA
6) Alabama
7) Cumberland School of Law
Dickinson School of Law

I attended the Naval Academy and graduated with a 2.91 GPA and a 3.4 GPA in my major (the GPA is a direct result of Chemisty, Thermodynamics, and Weapons Engineering Classes). I have a BS in History. I have heard that Law Schools take a look at individual performance and course load in particular. Wanted to know if somone can validate that. I scored a 169 on the LSAT. I do not plan on taking the test again at this time. I have completed multiple combat tours and will have strong recommendations.

My weakness is my GPA. Anybody got advice? Need to take the LSAT again? Veteran friendly Law Schools? Any advice about how to approach the low GPA---does it deserve an explanation as to the curriculum. My expectation is that the school will be aware of that and it doesn't deserve explanation.

[thelawschoolproject]

Here are few people with your similar numbers:

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/Centinyx/jd

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/LttleBlakDress/jd

http://lawschoolnumbers.com/c9h13no3hcl/jd

There are others, but I hope this helps.

As for your question about schools taking individual course loads into account, I have heard this as well. IMO, your military service will cause your GPA deficit to not be as harsh. How many years have you been out of school? The longer you've been out, the less your GPA will sting your application--again, IMO. I think you have a good shot at GWU if you ED (which is a full tuition scholarship.) UVA I'm not sure, leaning more toward rejection, but I could be wrong. I think you're in at all of the other schools on the list, with serious money for a few of them.

Best of luck! I hope your cycle goes well.

[BeenDidThat]

Your attendance of the Naval Academy will definitely be taken into account. It's hard to know just how much, but I'd say you're in everywhere where your LSAT is at median, and maybe even some where it's below that. For the law schools, it's a balancing act between wanting good applicants and wanting to maintain rankings, which are determined largely by GPA/LSAT. If you can throw them a bone by not hurting them on both LSAT and GPA, they will want to snatch up somebody who is an objectively better applicant than someone with the same numbers who majored in communications at Penn State (first school that came to mind, not a specific knock).