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3.75/165 phd

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 10:31 am
by mmk33
I took the october LSAT and bombed: 165, which is 5-6 points below my PT average and lower than any PT except the diagnostic. I am applying to four schools (wake forest, unc, UVA, and duke), and I have a somewhat unique profile in that I have an ivy league phd and am currently a professor. The question is does it make sense to send materials now and then send the December LSAT when it's available (I'm retaking), or hold everything back until the new score is available. Undergrad gpa of 3.75 from a top twenty school, grad school gpa of 4.0.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:21 am
by mmk33
Can anyone comment on this and disregard the phd part?

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 6:54 pm
by Grizz

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:22 pm
by mmk33
Not sure what this means. Phd does not equal super softs?

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:25 pm
by law4vus
mmk33 wrote:
Not sure what this means. Phd does not equal super softs?
Nope. Unfortunately that 4.0 grad GPA is all for naught if you want to go to law school.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 10:39 pm
by mmk33
law4vus wrote:
mmk33 wrote:
Not sure what this means. Phd does not equal super softs?
Nope. Unfortunately that 4.0 grad GPA is all for naught if you want to go to law school.
That's fine, it doesn't matter. If phd is no big deal that's fine if you think that, but I ask you to disregard and I get no answer.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 11:01 pm
by Grizz
mmk33 wrote:
Not sure what this means. Phd does not equal super softs?
PhD = no big deal for law school admissions.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:28 am
by Bodhi_mind
You're doing the right thing by retaking. I'd wait until you get your December score then hold off applying until next cycle. Your LSAT needs to be in that practice test range for UVA or Duke, and it would help you out at UNC and Wake as well

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:55 am
by mmk33
Bodhi_mind wrote:You're doing the right thing by retaking. I'd wait until you get your December score then hold off applying until next cycle. Your LSAT needs to be in that practice test range for UVA or Duke, and it would help you out at UNC and Wake as well
My plan is to do this (hold back everything until late december), but I'm not going to wait until next year to apply. This time I'm trying to take the pressure off, and taking the view that even 168/169/170 (bottom half of my range) I should have an excellent chance at UVA/Duke. Its really funny how much hate there is on here for the Phd, since most of the people who comment on it seem to be still in college, and the few people who have PMed me to share their numbers suggests that having a Phd actually does make a significant difference in admissions, though it is hard to quantify exactly how much.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 10:55 am
by Bodhi_mind
I'm not hating on your PhD I think that's badass. What's it in? Good call on the retake, although I still encourage you to not be dead set on being a law professor because that's tough

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 11:21 am
by mmk33
I'm actually not sure if I will teach or practice, or some combination. I think I will likely end up at Duke, and as far as I can tell the academic law market is nearly as bad as the job market in the humanities.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:18 pm
by jim-green
mmk33 wrote:ts really funny how much hate there is on here for the Phd, since most of the people who comment on it seem to be still in college, and the few people who have PMed me to share their numbers suggests that having a Phd actually does make a significant difference in admissions, though it is hard to quantify exactly how much.
Where is the hate?

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 12:49 pm
by law4vus
jim-green wrote:
mmk33 wrote:ts really funny how much hate there is on here for the Phd, since most of the people who comment on it seem to be still in college, and the few people who have PMed me to share their numbers suggests that having a Phd actually does make a significant difference in admissions, though it is hard to quantify exactly how much.
Where is the hate?
Yeah, I don't see the "hate" either. All I said was it isn't a huge factor in admissions because the USNews rankings only use undergrad GPA for reporting purposes.

PhDs are seen to be a good soft, but we know that softs don't matter all that much for LS admissions. I don't know why OP thinks we're hating on him. I wish I pursued a PhD instead of going to law school. lol

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 1:40 pm
by Bodhi_mind
You gonna answer my question?

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:46 pm
by jim-green
Bodhi_mind wrote:You gonna answer my question?
I don't know the answer, sorry.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 2:53 pm
by masochist
I only half agree with this. My Ph.D. seemed to have a modest effect upon admissions but a big impact on scholarships.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:41 pm
by Bodhi_mind
Oh no worries I'm talking to OP
jim-green wrote:
Bodhi_mind wrote:You gonna answer my question?
I don't know the answer, sorry.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 4:49 pm
by 180asBreath
masochist wrote:
I only half agree with this. My Ph.D. seemed to have a modest effect upon admissions but a big impact on scholarships.
Do tell...

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 5:25 pm
by masochist
180asBreath wrote:
masochist wrote:
I only half agree with this. My Ph.D. seemed to have a modest effect upon admissions but a big impact on scholarships.
Do tell...
Well, my rejections and acceptances were pretty much what would have been expected based upon my numbers, although I think I was waitlisted some places that would have rejected if I did not have a Ph.D. (like Berkeley). However, the scholarships I was offered were much higher than I would have anticipated based upon what other people got with similar numbers.

My interpretation of all of this is that schools are not willing to endanger their medians to take someone with a Ph.D., but they do value terminal degrees and are willing to pay a premium to try to get students who have them once their medians are secure.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 5:39 pm
by neimanmarxist
masochist wrote:
I only half agree with this. My Ph.D. seemed to have a modest effect upon admissions but a big impact on scholarships.



+1

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 6:29 pm
by 180asBreath
Thanks for the info, OP.

neiman, care to expound on that?

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 7:34 pm
by neimanmarxist
180asBreath wrote:Thanks for the info, OP.

neiman, care to expound on that?
pm'd

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 8:03 pm
by mmk33
jim-green wrote:
mmk33 wrote:ts really funny how much hate there is on here for the Phd, since most of the people who comment on it seem to be still in college, and the few people who have PMed me to share their numbers suggests that having a Phd actually does make a significant difference in admissions, though it is hard to quantify exactly how much.
Where is the hate?
The only person who I thought was hatting was Grizzle. The "NBD" comment just strikes me as a really flippant dismissal, and as I said above from what I can gather it does make some difference in both admissions and scholarship decisions.

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 7:00 pm
by WSJ_Law
Greetings,

Your TTT phd doesnt mean anything.

Enjoy wake forest

Re: 3.75/165 phd

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2011 7:48 pm
by 180asBreath
^ Why the hostility?