3.59 / 152 Forum

[2LT_CPG]

3.59 with a double major in History and Political Science from a major liberal arts college in the northeast. 152 LSAT. I'm also a Second Lieutenant in the Army National Guard. Looking to apply to the following schools:

CUNY College of Law
SUNY Buffalo
Syracuse University
Albany Law School
Pace University
Rutgers Newark
Rutgers Camden
Quinnipiac University
Suffolk University
UNH - Franklin Pierce
Vermont Law School
University of Maine
Penn State Dickinson
Temple University
Drexel University
Villanova University
Widener University
University of Baltimore
University of Richmond
Catholic University
Howard University
University of Wyoming
Sothwestern Law School
Gonzaga University
Seattle University
Loyola University NOLA
West Virginia University
Michigan State University
Creighton University
St. Louis University

I'm from Pennsylvania but I'm willing to move and practice in any of these areas. Tuition isn't a huge factor; I have a significant amount of money left for my education I didn't spent on undergrad. I'll be transferring to whichever National Guard the school I go to is in, so I'll automatically get in-state tuition.

My top five are probably CUNY, Loyola New Orleans, UBalt, Suffolk, and Albany.

(Note: Spare me the, "Retake and wait a year!" argument. I don't care. I spent $0 on one of the most expensive undergrads in the country and I have a giant savings account as a result.)

[23402385985]

You are basically a 100% in at WVU and WVU should be higher on the list than all of the choices that you mentioned as preferences.

Think you're boned at PSU, Rutgers, Richmond, Catholic, 'Nova, Temple, and perhaps Syracuse, Buffalo and Michigan State.

[jared6180]

try U of Kansas or Washburn, U of Missouri at Kansas City

[franklyscarlet]

Lack of debt aside, it's not worth wasting your savings to go to a school that won't give you a job. If you won't retake, pick a strong flagship state school in a market where you have ties. You need to be looking at which schools will give you the best job opportunities coming out, because your savings won't last forever. I would skip all the New York, DC, and California schools.

I have to say it-- fifteen-eighteen more LSAT points, and your career opportunities rise. Look at my profile-- I am by no means a TLS T-6 or bust person, and I'm still saying this.

[gaud]

Lack of debt aside, it's not worth wasting your savings to go to a school that won't give you a job. If you won't retake, pick a strong flagship state school in a market where you have ties. You need to be looking at which schools will give you the best job opportunities coming out, because your savings won't last forever. I would skip all the New York, DC, and California schools.

I have to say it-- fifteen-eighteen more LSAT points, and your career opportunities rise. Look at my profile-- I am by no means a TLS T-6 or bust person, and I'm still saying this.

+1. OP, at least consider taking a year off for a retake. With a substantial score jump, which is very doable, you could be looking at full or close to full schollys at pretty much all of those schools or even the ability to attend higher ranked institutions

[2LT_CPG]

You are basically a 100% in at WVU and WVU should be higher on the list than all of the choices that you mentioned as preferences.

Think you're boned at PSU, Rutgers, Richmond, Catholic, 'Nova, Temple, and perhaps Syracuse, Buffalo and Michigan State.

Richmond and Catholic gave me application waivers so I thought why not? I didn't expect to anyway but thought the five minutes of applying was worth it. The others you mentioned too. Everything else is roughly doable you'd say then?

[2LT_CPG]

Lack of debt aside, it's not worth wasting your savings to go to a school that won't give you a job. If you won't retake, pick a strong flagship state school in a market where you have ties. You need to be looking at which schools will give you the best job opportunities coming out, because your savings won't last forever. I would skip all the New York, DC, and California schools.

I have to say it-- fifteen-eighteen more LSAT points, and your career opportunities rise. Look at my profile-- I am by no means a TLS T-6 or bust person, and I'm still saying this.

I appreciate the sentiment and honesty, but it's nothing I didn't already know. I spent a full year prepping for the LSAT and never scored higher than a 154; I've always struggled with standardized tests and this was no exception. So I can say with pretty good confidence that if I took another year off, it wouldn't make a difference.

Like I said, I can manage paying sticker for three years of school. I'm willing to move and settle in any of the markets of the schools I listed.

WVU is high on my list.

[2LT_CPG]

How much do my softs make up for the LSAT score? Again, 4-year full academic scholarship to undergrad through ROTC, a few cool summer Army trainings, and my current status as an Army National Guard lieutenant. At school I was a class vice president.

[jared6180]

How much do my softs make up for the LSAT score? Again, 4-year full academic scholarship to undergrad through ROTC, a few cool summer Army trainings, and my current status as an Army National Guard lieutenant. At school I was a class vice president.

From my understanding it seems that if you are a veteran they will flip a coin when making the admissions decision instead of just outright rejecting you. I am a veteran, and I treat the veteran status as a nice thing to have, but if another applicant with the same numbers, and a good soft factor comes along I have to make sure the rest of my application is persuasive enough to get the job done. Describing your service might make for a better personal statement though, and put you over as compared to the other veteran with similar numbers who doesn't bother to highlight the leadership he learned from his time in service. In other words being a veteran has no numerical value, it is like a coupon, it's worth nothing unless you use it for the right product.