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Needless to say, I don't feel comfortable using the law school predictor with a serious blemish like a suspension on my transcript. Specifically, it was for possession and use of cocaine my junior year, but I have no criminal record. It was handled all internally by the university - not sure if that makes any difference. 4 years later, what are my chances at GULC, other T-14's, and T-30's at large like WUSTL? I realize my GPA pretty much auto-precludes me from T-6.

LSAT: 175
GPA: 3.25 (3.8 departmental)
School: HYP
Sex: male
Race/Ethn: Hispanic
Softs: Masters in Spanish lit from U of Barcelona; 2 years (including year suspended) working for boutique consulting firm
+Strong recs, carefully crafted statements...etc etc
Years out of UG: 3-4

For those who don't mind answering a couple other q's:
+ How much would 2 or 3 more years work experience do, in the context of an application, for distancing myself from the suspension?
+ Given I have no criminal record and it's been a handful of years since, how much impact will my mistake in college have on how my numbers are evaluated?
+ Would applying ED/EA make a difference in my case?

Thanks to all who respond.

What type of Hispanic?

"Other Hispanic"

I say only apply to the T14. you've been out of school for a while; everyone makes mistakes. turn it into a positive for your essays or something. you aren't really a splitter. your numbers are good (great) and you're URM; you'll have really good options.

mountaintime wrote:I say only apply to the T14. you've been out of school for a while; everyone makes mistakes. turn it into a positive for your essays or something. you aren't really a splitter. your numbers are good (great) and you're URM; you'll have really good options.

His GPA is mediocre at best, his LSAT is excellent. He's a splitter.

bk187 wrote:

mountaintime wrote:I say only apply to the T14. you've been out of school for a while; everyone makes mistakes. turn it into a positive for your essays or something. you aren't really a splitter. your numbers are good (great) and you're URM; you'll have really good options.

His GPA is mediocre at best, his LSAT is excellent. He's a splitter.

i realize that different people have different definitions for "splitter," but this guy has a a decent GPA and a great LSAT score. Even without URM, this guy is looking at T10, probably T6. if the gpa keeps someone out of HYS, and that's it, it's not a splitter GPA. hell, if he can sell it well, he'll be in at one of HYS. splitter is like sub 3.0 gpa.

mountaintime wrote:i realize that different people have different definitions for "splitter," but this guy has a a decent GPA and a great LSAT score. Even without URM, this guy is looking at T10, probably T6. if the gpa keeps someone out of HYS, and that's it, it's not a splitter GPA. hell, if he can sell it well, he'll be in at one of HYS. splitter is like sub 3.0 gpa.

That GPA keeps him out of more than HYS. All the splitter unfriendly schools are going to an uphill battle. Boalt, UChi, UT, UCLA, etc are all more likely to waitlist than accept him (and some won't even waitlist).

Not to mention that URM status is less beneficial for people with low GPA's than it is for people with low LSAT's. There will always be quibbling over what splitter means, but below 3.0 is clearly too narrow and I'm fairly sure than 3.25 is solidly within the splitter range.

fine, but this person is basically guaranteed NYU, so who cares about boalt and below?

mountaintime wrote:fine, but this person is basically guaranteed NYU, so who cares about boalt and below?

Someone who wants scholarship money rather than sticker? Someone who wants to be in CA, TX, etc? Someone who doesn't have any desire to work in NYC?

bk187 wrote:

mountaintime wrote:fine, but this person is basically guaranteed NYU, so who cares about boalt and below?

Someone who wants scholarship money rather than sticker? Someone who wants to be in CA, TX, etc? Someone who doesn't have any desire to work in NYC?

where is that mentioned in the original post? fine, you made your point re: GPA / school choices.

mountaintime wrote:where is that mentioned in the original post? fine, you made your point re: GPA / school choices.

It's not. But neither does OP say that he wants the best ranked school no matter what.

mountaintime wrote: hell, if he can sell it well, he'll be in at one of HYS.

What? That's completely wrong. OP is not URM. Very few non-URMs get into HYS with GPAs in the 3.7-3.8 range, let alone with a 3.25.

mountaintime wrote:fine, but this person is basically guaranteed NYU, so who cares about boalt and below?

OP, go look at LSN. You are not "guaranteed" RD at NYU, TCR is ED to your preference of CCN to give yourself a good shot. As a big splitter, you should blanket the T14, but besides Northwestern, I don't think any of them are guarantees.

Conventional wisdom is that splitters don't get much money from the T14, so you may be looking at sticker even in the lower T14. Northwestern might throw some money your way though given your strong WE.

isn't "other hispanic" URM?

mountaintime wrote:isn't "other hispanic" URM?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the URM application boost only consistently applies to Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, AAs, and NAs.

Nelson wrote:

mountaintime wrote:isn't "other hispanic" URM?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the URM application boost only consistently applies to Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, AAs, and NAs.

i've been under the impression that they're all a little different, but that the hierarchy of helpfulness basically goes NA>AA>MA>OH/PR... it's still better than white/asian, especially if the person is from south america instead of europe

mountaintime wrote:

Nelson wrote:

mountaintime wrote:isn't "other hispanic" URM?

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the URM application boost only consistently applies to Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, AAs, and NAs.

i've been under the impression that they're all a little different, but that the hierarchy of helpfulness basically goes NA>AA>MA>OH/PR... it's still better than white/asian, especially if the person is from south america instead of europe

PR is lumped with the URMs, OH is not. MA/PR/NA/AA all get consistent bumps (some more than others, but they are large and substantial). OH sometimes get bumps, sometimes not, and if they do it is not close to the URM bump. This means that for the most part OH cycles tend to fall closer to non-URM cycles than they do to URM cycles.