Top Law Schools

Just got my LSAT score back, not too pleased. Wanted >170 to offset my low GPA from a double major engineering degree at berkeley (mechanical & materials science). I have a 3.2 and scored 167.

WAMC at any of the top 10? I want to study IP and am also the manager of the largest student group on campus. I deal with funding and contracts all day and have held this position for 3 years.

Should i just suck it up and retake the LSAT?

Negligible chance at any in the top 17 or so. Yes retake. If you can get up to 172 or so you'd have a crack at UVA, Northwestern, Georgetown, maybe Michigan. The 3.2 will rule out the t6, berkeley, penn, even if you had a high 170s LSAT.

even though i'm a double major engineering (at the second best engineering school in the country) looking to do patent? that doesn't compensate for my gpa at all?

rklo131 wrote:even though i'm a double major engineering (at the second best engineering school in the country) looking to do patent? that doesn't compensate for my gpa at all?

Nope.

hmmm anyone know of any ACTUAL cases of double major engineers applying to law?

i don't mean to sound stubborn or anything and I realize my chances are slim with the 3.2, but i only know of one berkeley engineer who applied to law school. got into Penn with a 3.1, 172, and single major (in a not-as-technical type of engineering).

thoughts on that?

i know that at berkeley, mechanical engineering has an EXTREMELY deflated gpa (i've heard that it's the worst of any college in the country)--an average of 2.7 mandated by the department. wouldn't boalt be aware of this?

[]

rklo131 wrote:hmmm anyone know of any ACTUAL cases of double major engineers applying to law?

i don't mean to sound stubborn or anything and I realize my chances are slim with the 3.2, but i only know of one berkeley engineer who applied to law school. got into Penn with a 3.1, 172, and single major (in a not-as-technical type of engineering).

thoughts on that?

i know that at berkeley, mechanical engineering has an EXTREMELY deflated gpa (i've heard that it's the worst of any college in the country)--an average of 2.7 mandated by the department. wouldn't boalt be aware of this?

A double engineering degree will be a great asset during OCI, but admissions is 98% numbers.

I actually think you'll get a little slack because of the Berkley Engineering. But even if they gave you a .4 boost in your GPA (which is a lot more than you'd get) you'd still never get into the T14. The engineering is a good soft factor. If you hit 170, you'll get Northwestern, GULC, maybe even Michigan or Penn. But it's not enough to overcome a poor GPA and a poor LSAT.

You need to retake. No harm, you can't apply til September anyway.

Also, stop fronting 'bout your double major. MechE + MatSci isn't much harder than just MechE. You are just taking all your electives in one field instead of spreading them around.

rklo131 wrote:hmmm anyone know of any ACTUAL cases of double major engineers applying to law?

i don't mean to sound stubborn or anything and I realize my chances are slim with the 3.2, but i only know of one berkeley engineer who applied to law school. got into Penn with a 3.1, 172, and single major (in a not-as-technical type of engineering).

thoughts on that?

i know that at berkeley, mechanical engineering has an EXTREMELY deflated gpa (i've heard that it's the worst of any college in the country)--an average of 2.7 mandated by the department. wouldn't boalt be aware of this?

He had a 172. You have a 167. Gotta give the LSAT another shot.

rklo131 wrote:hmmm anyone know of any ACTUAL cases of double major engineers applying to law?

i don't mean to sound stubborn or anything and I realize my chances are slim with the 3.2, but i only know of one berkeley engineer who applied to law school. got into Penn with a 3.1, 172, and single major (in a not-as-technical type of engineering).

thoughts on that?

i know that at berkeley, mechanical engineering has an EXTREMELY deflated gpa (i've heard that it's the worst of any college in the country)--an average of 2.7 mandated by the department. wouldn't boalt be aware of this?

Triple Major, with ChemE as my leading engineering degree. You will get a MVP to bite, but t6 is out without ED, and berk has too high a GPA floor

@ desert fox

actually the degree is significantly harder considering i'm replacing a ton of units of electives with techs...i have to take double the lab classes and the techs for MSE are significantly harder than those for ME (so don't even get me started on how much harder those techs are than simple electives in ME). unless you're an ME+MSE at cal I don't think you really have the authority to judge. and if you are, kudos. All i know is that if i had only done mech, i could have graduated this year (a year early) easily.

so no, i'm not fronting. try taking 12 techs in 10 months and get back to me on how that goes for you.

How about instead of being so defensive you actually listen to the advice being given. EVEN IF your GPA is viewed favorably, your LSAT is too low for the top 10 schools you're aiming for. Your difficulty of major/school isn't going to affect how your LSAT is viewed, so you need to retake.

I think the problem is that there are a lot of engineers/hard science majors with good grades in those areas. For example, I have a friend who is a math/physics double major (presumably as intense as your matsi/mech double major), but he has a 3.89 GPA.
That said, I think re-take, and if you can get it up to ~172, you will have a shot at lower-T14 schools.

@dany

I appreciate all the advice being given and i'm definitely listening to it. I was simply defending my major on a separate note because there was no need for @desert fox to tack that rude comment onto the end of his advice. i didn't ask for people's opinions on how difficult my major is, just my chances at getting into law school. whether or not i get into/end up going to law school, i know how much work i've put into my time as an ugrad, perhaps indicated by the fact that i already have a job offer at boeing if law doesn't pan out.

but anyway i guess i'll be retaking the LSAT in october since i'll be out of the country over the summer. i guess that squashes my chances at ED. maybe i'll take a year off...

The October LSAT won't affect your ability to ED anywhere.

and @expelliarmus

oh that's definitely true; there are tons of engineers with better GPA's then me, i just wasn't (still am not) sure how many of those really smart engineer-types apply to law school hahaha.

so far i'm the only one in my majors i've heard of that's taking this path, so it's just hard to gauge my competition i guess.

@Tiago Splitter

really?? that's good to know. i obviously haven't done too much research into physical apps & deadlines yet (trying to take one step at a time) and assumed ED would be around then.

rklo131 wrote:@Tiago Splitter

really?? that's good to know. i obviously haven't done too much research into physical apps & deadlines yet (trying to take one step at a time) and assumed ED would be around then.

No worries just put your all into studying for that test. The ED deadlines for every T-14 come after the October score release.

rklo131 wrote:@desert fox to tack that rude comment onto the end of his advice.

FYI, that wasn't a rude comment by TLS or really any standard. Dude did engineering too so he knows about it, and you also came off too self conscious about your engineering double major.

It's definitely unfair certain majors and schools get the shaft for not inflating their UG GPA and I know it seems hard to believe especially from an engineer's mentality when GPA inequalities are widely known. But the only way you can mitigate it now is by raising your LSAT, you can do it.

Retake, see also: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 6&t=179084.

rklo131 wrote:@ desert fox

actually the degree is significantly harder considering i'm replacing a ton of units of electives with techs...i have to take double the lab classes and the techs for MSE are significantly harder than those for ME (so don't even get me started on how much harder those techs are than simple electives in ME). unless you're an ME+MSE at cal I don't think you really have the authority to judge. and if you are, kudos. All i know is that if i had only done mech, i could have graduated this year (a year early) easily.

so no, i'm not fronting. try taking 12 techs in 10 months and get back to me on how that goes for you.

Please, all engineers do entirely technical electives after sophomore year. Most it after Freshman if they have AP credits.