Last time I posted in this forum it was almost 2 yrs ago and I was in the last semester of undergrad, desperately trying to get into law school with horrible numbers. My LSDAS GPA was 2.6 and my first-time take of the LSAT was a sorry-ass 150 (though I had been getting higher practice scores). I took the advice I was given by most people and just decided to study more, re-take the LSAT, and apply later rather than settle for lower ranked schools. I'm planning on applying for Fall 2013 admission.

My numbers now:

LSDAS GPA: 2.7 (my last semester of school pushed me up .1) /Degree GPA: 3.55
LSAT: 172 (I finally took a course and gave myself the proper time to study and killed it)

Also, since ugrad I've gotten nearly two years of good work experience in the public sector and volunteer experience as a CASA (court-appointed special advocate for children). I'm an African-American male, TX resident, went to a small state school, and majored in Political Science. My GPA is low due to horrible grades in a different major during my first two years of ugrad, but my transcript shows an upward trend. I'm open to practicing in the CA Bay Area, DC, or in the South (preferably TX, GA, NC, TN, FL).

I don't even know what to think about my numbers... that GPA is still pretty shitty. I've seen what Law School Predictor says about my chances at ideal schools like Berkeley (deny), Virginia (weak consider), Duke (deny), Georgetown (deny), Texas (weak consider), Vandy (weak consider), and Emory (weak consider).

Does anyone think my chances at any of these schools are better than LSP is telling me? Also, am I going to have a hard time explaining that jump from 150 to 172?

Yes.

No

Holy shit dude, that's a huge jump! Congrats and good luck on your cycle. Great to know that sometimes people take the advice on TLS to heart

WHY TO SHOOT ! It can be done !

Thanks. Haha, yeah as I started getting deny letters in the mail and then scrambling late in the cycle to apply to schools ranked lower and lower with late application deadlines I thought "hmmm... maybe I really should just wait it out and re-take the LSAT".

Also, I guess a better question would be do I have a chance at getting any $$$ at any of those schools?

PM'd you

Enjoy Northwestern!

For the others, I don't know if URMs have the same GPA floor everyone else does. If not you stand a great chance at Michigan, UVA and GULC

The thing about LSP is that the pool of minority applicants it draws from is much smaller, so its predictions are usually not as accurate. I can't give you any solid predictions, but I would encourage you to apply early in the cycle (not ED) to a few of the T14s and see what happens. Congrats on the increase!

Definitely add Northwestern to your list. They're very splitter-friendly and will like your work experience.

This. Also, major congratulations. What a good example of how much focus and maturity can change your options. You should be very proud.

Def. NU and UVA, maybe ED to your favorite of the two? Maybe also apply to some safeties with fullrides (IDK if WUSTL has a GPA floor, but maybe something in that range).

PS congrats on your retake, an epic increase.

Thanks all for the congratulations and suggestions. I will definitely consider applying to Northwestern!



Why would you suggest applying early but not necessarily ED?

Conventional wisdom is EDing somewhere lowers your chance at scholarship money. Northwestern was the exception this year where ED admits were awarded full tuition scholarships.

You probably won't need the boost. You'll snag at least one T14 acceptance without doing it.

Yeah I wouldn't ED because I think your cycle is going to be too predictable. I think you're T14 secure, you shouldn't limit your options