Here's my stats:

3.01 Industrial Engineering at U of Iowa (I've heard major doesn't matter)
163 Lsat
8 months work exp. with Whirlpool Corp. as an Industrial Eng.

Are there any T1's that will bite this Fall? T2's in case that is much too ambitious....

Also, I have one year left in my undergrad. I could wait a year to apply and my gpa would increase to 3.11 if anyone thinks that might be a better idea

Thanks guys

You could definitely get T1 acceptances. But where would you like to work? Do you want to stay in the Midwest/Iowa?

I like Chicago

I plan to apply to the big ten schools, Illini, UI Bloom, Wisc etc... and I know those feed there well. Notre Dame is a dream school

IIT Kent seems to cater to engineers with their IP program, and I feel pretty confident about admission there. The three I mentioned earlier are more ideal due to living expenses, prestige, etc.. I don't know how many more doors would be opened int eh Chicago area by attending a Big 10 as opposed to Kent

I should mention I would relocate to just about any region, but the Midwest is preferred

With a year left in undergrad, just focus on school. Can your work experience lead to a full time postgrad offer? With your GPA and Chicago preference, your best option might be a couple of years of work experience and a retake to the 170s, then Northwestern. A high 160s LSAT would also give you options like WUSTL or UIUC with money.

Very helpful advice.

I can definitely parlay my work experience into a full-time position within a corp. How heavily does the area of work experience factor into admission? Realistically I would be hired into an entry-level manufacturing position within a massive corp. There would be little to no parallels to the legal world.

Part of my desire to go to law school stems from wanting to get away from the post-graduate job prospects that would inevitably have me rotting away in a cube at a failing american manufacturing plant....

Maybe I can land myself in consulting!

Hey peaches. It is ok that the full time work has nothing to do with law. It's more about being a grown up, providing for yourself, and showing you are capable of being a productive member of society.

You wont land a consulting job straight out of law school. It just doesnt happen. After working for a firm for some time, you would then be able to lateral into that kind of position.

Iowa/Wisc like seem reasonable Midwest options, but probably not with $$. If I were you, I would retake(June or Oct), get a 4.0 this year (but still appy this fall), take the patent bar, and shoot for IP. If you are no longer intested in science, disregard the science patent bar/IP advice.

If you retake and score 167+, you have a shot at UMN and WUSTL.

Good luck!

These are good options, but I would only go them with substantial money. That's especially true for Kent. I would try and boost your GPA as much as you can and re-take the LSAT if you think you could perform better. With a 3.50/160, Kent offered me 20k/year. Their tuition is ridiculously high and that still wasn't enough for me.