Illinois State, Sociology major, Any luck Forum

[bacrane24]

Hello everyone

This is my first post on this board, been peaking around for the last two days and decided to put myself out there.

Graduated from Illinois State University (Spring 2010)

Sociology major
Criminal Justice minor
3.5 gpa
Involved in Social fraternity, served two board positions
TA for Sociology professor whom was past Co-Chair on ASA Section on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis
Worked full time during school, was "full time" student, but that was 12/hr semesters, went to school for 5 years
Been working full time past 1.5 years in a prison as a security guard.

Getting ready to prepare for the LSAT

Lets assume I'm super lucky and manage a 170 on the test, what are my chances of getting into a great law school?

My target school is UT, am I screwed with my gpa and the fact that I went to school for 5 years, also ISU, is that considered a crap school? Now that I'm ready to take the next steps, I am scared that even with a great lsat score that I'm screwed.

White male, 25 years old, grew up in a small farming community of 500 residents.
Parents have attained no higher education than high school.
I'm scared to look at the responses

[tmon]

There aren't many schools you're "shut out of" at this point. You should focus on really nailing the LSAT though, because it takes a good amount of work for most people to get a 170+, and luck isn't really a factor.

[bacrane24]

Absolutely correct, won't rely on luck.

I am ready to put the effort in, willing to study my butt off for 6 months if need be.

Aside from a breathtaking lsat score, is there anything at this point I can do to increase my chances, or is it too late, or do my credentials not look that bad?

Do i stand a chance with UT?

[blurbz]

Absolutely correct, won't rely on luck.

I am ready to put the effort in, willing to study my butt off for 6 months if need be.

Aside from a breathtaking lsat score, is there anything at this point I can do to increase my chances, or is it too late, or do my credentials not look that bad?

Do i stand a chance with UT?

Work experience will always help, but besides that there's not too much you can do now because your gpa is set in stone. Just rock the lsat.

I think your work experience is good just tie it into why you want to go to law school when you write your ps.

[tmon]

You're definitely on the lower end for Texas because they tend to prefer higher GPAs. If you can score into the 170s you'd have a shot though. Check out lawschoolnumbers.com for more info on who gets in with what numbers. If you have Texas residency that would be a big help too. Probably not much you can do at this point that's more important than the LSAT. It's definitely the last thing you have control over that makes a huge impact on your admission decisions. Make sure you check out the LSAT forum and start figuring out how you'll prep. Work experience can be helpful though, and a lot of schools like to see maturity in applicants, which may be easier to demonstrate in your resume and personal statement with work experience.

eta: tl:dr, what blubz said

[Tom Joad]

Get a 171 and you are in. Nothing else matters.

[bacrane24]

I have read that about the residency issue. Would it be to my advantage to go ahead and move down there now, I read it takes one year of living and/or working down there to obtain residency, yet renting a place to live down there does not count for obtaining residency, so not sure how to work that angle.

I have read that diversity is advantageous, though I am a white male, would they still view me as a diverse applicant: living in Illinois, growing up/living in a very small community, working in a prison, the first in my family to attain professional education attainment, etc?

Another idea, should I go back to ISU, get another degree in per se communications and try to attain a 4.0 or would that just be a waste of another two years.

[top30man]

Get a 171 and you are in. Nothing else matters.

[tmon]

I have read that about the residency issue. Would it be to my advantage to go ahead and move down there now, I read it takes one year of living and/or working down there to obtain residency, yet renting a place to live down there does not count for obtaining residency, so not sure how to work that angle.

I have read that diversity is advantageous, though I am a white male, would they still view me as a diverse applicant: living in Illinois, growing up/living in a very small community, working in a prison, the first in my family to attain professional education attainment, etc?

Another idea, should I go back to ISU, get another degree in per se communications and try to attain a 4.0 or would that just be a waste of another two years.

Nothing beyond undergrad counts for your LSAC GPA, which is what counts. Don't get a useless degree.

You aren't diverse in a URM sense, but that could be personal statement or diversity statement material.

You'd need to do more research on Texas requirements, but a lot of states require you to either marry a resident or move there for a reason other than school (like work). Again, no idea how it works for Texas, but I'm sure with some research you can figure that out. Don't move unless you have a damn good reason at this point, considering you have a lot of work before you can even consider the possibility of getting into UT.

[JohnDorian]

-

[JohnDorian]

-

[Richie Tenenbaum]

1) Your GPA will not shut you out of most schools and it will not shut you out of being competitive for UT.
2) Your work experience (during undergrad AND post-graduation) is a positive factor that you should emphasis in your application.
3) Where you went to undergrad doesn't really matter
4) Your focus should be on getting as higher as possible on the LSAT. You really need at minimum around a 168 and most likely a 170+ to be competitive.
5) It's hard to gain residency. A loophole was closed with owning land (but not living on it) a year in advance. Maybe you have to go as far as to buy property and live on it for a year prior to starting school? For better info, maybe call or email what is listed below: From UT Admissions FAQ: http://www.utexas.edu/law/admissions/jd/faqs.php

Questions concerning a candidate’s classification as a resident or as a nonresident should be addressed to Residency Officer, Graduate and International Admissions Center, The University of Texas, P.O. Box 7608, Austin, TX 78713-7608; telephone: (512) 475-7391.

Also, if you're desperate and don't care about the money, plenty of splitters make it in early decision.

UT's early decision application is not binding--unless it has changed in the last 2-3 years.

[JohnDorian]

-

[CanadianWolf]

OP: UT adcomms might find you interesting, but not diverse.