176, 3.7 LSAC GPA Forum

[PetriRo]

Hey Everybody,

I'm currently a junior at an Ivy League school studying Computer Science, and I was wondering what my chances would be if I applied to law school next cycle. I retook a 174 and got a 176, and my GPA is hovering around a 3.7.

I'm aiming for the top four law schools, and am wondering what my chances would be now and after working for a year / two years!


Thanks so much!

[vzapana]

Hey Everybody,

I'm currently a junior at an Ivy League school studying Computer Science, and I was wondering what my chances would be if I applied to law school next cycle. I retook a 174 and got a 176, and my GPA is hovering around a 3.7.

I'm aiming for the top four law schools, and am wondering what my chances would be now and after working for a year / two years!


Thanks so much!

what are your softs? i can see getting hls/cls easily (barring poor LORs/seriously underwhelming personal statement), but sls/yls are harder to get. those schools would really pay attention to the soft stuff.

[jetsfan1]

Get your gpa up as high as possible please please please. Take easy classes, do whatever it takes

[dcg2120]

Hey Everybody,

I'm currently a junior at an Ivy League school studying Computer Science, and I was wondering what my chances would be if I applied to law school next cycle. I retook a 174 and got a 176, and my GPA is hovering around a 3.7.

I'm aiming for the top four law schools, and am wondering what my chances would be now and after working for a year / two years!


Thanks so much!

vzapana's probably correct. I have very similar stats (3.69/177) and ended up with H and Columbia, reject from Yale, waiting on S (assuming WL/reject).

[LSATSCORES2012]

I'd say you're in at CCN... Harvard is a possibility given the Ivy undergrad but not very likely.

If you can get that GPA up to 3.75, it'll help your chances at H and Chicago tremendously.

With your current GPA:



With a 3.75:



With a 3.77:

[PetriRo]

In terms of softs, I did/am doing research and am working this summer in the financial industry at a well-known firm. Unfortunately a majority of my time on campus is devoted to academia; I am doing two majors and CS is a killer.

Damn! The data speaks for itself, I'm going to have to get cracking to raise my GPA.

Thanks so much! All this information is gold

[radar714]

also remember that you can take community college classes to boost your GPA so long as you haven't graduated. Once you graduate the GPA is locked in, wish I had known this so be sure to take full advantage and maximize your options!

[vzapana]

also remember that you can take community college classes to boost your GPA so long as you haven't graduated. Once you graduate the GPA is locked in, wish I had known this so be sure to take full advantage and maximize your options!

But a strong summer internship can mean more than the at most 0.05 boost to your gpa. So weigh your options carefully

[052220151]

also remember that you can take community college classes to boost your GPA so long as you haven't graduated. Once you graduate the GPA is locked in, wish I had known this so be sure to take full advantage and maximize your options!

But a strong summer internship can mean more than the at most 0.05 boost to your gpa. So weigh your options carefully

Really? I would think that bumping up to a 3.75 would be much more advantageous than an internship. Internships aren't impressive.

[Ti Malice]

Hey Everybody,

I'm currently a junior at an Ivy League school studying Computer Science, and I was wondering what my chances would be if I applied to law school next cycle. I retook a 174 and got a 176, and my GPA is hovering around a 3.7.

I'm aiming for the top four law schools, and am wondering what my chances would be now and after working for a year / two years!


Thanks so much!

what are your softs? i can see getting hls/cls easily (barring poor LORs/seriously underwhelming personal statement), but sls/yls are harder to get. those schools would really pay attention to the soft stuff.

YLS and SLS also have a pretty firm 3.8 GPA floor.

Which leads me to the comment about the internship. Internships are not strong softs. Bumping a GPA by .05 beats the hell out of the usual "strong" undergrad internship.

[sinfiery]

Yeah, you are near the point where gaming your GPA would make a significant impact on admissions. For scholarships at CCN and down and for YS

Ivy + CS will probably help out on the softs front already

HCCN should be in the bag.

[vzapana]

i'm going to stick to what i said, only because i'm not convinced he has strong enough softs atm to make the 3.75 gpa look good to sls or yls. sls has been taking people as low as 3.5 gpa, according to lsn, and that's probably because softs really are much more important to the school. yls isn't going to be easy with either 3.7 or 3.75, but no softs will definitely be a death knell. if he had spectacular softs in his pocket, i'd agree with the gpa strategy. atm, though, i think the optimal strategy is get a stellar internship and kill senior year.

[052220151]

i'm going to stick to what i said, only because i'm not convinced he has strong enough softs atm to make the 3.75 gpa look good to sls or yls. sls has been taking people as low as 3.5 gpa, according to lsn, and that's probably because softs really are much more important to the school. yls isn't going to be easy with either 3.7 or 3.75, but no softs will definitely be a death knell. if he had spectacular softs in his pocket, i'd agree with the gpa strategy. atm, though, i think the optimal strategy is get a stellar internship and kill senior year.

You're missing the point. Internships aren't good softs. If you want WE, go work. If you want TFA/whatever, do it. No one cares if you answered phones for two months in DC. I honestly believe that adcoms rank internships below WE, even if that WE is Starbucks.

OP, take a year or two off, work in Computer Science, drink beer, and try to get laid as often as possible. Law School will still be there. Take your time. Either way, you'll have fantastic options.

[tirakon]

i'm going to stick to what i said, only because i'm not convinced he has strong enough softs atm to make the 3.75 gpa look good to sls or yls. sls has been taking people as low as 3.5 gpa, according to lsn, and that's probably because softs really are much more important to the school. yls isn't going to be easy with either 3.7 or 3.75, but no softs will definitely be a death knell. if he had spectacular softs in his pocket, i'd agree with the gpa strategy. atm, though, i think the optimal strategy is get a stellar internship and kill senior year.

You're missing the point. Internships aren't good softs. If you want WE, go work. If you want TFA/whatever, do it. No one cares if you answered phones for two months in DC. I honestly believe that adcoms rank internships below WE, even if that WE is Starbucks.

I don't buy this. I'm a K-JD accepted at all 3 of HYS, and I believe my internships--all of which I think could be objectively described as very impressive--played a big role in my success. JS had lots of questions about them in my interview, and seemed very excited by them.

Feel free to PM me for more details.

(That said, I think the numbers pretty convincingly show that the OP could greatly improve his/her chances by raising his/her GPA .05-.1 points.)

[052220151]

i'm going to stick to what i said, only because i'm not convinced he has strong enough softs atm to make the 3.75 gpa look good to sls or yls. sls has been taking people as low as 3.5 gpa, according to lsn, and that's probably because softs really are much more important to the school. yls isn't going to be easy with either 3.7 or 3.75, but no softs will definitely be a death knell. if he had spectacular softs in his pocket, i'd agree with the gpa strategy. atm, though, i think the optimal strategy is get a stellar internship and kill senior year.

You're missing the point. Internships aren't good softs. If you want WE, go work. If you want TFA/whatever, do it. No one cares if you answered phones for two months in DC. I honestly believe that adcoms rank internships below WE, even if that WE is Starbucks.

I don't buy this. I'm a K-JD accepted at all 3 of HYS, and I believe my internships--all of which I think could be objectively described as very impressive--played a big role in my success. JS had lots of questions about them in my interview, and seemed very excited by them.

Feel free to PM me for more details.

(That said, I think the numbers pretty convincingly show that the OP could greatly improve his/her chances by raising his/her GPA .05-.1 points.)

Just post your stats, bro.

[tirakon]

i'm going to stick to what i said, only because i'm not convinced he has strong enough softs atm to make the 3.75 gpa look good to sls or yls. sls has been taking people as low as 3.5 gpa, according to lsn, and that's probably because softs really are much more important to the school. yls isn't going to be easy with either 3.7 or 3.75, but no softs will definitely be a death knell. if he had spectacular softs in his pocket, i'd agree with the gpa strategy. atm, though, i think the optimal strategy is get a stellar internship and kill senior year.

You're missing the point. Internships aren't good softs. If you want WE, go work. If you want TFA/whatever, do it. No one cares if you answered phones for two months in DC. I honestly believe that adcoms rank internships below WE, even if that WE is Starbucks.

I don't buy this. I'm a K-JD accepted at all 3 of HYS, and I believe my internships--all of which I think could be objectively described as very impressive--played a big role in my success. JS had lots of questions about them in my interview, and seemed very excited by them.

Feel free to PM me for more details.

(That said, I think the numbers pretty convincingly show that the OP could greatly improve his/her chances by raising his/her GPA .05-.1 points.)

Just post your stats, bro.

174/3.9.

Pretty strong, but also pretty run of the mill for HS and certainly wouldn't turn heads at Yale.

[NoodleyOne]

I love that stupid shit. "I really think my softs made a difference", then posts a 3.9/174. Fuck off.

[052220151]

I love that stupid shit. "I really think my softs made a difference", then posts a 3.9/174. Fuck off.

INORITE?

[trojandave]

OP, those are my stats exactly from this cycle. No Y or S for me, but H on down worked out. I've been out of school a few more years though and have some really unique work experience in a non-legal field, which I think helped. Just do what you can to be unique in your essays and letters of rec and you'll be fine. H is always a tossup but you'll be in the game. The ones below HYS should be right in your wheelhouse

[pupshaw]

3.75/177 here. WL at Y, rejected at S, in at H and below.

Like others have said, you're probably safe at CCN with a decent shot at H. Really try to keep that GPA over 3.7.

[mindarmed]

Why do people poast stats like this? Go burn in a fucking fire bro

[mephistopheles]

Why do people poast stats like this? Go burn in a fucking fire bro

[banjo]

Had a 176/3.76 and ended up with ccn but not h, so I disagree that H is in the bag. I think leaving a grad degree early hurt me, but a phd dropout just became dean of NYU law so maybe that wasn't it.

[Dr. Dre]

Internships aren't impressive.

[jbagelboy]

also remember that you can take community college classes to boost your GPA so long as you haven't graduated. Once you graduate the GPA is locked in, wish I had known this so be sure to take full advantage and maximize your options!

But a strong summer internship can mean more than the at most 0.05 boost to your gpa. So weigh your options carefully

Really? I would think that bumping up to a 3.75 would be much more advantageous than an internship. Internships aren't impressive.

this is major horseshit