Foreign Lawyer w/ 3 years work exp, Superior, 173+, Master's Forum

[dominicanguy12]

Hi,

-Lawyer from the Dominican Republic. (A country which places very few students in LS in the US, which helps I think, although I am not URM status I believe).

-Graduated with a 3.63/4 from one of the best schools in my country and LSAC rated my GPA as Superior (for the LLM admissions although I think it should be the same for JD).

-Worked for 3 years as a lawyer at a top-ranked Chambers Law firm in the DR.

- Now doing a master's in Public Law in Spain.

I plan to take the LSAT and only apply to the US if i get 173+, which I think I can accomplish, otherwise I probably won't apply because I can't afford it.

Where would I get accepted? Where would I get decent money? (I really need like atleast half tuition to afford it).



Thank you all for your help and I'll stay around to answer any questions!

[Clyde Frog]

Hi,

-Lawyer from the Dominican Republic. (A country which places very few students in LS in the US, which helps I think, although I am not URM status I believe).

-Graduated with a 3.63/4 from one of the best schools in my country and LSAC rated my GPA as Superior (for the LLM admissions although I think it should be the same for JD).

-Worked for 3 years as a lawyer at a top-ranked Chambers Law firm in the DR.

- Now doing a master's in Public Law in Spain.

I plan to take the LSAT and only apply to the US if i get 173+, which I am quite confident I can do.

Where would I get accepted? Where would I get decent money? (I really need like atleast half tuition to afford it).



Thank you all for your help and I'll stay around to answer any questions!

Why are you so confident that you can score that high?

[dominicanguy12]

I'm sorry, I should've worded my post better. What I meant was that I am only going to apply to the US if I get a ~173 because otherwise I don't think I would be able to get any money to afford it.

I am only going to take the actual test once I am actually scoring in the 170s, and just want to get a feel to know if whether or not I would be able to get in somewhere decent with money.

I am not trying to be a boastful idiot, if that's how it looked.

[TheSenator]

I'm sorry, I should've worded my post better. What I meant was that I am only going to apply to the US if I get a ~173 because otherwise I don't think I would be able to get any money to afford it.

I am only going to take the actual test once I am actually scoring in the 170s, and just want to get a feel to know if whether or not I would be able to get in somewhere decent with money.

I am not trying to be a boastful idiot, if that's how it looked.

0L here, but what makes a 173 your cutoff point? Obviously you want to score as high as possible, but given your "superior" foreign GPA and legit work experience, wouldn't you have a chance (albeit far from guaranteed) for a full ride if you ED to NU if you could score +169? With a 169 I would throw an app at the majority of the T14 (along with schools like UT, Vandy, etc) to see what kind of offers you get.

[TheSenator]

Also - Why do you want to go to a U.S. school after practicing in the Dominican Republic and attending a Spanish law program?

[dominicanguy12]

0L here, but what makes a 173 your cutoff point? Obviously you want to score as high as possible, but given your "superior" foreign GPA and legit work experience, wouldn't you have a chance (albeit far from guaranteed) for a full ride if you ED to NU if you could score +169? With a 169 I would throw an app at the majority of the T14 (along with schools like UT, Vandy, etc) to see what kind of offers you get.

I basically guesstimated since MyLSN doesn't work without a GPA and I don't exactly know how law schools will view my GPA even though it is supposedly "Superior". I aimed that high to try and get some money in the T-14, maybe a T-10.

Also - Why do you want to go to a U.S. school after practicing in the Dominican Republic and attending a Spanish law program?

A few reasons. Mainly the fact that I would make like 6 times what I would make back home, plus I want a portable degree that would allow me to live/work wherever because I am interested in living somewhere other than back home. I attended a Spanish Law program mainly because Spain is really cheap, so I could get that Master's degree on my CV without breaking the bank.

My main reservation is figuring out how high I need my LSAT to get decent money at good schools since I basically don't have a valid GPA. From what I've seen, schools usually only accept a few international students without GPAs so it's a problem.

[Broncos15]

I'm sorry, I should've worded my post better. What I meant was that I am only going to apply to the US if I get a ~173 because otherwise I don't think I would be able to get any money to afford it.

I am only going to take the actual test once I am actually scoring in the 170s, and just want to get a feel to know if whether or not I would be able to get in somewhere decent with money.

I am not trying to be a boastful idiot, if that's how it looked.

0L here, but what makes a 173 your cutoff point? Obviously you want to score as high as possible, but given your "superior" foreign GPA and legit work experience, wouldn't you have a chance (albeit far from guaranteed) for a full ride if you ED to NU if you could score +169? With a 169 I would throw an app at the majority of the T14 (along with schools like UT, Vandy, etc) to see what kind of offers you get.

Agreed, I say start throwing apps at 170, ...173 shouldn't be a cutoff point to not justify LS given the high grades ....I'd maybe even argue a 168 could be acceptable dependent on your goals.

173 would be my cutoff point if I was only looking at HYS or if i was practicing in that area or better on PT's and had a test day drop

[dominicanguy12]

Agreed, I say start throwing apps at 170, ...173 shouldn't be a cutoff point to not justify LS given the high grades ....I'd maybe even argue a 168 could be acceptable dependent on your goals.

173 would be my cutoff point if I was only looking at HYS or if i was practicing in that area or better on PT's and had a test day drop

Yeah, 170 seems feasible too, but my grades don't really matter since they aren't considered as valid by American Law Schools.

If anything, not having a US GPA hurts me because it means that I can't boost the schools GPA percentiles. If you look at HYS, they literally only accept like 13 people total per year with non-valid GPAs like mine, so having a 170+ is my way of trying to compensate of that.

Also, I need like $$+ in order to actually be able to attend.

[TheSenator]

Agreed, I say start throwing apps at 170, ...173 shouldn't be a cutoff point to not justify LS given the high grades ....I'd maybe even argue a 168 could be acceptable dependent on your goals.

173 would be my cutoff point if I was only looking at HYS or if i was practicing in that area or better on PT's and had a test day drop

Yeah, 170 seems feasible too, but my grades don't really matter since they aren't considered as valid by American Law Schools.

If anything, not having a US GPA hurts me because it means that I can't boost the schools GPA percentiles. If you look at HYS, they literally only accept like 13 people total per year with non-valid GPAs like mine, so having a 170+ is my way of trying to compensate of that.

Also, I need like $$+ in order to actually be able to attend.

Not having a GPA doesn't hurt you. I'm not exactly sure how LSAC views foreign GPAs, but since you're in the 'superior' category you'll be fine in that regard. If you can hammer the LSAT and score >168 I honestly think you'd have a shot to get accepted ED at NU - meaning 150K scholly. If you can get at least a 168 I think you would get some money thrown at you from the T14.

[dominicanguy12]

Not having a GPA doesn't hurt you. I'm not exactly sure how LSAC views foreign GPAs, but since you're in the 'superior' category you'll be fine in that regard. If you can hammer the LSAT and score >168 I honestly think you'd have a shot to get accepted ED at NU - meaning 150K scholly. If you can get at least a 168 I think you would get some money thrown at you from the T14.

Cool, if I get 168+ Ill definitely apply. I don't know about ED at NU since the school doesn't necessarily call me and I'd like to go to Berkeley since I am politically progressive, or or some other T-10 preferably. Im sure it's going to be hard to score high on the LSAT but since im doing a Master's in Public Law, I think i kinda fit for a UCB profile.

What LSAT would I need for T-10 or T-6, if even possible, with a "Superior" non-valid GPA? Would I even get any money?

Im going to take the LSAT in October since Im late for the June one, but I am going to apply as early as I can.