Top Law Schools

As noted, my GPA is 3.3ish (rounded down) with no grades less than an A- in the last two years. My LSAT score is 170 and I have four strong recommendations.

I also have some part-time work experience through ug and started an internship at a law firm on upon graduation.

The disparity in my GPA between my first two and last two years of ug is explained by medical problems and a science major that wasn't my cup of tea.

Do I have a reasonable shot at some top 14 schools? HYS might possibly be out of reach, but what about UCLA or Columbia? Cornell? Georgetown?

According to http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com you are out at Chicago and above, a weak consider at Penn, Mich, Duke, Northwestern, and UVA, and a consider, strong consider or admit from there on down.

I too have a sharp upward grade trend and a medical reason ( - oh yeah, don't mention the fact that you didn't like science if you also have a medical excuse. I'm not trying to be sketchy, but the ad-comms will gather you didn't like science by looking at your grades/switch to your current major - ) but I'm not sure how much of a difference it really makes. I know your LSDAS Academic Summary (or whatever it's called) contains not only your grades but also a breakdown of how many credits hours you earned at a specific grade level, etc.

So in the end, yes you have a fair to decent chance at the top 7-14. I would look to safety schools in the 30-20 range, targets in the 20-10 range, and some of the reaches listed above too.

Good luck on your cycle!

Well, I did talk about the science at some length (or at least in detail) in my PS because it did really and truly represent a sort of paradigm shift in my life. I was always a science person before college and had dreams of being a scientist, but medical circumstance and changes in my attitude towards the humanities (and the state of mind revealed by that) caused a move towards the other direction.

I actually minimized how much I talked about the medical problems--leaving it to a half sentence or so--because I didn't really want to complain about "circumstances beyond my control" whatnot, especially since I'm a believer in making the best of what you're given. Since my PS sort of turns on that idea, I thought it best to focus on it and leave out any intimation of "woe is me" even though the medical issues were legitimate.

You don't have to complain about medical problems, but a good GPA addendum that says they were the reason for your poor performance can only help.

Your grades going up because you changed majors might come off as "This one was too hard, so I picked an easier one and my grades went up."

The medical excuse is going to be more persuasive than switching major. Bad grades because of factors beyond your control count less than bad grades due to factors that are within your control (poor choice of major, bad study habits, etc).

Well, mentioning it factually without any "woe is me" language is IMO the best way to go. If you give them enough information about it to make up their own mind as to whether it adequately explains your grades or not, then they'll like being able to decide for themselves a lot more than they'd like you going "oh, pity me, you MUST pity me".

3.0/170, medical issues in UG contributing to low GPA, attending UVA as a 1L this year. So it's possible. I made my medical issues the theme of my PS though, and also had 5 years of WE that showed I was capable of more than my GPA suggests. If you really want to offset the low GPA you should probably be giving at least a well-written GPA addendum covering (factually and without bias) how it contributed to your low grades.

You probably have a shot at lower T14 (Penn on down). UCLA and UT-Austin aren't very friendly toward low GPAs, so don't get your hopes up there, but you actually have better odds at T14 schools like NU or Cornell than you do at those just below the T14 as a result.

imperator wrote:Well, I did talk about the science at some length (or at least in detail) in my PS because it did really and truly represent a sort of paradigm shift in my life. I was always a science person before college and had dreams of being a scientist, but medical circumstance and changes in my attitude towards the humanities (and the state of mind revealed by that) caused a move towards the other direction.

I actually minimized how much I talked about the medical problems--leaving it to a half sentence or so--because I didn't really want to complain about "circumstances beyond my control" whatnot, especially since I'm a believer in making the best of what you're given. Since my PS sort of turns on that idea, I thought it best to focus on it and leave out any intimation of "woe is me" even though the medical issues were legitimate.

one might ask, then why did you not make the best of your choice of major? Sure it wasn't "your cup of tea," but you could have studied harder and gotten better grades.

I am not saying you did not study hard enough, I am only pointing out seeming discrepancies in what you are saying.

I didn't exactly jump to an easier major, just one that was completely different and more in line with the direction I wanted for myself. The new major actually challenged me far more than the science did--but I felt equal to the challenge and pushed back just as hard, which is why it worked out a lot better for me.

Regardless, perhaps it would have been advisable to mention the medical issues in more detail. If I've already put a single line about them in my PS, is it still a good idea to put in an addendum? And I've already sent out most of my applications, some of which are currently under review, so is it too late at this point?

imperator wrote: Do I have a reasonable shot at some top 14 schools? HYS might possibly be out of reach, but what about UCLA or Columbia? Cornell? Georgetown?

I'm almost wondering if this was a subtle UCLA troll.

As for predictions, dinged at Columbia, WL'ed at GULC with a decent shot of getting in, WL-out at UCLA, decent shot at Cornell, maybe a waitlist from MVP and NU but likely out.

If the cycle doesn't go how you want it to, it might not be a bad idea to sit out this year, get some more WE to increase your odds at NU and use an ED on MVP.

Stringer Bell wrote:use an ED on MVP.

our numbers are close, +1 to this. i'd probably choose PVM (in that order)

or ED PT to GULC
and EAC to Cornell

consider WUSTL?