......... Forum

[shotsfired12]

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[JG Hall]

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[redsox]

Yeah, you're fine. All you need to do is get top 10% and transfer to HYS/CCN. Go for it.

[shotsfired12]

redacted.

[acdisagod]

If you ONLY want biglaw then I would reconsider. To get big law you are going to have to beat out the majority of your incredibly hard working classmates wherever you go. The fact that you didn't bother to prep much for the LSAT and your mediocre gpa seems to indicate that you MIGHT not be able to put in the work.

I could very well be wrong, you may start working harder when you get to law school but you have to be honest with yourself. Also, law schools ranked 20-30 are great schools if you are willing to work outside of biglaw.

[uwb09]

If you ONLY want biglaw then I would reconsider. To get big law you are going to have to beat out the majority of your incredibly hard working classmates wherever you go. The fact that you didn't bother to prep much for the LSAT and your mediocre gpa seems to indicate that you MIGHT not be able to put in the work.

I could very well be wrong, you may start working harder when you get to law school but you have to be honest with yourself. Also, law schools ranked 20-30 are great schools if you are willing to work outside of biglaw.

truth

[FlightoftheEarls]

Is everyone ignoring the fact that OP got a 166 with barely any practice?

OP: If you got a 166 without much more than a couple practice tests, bust your ass for a few months on the bibles and get that 171+ so you can ED to UVA/Michigan/NU(if you have WE). A 3.2 will certainly make you a splitter, but if you can land a 166 without much effort you have an excellent chance of breaking 170+ if you work at it for a few months.

Edit: I'm not disputing ac's post - he's absolutely right in that regard. If you aren't willing to put in the effort to do the work, law school won't be for you. But since it looks like you've figured out that you half-assed it, and you're taking steps to do it right after realizing that this whole process won't be a walk in the park, I think there's more hope for your future than people have suggested. That's all.

[jk11287]

Unless you go up at least 5 points on your next LSAT, I'd say the T-14 is unlikely. But if you actually want to go to law school, then you should just research other schools. There are some non T14 schools that place relatively decently in biglaw if you are willing to do the work, like Fordham and GW. And I would start thinking of ways to explain away your 3.2.

[yabbadabbado]

The days of t14=biglaw are probably over for awhile, if not forever. If it's biglaw or nothing, forget about law school.

[GermX]

Schools ranked 20-30, even 30-40 (Fordham, anyone?) do place pretty well at big law. Don't know where the whole "if it aint t-14 you're fucked" mentality comes from, but hey, you are on TLS (hint: top law schools) after all.

[Devin the Dude]

Don't know where the whole "if it aint t-14 you're fucked" mentality comes from

But really, you kind of are, especially if you want to work for a big firm. And I say this as someone with such a horrendously low UGPA that I couldn't crack the T14 even if I had a 180. You got a 166 with minimal prep? You'd be crazy not to try to add 10 points and apply to the good schools.

More important, like the other posters said, do you really want to be a lawyer? Like really really? Because if you just want a job that gives you a decent paycheck, don't bother with this insane process. There are about a million better ways to get that.

[84Sunbird2000]

Define decent salary (COL should probably play into this as well). TLS conventional wisdom about "NLJ 250 = only decent paying jobs" isn't right. I'm going to W&M, which placed 21% into NLJ 250 for Class of 09, but put 37% of its class into firms of 100 or more. There are good-size firms between NLJ 250 and PI/mom&poplaw. Almost all (or all) of those 100+ firm jobs are paying 100k or more, and their overall median on 76% reporting indicates about 40% of the class was making 100k or more. Now that is FAR from a guarantee, but it's also FAR from being an unreasonable prospect. Plus, while it probably won't look like 2007, Class of 2014 will likely be a slightly better class for employment all-around than 09.

BUT....BU and BC place at least 1/3 of their classes into NLJ 250, and you'd already have an outside shot at them. In an up economy they can break 40%. Fordham, as was mentioned, places quite a lot into BigLaw. GW the same as Fordham for DC. You'd be out at GW, but might have a shot at Fordham

Also, since you aren't applying yet (I presume), retake anyways. If you move up your score, then you move up either your best school prosects or your scholly prospects. Get a 168 and you'll have all of the above school in sight, plus WUSTL will give you cash money. That's a pretty damned good set of options.

If you finish bottom quarter of your class at any school that has grades, you could very well be looking at a struggle. Thus, biglaw is NOT going to be a guarantee anywhere you go. If you can break that 170 and ED to NU, then you've maxed out your BigLaw prospects with your 3.2 UGPA.

[bk1]

I am in a similar boat to you (low GPA, retaking LSAT). As others have said, if you scored a 166 fairly cold, I assume that you can get a 170+. Honestly, it depends on what you are PT'ing at and what you score in a month from now. If you get 172+ or 174+ you probably have a decent shot, especially so if you are a URM (your profile says minority but not necessarily URM). I also don't think that some of the top regional players are a bad choice for your goals if you do not mind the market they place in (schools like BU, Fordham, GW, Vanderbilt, etc).

What it comes down to is take the LSAT. If you score a 168 I think it might be tough, but if you crack 172+ then apply early and fire out a targeted ED and I would say you've got a decent shot at the T14. Just study hard for the LSAT (only a month to go) and decide what you are going to do after you get your results. I think it is a little premature to say definitively yes or no until you have that LSAT score in hand.