3.56/162 Forum

[camwon]

White male, solid softs, great LORs
I know I can retake, and I know I'd probably do a lot better. Just took the June LSAT for the first time. And it's not like I'm wasting my amazing GPA. Went to a state school and studied Anthropology.
But basically, I'm wondering if I'm better off trying to retake and squeeze my way into a T1 school, of if I should just go to a T2 school. I do not want to go into biglaw, I'm one of those naive idiots that wants to work in public interest. For this reason, I'm thinking that I should go for as little debt when I graduate. So why pay sticker to go to Hastings/Davis when I can go to USF on the cheap??? (I'm looking at CA schools). I'm assuming that I'd have a higher class rank at a school like USF and therefore not have the dismal job prospects that everyone on jdunderground complains about. Am I correct in this, or should I retake and try to get into a T1 school? Thanks for your input.

[cinephile]

You are totally right in trying to minimize your debt since you plan on going into public interest. However, a better way to minimize debt would be to retake and get into a T1 with a scholarship. Also, the better schools generally have some sort of LRAP to help people going into public interest.

It's not a good idea to assume you'd do better just because you're going to a lower ranked school. Assume everyone else there will be your equals (and they will be) so you should assume you'll end up around median.

Good luck with the retake!

[ndirish2010]

As if PI jobs were easy to get...

Retake.

[NYCbound35]

A higher LSAT score can get you a larger scholarship to these T2s. If you are planning on this, beware, a lot of these schools put gross stipulations on the scholarship that make it more likely than not that you will lose it.

The better schools have nice LRAP programs that help you pay off the debt if you go into public interest work. Also, with a 3.5 you are not out of the running for scholarships to top notch T1s. With a 170, you could get more than half tuition scholarship at UCLA/USC. Boalt can even happen, and that is probably worth sticker with loan repayment options IMO.

[071816]

White male, solid softs, great LORs
I know I can retake, and I know I'd probably do a lot better. Just took the June LSAT for the first time. And it's not like I'm wasting my amazing GPA. Went to a state school and studied Anthropology.
But basically, I'm wondering if I'm better off trying to retake and squeeze my way into a T1 school, of if I should just go to a T2 school. I do not want to go into biglaw, I'm one of those naive idiots that wants to work in public interest. For this reason, I'm thinking that I should go for as little debt when I graduate. So why pay sticker to go to Hastings/Davis when I can go to USF on the cheap??? (I'm looking at CA schools). I'm assuming that I'd have a higher class rank at a school like USF and therefore not have the dismal job prospects that everyone on jdunderground complains about. Am I correct in this, or should I retake and try to get into a T1 school? Thanks for your input.

Not necessarily true.

You have an outside chance at Davis or Hastings and you should be in at Pepperdine and Loyola with $$. If you could get your score up into the high 160s that would drastically change the schools you have a chance at.

[camwon]

Well thanks for everyone's input. Yeah, as much as I hate to hear it, it's probably worth the $70K I could save by retaking the LSAT. I'll post all my questions about how to not miss half of the games section in a different thread

[Danteshek]

OP, PM me if you have any specific questions about Loyola.