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Long time lurker, first time poster..

Stats:
4.0 GPA from a state school in Michigan
164 LSAT
Accounting major
Average softs
Non-URM

Career Aspirations -
I am most interested in M&A, commercial law and other areas where finance and law overlap. Willing to work anywhere in the US or abroad. Based on my aspirations, a stint in big law in a large market to start off my career would be ideal with an eventual transition to general counsel for a corporation. No need to tell me that this path would be very challenging and difficult to achieve as I already realize this. Dream big, right?

I will be working for a big 4 public accounting firm upon graduation (within next 6 months) and plan on getting my CPA license before attending law school. Given the year work experience requirement for CPA licensure, I will be applying for the entering class of 2013 or 2014.


Questions -
What is everyone's thoughts on my chances at U of M? Do they give any breaks to in-state residents?

What other schools should I apply to based on my stats and goals?

Is Big 4 accounting experience considered to be quality WE by law schools?

Enjoy Michigan State brother

Of course Big 4 accounting is considered "quality work experience" by law school adcomms.

How many times have you taken the LSAT? How hard and long did you study for it? Was 164 above or below your practice testing range?

You should retake that LSAT.

If you retake for an upper-160s or lower-170s score, you are a shoo-in at UMich. RETAKE (assuming you have not reached your max PT test potential) (:

You don't have much of a chance getting into UMich with that LSAT. Retake into high 160s for admit + 54-67.5k scholly. What state school do you go to (you can PM me or just disregard this)?

tls717 wrote:Long time lurker, first time poster..

Stats:
4.0 GPA from a state school in Michigan
164 LSAT
Accounting major
Average softs
Non-URM

Questions -
What is everyone's thoughts on my chances at U of M? Do they give any breaks to in-state residents?

What other schools should I apply to based on my stats and goals?

Is Big 4 accounting experience considered to be quality WE by law schools?

you have a shot at UofM. They do have to admit a certain number of instate, so you may have an edge.

You should blanket apply to all lower t14 school. A few may bite at your 4.0GPA (berkeley, I am looking at you).

Big 4 accounting experience is good, but since you didn't say what your title was, I have no idea how good it will be.

Also, if you can retake, in feb, do so. It may help you get off waitlist or negotiate scholarship money.

I second the retake, but if not: blanket the lower T-14. If you really don't care where you end up see if you can get some money at Texas. They place incredibly well in biglaw around Texas (Houston and Dallas), and Texas is becoming a pretty major market for corporate and M&A work.

Berkley will probs take your 4.0 and run with it, but you could lock it down with a 4 to 6 point score increase.

Don't waste that 4.0. You should retake the LSAT, no question. Just think of where you would wind up with a 10-pt. increase and an extra year of community service or WE.

You're already taking more than a year before you go to law school...retaking the LSAT is a given. Study hard, take a class, whatever it takes!

How many times have you taken the LSAT? How hard and long did you study for it? Was 164 above or below your practice testing range?

I only took the test once (Feb 2011). I read a kaplan book on the reading comprehension and logic games section that was about 200 pages. I read some different strategies on the logic games section online, but didn't get too into it, which hurt me in the end. I took about 5 or 6 practice tests and went from 152 cold to 166 on the last one - breakdown being 2/3 wrong on everything but the logic games, where i was consistently getting 7-10 wrong.

You're already taking more than a year before you go to law school...retaking the LSAT is a given. Study hard, take a class, whatever it takes!

This is the attitude I was already starting to adopt before posting. After seeing how much time people on this site spend studying, I realized how ill-prepared I was in comparison.

From what I've read, the logic games section is very learnable. I'm thinking a retake after the CPA exams is my best option. I'll buy both PowerScore Bibles and all of the practice exams (this time making sure I take every single one of them). Do you all think I should invest in anything else? I've thought about taking a class, but it seems like if you have enough dedication, self-study is sufficient.

EDIT:

I'll be working as an audit associate.

Ditto everything said so far, with a few other points: you might end up enjoying your job (although if you're studying for CPA exams that's probably unlikely), and if it pays well, think long and hard about giving that up for three years of study and six-figure tuition bills with no guarantee of a better job afterward.

Also, you might want to take a class. I thought I was self-motivated but when I began working full-time the last thing I wanted to do when I got home from work was spend hours at my LSAT books. Spending the dough for the class motivated me into actually going and getting my money's worth.

basilseal wrote:I thought I was self-motivated but when I began working full-time the last thing I wanted to do when I got home from work was spend hours at my LSAT books. Spending the dough for the class motivated me into actually going and getting my money's worth.

+1. I took a class after work and never regretted it.

Retake and if the score is the same or worse then UVA ED.

tls717 wrote:

How many times have you taken the LSAT? How hard and long did you study for it? Was 164 above or below your practice testing range?

I only took the test once (Feb 2011). I read a kaplan book on the reading comprehension and logic games section that was about 200 pages. I read some different strategies on the logic games section online, but didn't get too into it, which hurt me in the end. I took about 5 or 6 practice tests and went from 152 cold to 166 on the last one - breakdown being 2/3 wrong on everything but the logic games, where i was consistently getting 7-10 wrong.

I asked all these questions because I knew there were 20 "retake" posts incoming and I wanted to make sure you haven't already taken it three times, or were PT'ing at like 158 and then scored a 164 somehow on test day. Considering you've only taken it once, and you didn't study much, you're capable of doing much better. Follow all the advice on these forums and I'm sure you'll be Berkeley on up secure.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the advice everyone! After taking all four parts of the CPA exam, what's one more test? I'll be in the mode for studying and will put in much more work than I did on the first attempt. You will see me again at that point, hopefully with much better options to discuss..

tls717 wrote:Thanks for all the advice everyone! After taking all four parts of the CPA exam, what's one more test? I'll be in the mode for studying and will put in much more work than I did on the first attempt. You will see me again at that point, hopefully with much better options to discuss..

Great to hear, good luck!

For the record, I think this guy will get HYS someday if he decides to go.

Out of curiosity, why ditch accounting? It's doing far better than law these days...

If the answer is "I hate it," then yeah, ditch it. But if it's something you could see yourself doing long-term, probably a safer bet than law.

justinp wrote:Out of curiosity, why ditch accounting? It's doing far better than law these days...

If the answer is "I hate it," then yeah, ditch it. But if it's something you could see yourself doing long-term, probably a safer bet than law.

That's exactly it. I don't see myself practicing accounting for the rest of my life. At the same time, I've only been exposed to the private side (F500). I might find out that auditing is a better fit for me.