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I live 20 min outside Manhatten and want to work in NYC. I want to work in Child Advocay so Big Law is not crucial (unless of course I take on the absurd amount of debt from Fordham). I have a LOW GPA of 3.2--but my Jr and Senior year GPA avg was a 3.94. I received a 167 on my lSAT but completely ate it in the Games Section (every other section I only got 1-2 wrong and Games never gave me trouble on PTs). I am leaning towards a re-take but I am wondering if getting above a 170 would even help as my GPA is pretty sad.

Retake, although you should be able to get a position in Child Advocacy from Yeshiva/Cardozo.

The only thing a higher score will get you is acceptance to a better school. Fordham does NOT give substantial aid to splitters. So if you think you can get ~172+ you have a shot at Columbia/NYU. Although, if you want PI work, a full ride from Cardozo isn't a terrible option either.

sjayy89 wrote:I live 20 min outside Manhatten and want to work in NYC. I want to work in Child Advocay so Big Law is not crucial (unless of course I take on the absurd amount of debt from Fordham). I have a LOW GPA of 3.2--but my Jr and Senior year GPA avg was a 3.94. I received a 167 on my lSAT but completely ate it in the Games Section (every other section I only got 1-2 wrong and Games never gave me trouble on PTs). I am leaning towards a re-take but I am wondering if getting above a 170 would even help as my GPA is pretty sad.

I'm in the same boat GPA and trend wise, unfortunately the latter factor will not over shadow the first (don't get me started). Breaking 170 seems to be a big deal, and it could push you over the media LSAT wise for a lot of schools. If I'm getting the numbers right (Fordham's site), tuition less the cost of room and board comes out to just over 55 grand, and I guess your travel expenses might be slightly different than their average. Coming out 150K in debt pretty much locks you into Big Law if I'm not mistaken, and even Fordham isn't a lock for it. If you really think you bit in on LG and could improve, I'd say do it.

What's the stip on the dozo scholly?

If retake is legitimately an option, I will almost always opt for the retake.

Top 40% Stip on Cardozo

Scholarships with stips (especially a stip that hard) are not worth it. There's a reason the put in the stip... so that a bunch of students lose the scholarship.

Your analysis should be Retake v Fordham (5K) v Cardozo (1/3 off) since 1/3 is all you are guaranteed.

Unless you can get them to remove the stip, I would retake. 1/3 off still leaves you with too much debt to make Cardozo worth it.

You'd be 240k in debt when you graduated Fordham. You're more likely to lose your Cardozo scholly than keep it.

A 170+ LSAT would help you get the T14 (NU, UVA, GULC all take low GPA's). Of course you'd be paying sticker. That being said it might be worth it even for child advocacy since you'd be able to use LRAP/IBR to help cover your debt. But I have no idea how child advocacy hiring works and whether the added prestige would be beneficial in that sector.

Do you have any background in child advocacy? You might want to get some work experience if you don't, and then retake.

What is child advocacy? Sounds more like social work than law to me..

tennisking88 wrote:The only thing a higher score will get you is acceptance to a better school. Fordham does NOT give substantial aid to splitters. So if you think you can get ~172+ you have a shot at Columbia/NYU. Although, if you want PI work, a full ride from Cardozo isn't a terrible option either.

Since when does a 3.2/172 score you a chance at Columbia or NYU? Someone tell me he's mistaken or I'm applying ED right away.

mauryballstein wrote:

tennisking88 wrote:The only thing a higher score will get you is acceptance to a better school. Fordham does NOT give substantial aid to splitters. So if you think you can get ~172+ you have a shot at Columbia/NYU. Although, if you want PI work, a full ride from Cardozo isn't a terrible option either.

Since when does a 3.2/172 score you a chance at Columbia or NYU? Someone tell me he's mistaken or I'm applying ED right away.

Perhaps not Columbia, but NYU is possible: http://lawschoolnumbers.com/normally/jd,

See if you can do something about that stip. I had top 80% stip on my Dozo scholly.
In that case Dozo would win hands down (graduating debt free means being able to live off a child advocacy salary)