3.5/157 Forum

[Aigoo]

Hi, I am asian with a green card, so I am not qualified as URM and don't need a visa.

Can you guys tell me any schools that I can apply with my stat?
My lsac gpa is 3.5 and received 157 on December lsat. I am planning to take another test on February, but I am not sure how much I can improve... I graduated on December 2016 and worked for 6 months.

I have to apply this year cycle. I would appreciate any recommendations for schools that I can get in regardless of the scholarship. Thank you in advance!

Mod edit: duplicate threads merged.

[Aigoo]

Hi, I am asian with a green card, so I am not qualified as URM and don't need a visa.

Can you guys tell me any school that I can apply with my stat?
My lsac gpa is 3.5 and received 157 on December lsat. This was my second time taking it. I cancelled the first one. I am planning to take another test on February, but I am not sure how much I can improve... I graduated on December 2016 and worked for 6 months.

I have to apply this year cycle. I would appreciate any recommendation for schools that I can get in regardless of the scholarship. Thank you in advance!

[Hikikomorist]

If you can't get a higher score, I don't think law school is worth it for you. How much does your current job pay?

[Rigo]

What do you want to do with a law degree career-wise and where do you want to work?

[Aigoo]

What do you want to do with a law degree career-wise and where do you want to work?

I want to work in international or business law related market. I have my undergraduate degree in accounting.

[Aigoo]

If you can't get a higher score, I don't think law school is worth it for you. How much does your current job pay?

I am currently not working.. :/ Do you really think so?

[Hikikomorist]

If you can't get a higher score, I don't think law school is worth it for you. How much does your current job pay?

I am currently not working.. :/ Do you really think so?

Yes, I would keep retaking until you break 170, while also exploring other options. What was your major?

[mcmand]

I disagree that 170 is the end-all be-all, especially since we know nothing about your career goals as a lawyer, but 157 is still low. Get at least 165 and you'll have more options.

You say regardless of scholarships: is money absolutely not an issue? Will you not have to take out loans? If that's the case, that would change my advice.

[mcmand]

You just posted this same thing in another thread. So I'll repeat my response here:

You say regardless of scholarships: is money absolutely not an issue? Will you not have to take out loans? If that's the case, that would change my advice.

Why must it be this cycle? Retaking would only help you.

[Aigoo]

If you can't get a higher score, I don't think law school is worth it for you. How much does your current job pay?

I am currently not working.. :/ Do you really think so?

Yes, I would keep retaking until you break 170, while also exploring other options. What was your major?

My major was accounting.

[Aigoo]

I disagree that 170 is the end-all be-all, especially since we know nothing about your career goals as a lawyer, but 157 is still low. Get at least 165 and you'll have more options.

You say regardless of scholarships: is money absolutely not an issue? Will you not have to take out loans? If that's the case, that would change my advice.

I would say not absolutely. But I have some money saved and from my parents. I know my score is low. I just wanted to know what is the best option for me with this score.

[sparkytrainer]

I disagree that 170 is the end-all be-all, especially since we know nothing about your career goals as a lawyer, but 157 is still low. Get at least 165 and you'll have more options.

You say regardless of scholarships: is money absolutely not an issue? Will you not have to take out loans? If that's the case, that would change my advice.

I would say not absolutely. But I have some money saved and from my parents. I know my score is low. I just wanted to know what is the best option for me with this score.

Your best option with your GPA and score is to not attend law school. Truthfully.

If you want good options, you are gonna have to retake

[Aigoo]

You just posted this same thing in another thread. So I'll repeat my response here:

You say regardless of scholarships: is money absolutely not an issue? Will you not have to take out loans? If that's the case, that would change my advice.

Why must it be this cycle? Retaking would only help you.

I already quit my job on June... and I cannot sit one year and more.. My parents will also help me to pay for the law school if I apply this year :/ so... I would say retake is not my option but thank you so much for your advise!

[Hikikomorist]

If you can't get a higher score, I don't think law school is worth it for you. How much does your current job pay?

I am currently not working.. :/ Do you really think so?

Yes, I would keep retaking until you break 170, while also exploring other options. What was your major?

My major was accounting.

Then I would definitely focus on other jobs while retaking until you can break at least 170.

[Rigo]

We need to narrow down some geography here.

[mcmand]

We need to narrow down some geography here.

Well he said international law and business law. Although I guess that's super vague, too.

Aigoo, do you want to do transactional work or litigation?

Transactional: licensing, negotiating contracts, mergers and acquisitions, advising companies on regulatory issues, helping with public/private offerings of securities, and more. (Corporate attorneys don't get mad, I'm a litigator so I'm doing my best to describe it.)

Litigation: at a basic level, this means people and businesses suing each other over any issue imaginable. Since you're interested in business and international stuff, you should look into international arbitration, commercial litigation, antitrust, securities litigation, consumer protection, and insurance defense. This is in no way a comprehensive list, but it's a start.

You really need to tell us a few specific practice areas you're interested in along with geographic areas. Then we can tell you which law schools are going to be within reach for your numbers, or what you need to do to make it attainable.

Otherwise, you're leaving it on us to just name random law schools that fit your numbers, even if those might not be good for your goals at all.

[andychen]

Just retake, I guess you have lived in US for at least several years to get the green card and your English is as fluent as native speaker. I am from China and even until now I have not stay in US or any English speaking country for a single day and I got 165 for LSAT. I believe you should do much better.

For your stats you can not get admission from any school with prestige even if you are willing to pay stiker.

[Aigoo]

We need to narrow down some geography here.

Chicago, New York, California, and Washington DC would be my first choices. But I do not really care about the geography.

[Aigoo]

We need to narrow down some geography here.

Well he said international law and business law. Although I guess that's super vague, too.

Aigoo, do you want to do transactional work or litigation?

Transactional: licensing, negotiating contracts, mergers and acquisitions, advising companies on regulatory issues, helping with public/private offerings of securities, and more. (Corporate attorneys don't get mad, I'm a litigator so I'm doing my best to describe it.)

Litigation: at a basic level, this means people and businesses suing each other over any issue imaginable. Since you're interested in business and international stuff, you should look into international arbitration, commercial litigation, antitrust, securities litigation, consumer protection, and insurance defense. This is in no way a comprehensive list, but it's a start.

You really need to tell us a few specific practice areas you're interested in along with geographic areas. Then we can tell you which law schools are going to be within reach for your numbers, or what you need to do to make it attainable.

Otherwise, you're leaving it on us to just name random law schools that fit your numbers, even if those might not be good for your goals at all.

Transactional and Chicago, New York, California, and Washington DC would be my first choices. But I do not really care about the geography.

[Aigoo]

Just retake, I guess you have lived in US for at least several years to get the green card and your English is as fluent as native speaker. I am from China and even until now I have not stay in US or any English speaking country for a single day and I got 165 for LSAT. I believe you should do much better.

For your stats you can not get admission from any school with prestige even if you are willing to pay stiker.

I cannot sit for another year so retaking is not my option :/ But thank you for your advise!

[sparkytrainer]

Just retake, I guess you have lived in US for at least several years to get the green card and your English is as fluent as native speaker. I am from China and even until now I have not stay in US or any English speaking country for a single day and I got 165 for LSAT. I believe you should do much better.

For your stats you can not get admission from any school with prestige even if you are willing to pay stiker.

I cannot sit for another year so retaking is not my option :/ But thank you for your advise!

You can always sit for another year and retake. There isn't someone holding a gun to your head and forcing you.

Further, any school you might get into will not provide any possibility of doing transactional work in a big city.

[mcmand]

Aigoo, if you want transactional work for large companies or companies doing business internationally, you have to get a better LSAT to get into the best school available. The goals you have are harder to reach with your stats as they are.

The schools we would point you to would not get you where you want to be, absent some other factor or connection you might have that we are unaware of.

[KylawRen]

Your numbers are better than average for sure. Not sure why people are telling you not to attend law school. Maybe don’t get advice on that on an Internet forum. If you want to be a lawyer, you should and have to attend law school.

[KylawRen]

And for what it’s worth I have a family full of lawyers many whom had near perfect gpas and lsat scores. The most successful one had a 2.5 in undergrad and under 155 on the lsat. If you want to be a lawyer, do it. If not, don’t. Your scores will mean nothing a year from now.

[A. Nony Mouse]

And for what it’s worth I have a family full of lawyers many whom had near perfect gpas and lsat scores. The most successful one had a 2.5 in undergrad and under 155 on the lsat. If you want to be a lawyer, do it. If not, don’t. Your scores will mean nothing a year from now.

If they're successful now, they likely went to law school a while ago. Things have changed, primarily the cost of law school and the oversaturation of the legal market. You can't extrapolate from individual past success what good options are now; the OP needs to look at the employment statistics for schools where their stats are competitive, and determine whether the kinds of jobs they can get out of their options are worth the cost.