African-American Male w/ Questions. Will Appreciate Feedback Forum

[Blawck]

Hey,

Can anyone tell me their opinion of what the chances of attaining admissions at YHSCCN would be for an African-American male with 2 yrs of WE at a top law firm and an (unfortunate) sub-3/high-2 GPA would be?

I'm pretty certain that below a 170 would be an auto-ding at each one so can you please tell me how the chances would look if the applicant applied with a 170-173, 174-176 and a 177-180? Clearly the chances would increase at each interval but does it go from a possibility of 10% to 30% or from a 20% to a 80%?

Would a 2.8/180 get looked at by Yale? I ask because I think it's kind of important to know one's ceiling. Sure, anything can happen (and now I feel like I'm just being preemptively defensive) but having advice about one's situation can either be a huge motivator or a huge reality check and, honestly, in the end, it's a win-win situation.

I know TLS hates hypothetically placing people, especially URMS (since our cycles are so unpredictable) w/o actual LSAT scores in hand but, I don't know, I think that's kind of bull. Since this board is anonymous I could have presented the above question as though I had already taken the LSATs and as if I had my score. Would you have then been more receptive to my question? Are we then penalizing the honest/assuming everyone/most people is/are honest about, a, whether they have actually taken the LSAT and, b, that their numbers are actually what they say they are?

Secondly, "placing" someone, whether they have a real LSAT score or not is still just as hypothetical and still functions in the identical way: it helps to assuage (or confirm) the utter anxiety everyone everyone feels about their chances. Also, it's not so bad to have to change your sentence from "Since you have those numbers your chances at that law school are..." to "If you have those numbers your chances at that law school are..."

Blah, sorry for the defensiveness. TLS and XOXOHTH posters have brought me to the point where you have to punch first or else your thread will be overrun by people yelling flame and telling you to shut the fuck up. I just want help.

Thanks in advance.

[mhernton]

No where is an auto-reject for and AA male. You need to hit a home run on the June LSAT. You need to get your applications in pretty much the day they open. Your application needs to be bulletproof as do your LORs. You also need to understand what the schools are looking for in their students. Certain Schools look for candidates that are interested in Public Service, others for big business, etc. You need to tailor you application based on what those themes are. You also need to have a very clear understanding about why you want to go to Law School and be able to articulate it. I had a 2.2UGPA/155LSAT and got into a top 30 school. I have every soft you can imagine, and lucked into following my own advice. I got rejected out of hand by a school at the bottom of T2, and accepted at a school above 30. I withdrew pretty much everywhere else. Mind you I'm the anomaly, or statistically speaking I'm out past 6 standard deviations, but its possible....

[Blawck]

hypotheticals suck, but we'll ignore that.

Sub 3.0 is a dangerous territory, but it isn't an insta-reject. With a great application and a 99%tile LSAT (173+), I can promise you will at least be looked at seriously at many places. If I were you, I would study up for the LSAT and start writing the first of many, many PS/DS drafts.

Good luck!

For the record: I'm a <3.0 URM with a high LSAT (>99%) who has been in review at many of your listed schools for months. I'm clearly not guaranteed anything, but the length of my review means they're at least considering me.

Did you apply early?

Thanks for the sincere feedback! It's great to see that a thread like this has a comment and someone took the time to be helpful.

[Blawck]

No where is an auto-reject for and AA male. You need to hit a home run on the June LSAT. You need to get your applications in pretty much the day they open. Your application needs to be bulletproof as do your LORs. You also need to understand what the schools are looking for in their students. Certain Schools look for candidates that are interested in Public Service, others for big business, etc. You need to tailor you application based on what those themes are. You also need to have a very clear understanding about why you want to go to Law School and be able to articulate it. I had a 2.2UGPA/155LSAT and got into a top 30 school. I have every soft you can imagine, and lucked into following my own advice. I got rejected out of hand by a school at the bottom of T2, and accepted at a school above 30. I withdrew pretty much everywhere else. Mind you I'm the anomaly, or statistically speaking I'm out past 6 standard deviations, but its possible....

I'm going to have all my applications done by August 31st with my finger on the trigger September 1st. Is it excessive if I write an individual essay for each of the listed schools (as I plan to do.)

[Blawck]

Would a 180 AA Male be an auto-admit everywhere? Just a thought. I keep reading that people say that -100 Blacks (a number much smaller if you only considered males) score >170. So I'd imagine that somewhere between 1-3 AA males score a 180 every...decade or so? Sound about right. What would LSs do for a klondike--I mean, a 180 African-American male.