Non-trad working through undergrad - law school chances?
Posted: Wed Aug 31, 2011 10:46 am
Hi there,
I'm a 31 YO who has been working FT through school since 2005. I'm attending university half-time in the evenings, though from 2005-2006 I attended a local community college. If I play my last couple of semesters right, I will have a LSAC GPA of 3.79 with a double major in Psych and Political Science.
I'm planning to take the LSAT in December (and again in Feb if that doesn't go well). My practice test scores are hovering in the high 160s/low 170s. My wishlist of schools isn't that impressive, mostly because I have a life and roots in my current city. One of my options (St. Louis University) is far below what I think I'm capable of getting into, but they have a part-time evening program which would allow me to continue working and possibly get a full ride to boot. My top 20 school option is Washington University (where I'm currently undergrad). I'll probably apply to a couple of out-of-my-league schools (Columbia, Northwestern), just to see - if the deal is sweet enough, I'm not opposed to moving.
So my question is - do the admissions committees discount higher GPAs because I'm not a traditional student? I've seen snarky comments elsewhere (not on TLS) about adult students with high GPAs, stating things like "of course they have a 4.0...I would too if I was only taking two classes at a time," etc. While I know this is BS (my job is demanding and I work about 50-55 hours a week; school is NOT easy to squeeze in), it still concerns me. My job is pretty awesome and will look awesome on paper, do so I have that going for me.
Sorry this is so long...I just want to have a realistic expectation going into all of this. It took me until now to figure out what I want to do, but now that I'm "all grown up," I'm looking forward to this crazy ride ahead of me!
Thanks in advance!
Limonata
I'm a 31 YO who has been working FT through school since 2005. I'm attending university half-time in the evenings, though from 2005-2006 I attended a local community college. If I play my last couple of semesters right, I will have a LSAC GPA of 3.79 with a double major in Psych and Political Science.
I'm planning to take the LSAT in December (and again in Feb if that doesn't go well). My practice test scores are hovering in the high 160s/low 170s. My wishlist of schools isn't that impressive, mostly because I have a life and roots in my current city. One of my options (St. Louis University) is far below what I think I'm capable of getting into, but they have a part-time evening program which would allow me to continue working and possibly get a full ride to boot. My top 20 school option is Washington University (where I'm currently undergrad). I'll probably apply to a couple of out-of-my-league schools (Columbia, Northwestern), just to see - if the deal is sweet enough, I'm not opposed to moving.
So my question is - do the admissions committees discount higher GPAs because I'm not a traditional student? I've seen snarky comments elsewhere (not on TLS) about adult students with high GPAs, stating things like "of course they have a 4.0...I would too if I was only taking two classes at a time," etc. While I know this is BS (my job is demanding and I work about 50-55 hours a week; school is NOT easy to squeeze in), it still concerns me. My job is pretty awesome and will look awesome on paper, do so I have that going for me.
Sorry this is so long...I just want to have a realistic expectation going into all of this. It took me until now to figure out what I want to do, but now that I'm "all grown up," I'm looking forward to this crazy ride ahead of me!
Thanks in advance!
Limonata