Top Law Schools

Rising sophomore and have been lurking on TLS for a while. I had a rough start freshman year at my top 20 LAC given a variety of factors I faced this year. I won't give excuses although there were some matters at play that were beyond my control that contributed to my low gpa (<3.0), currently. I could go into detail about my situation but I'd much rather not dwell in the past, I know I'm exceptionally capable, I just have to apply myself much more.

My ultimate goal is HYS, and at the very least CCNPV (I don't think law school is economically feasible for me after the top 8 or so) and so I was wondering based off past cycles what might be the minimum gpa/lsat required to be considered for admissions at HYS (and CCNPV) for a AA female. Not sure if I've already blown my chances, but assuming that I can keep a 4.0 average the remainder of my time and attained a relatively high LSAT score, would I still have a fighting chance.

thanks all

Check out http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com. Looking at Harvard and Stanford, it appears that an uGPA around 3.2 - 3.4 and an LSAT in the mid- to high- 160s would at least give you a fighting chance. Yale has a couple in the 3.5-3.6 / 165 range.

Read http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 4&t=195443 if you havent

Maybe stop focusing on the "minimum" and do your best to boost your GPA and do as well as possible on the LSAT.

John_rizzy_rawls wrote:Maybe stop focusing on the "minimum" and do your best to boost your GPA and do as well as possible on the LSAT.

TCR

John_rizzy_rawls wrote:Maybe stop focusing on the "minimum" and do your best to boost your GPA and do as well as possible on the LSAT.

True. I just figured that if I'd already wasn't able to reach a minimum gpa or lsat, then striving for law school would not be worth it and I wanted to know where I stand at the moment. Best case scenario I'm looking at 3.49 to 3.73 by end of junior year.

AfricanGal wrote:

John_rizzy_rawls wrote:Maybe stop focusing on the "minimum" and do your best to boost your GPA and do as well as possible on the LSAT.

True. I just figured that if I'd already wasn't able to reach a minimum gpa or lsat, then striving for law school would not be worth it and I wanted to know where I stand at the moment. Best case scenario I'm looking at 3.49 to 3.73 by end of junior year.

Shoot for 3.5+ and 165+. That makes you competitive for HYS if affirmative action sticks around. A 170+ on the LSAT makes you incredibly competitive for those schools with a 3.5+ GPA.

Will do. Great, Thanks for all the help, guys!


P.S. Just curious, would there be a reason why affirmative action would be obsolete from law school admissions

AfricanGal wrote:Will do. Great, Thanks for all the help, guys!


P.S. Just curious, would there be a reason why affirmative action would be obsolete from law school admissions

There are two supreme court cases dealing with affirmative action in admissions on the docket right now (one is apparently close to being decided), that could change the way admissions are legally handled with respect to race. The court seems split about it so far.

Or if you're applying next cycle, Schuette v. Coalition is more likely to have an impact on affirmative action than Fisher is.

John_rizzy_rawls wrote:Or if you're applying next cycle, Schuette v. Coalition is more likely to have an impact on affirmative action than Fisher is.

Oops, yeah, forgot Schuette.

Thanks again, still on the fence about the concept of affirmative action on college admissions but wouldn't any motion to end affirmative action hinder many minority populations without the resources or tools to compete on par with their non-minority counterparts? I mean, there is a reason why African Americans have a tendency to underperform in many academic settings.

AfricanGal wrote:Thanks again, still on the fence about the concept of affirmative action on college admissions but wouldn't any motion to end affirmative action hinder many minority populations without the resources or tools to compete on par with their non-minority counterparts? I mean, there is a reason why African Americans have a tendency to underperform in many academic settings.

You probably don't want to open the pandora's box and start an affirmative action debate. It isn't really allowed on these forums; you can talk about the boost, how it works, and how it helps applicants, but not about if it should/shouldn't be there. Here's the thread where it has been debated on both sides: http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 0&t=178724

Oh sorry my mistake, didn't know.

No worries, I'm telling you from the experience of having made that mistake in the past. All that happens is that a thread gets derailed from its original purpose, so they created a super thread for it.

If AA sticks then I think 3.5+ 165+ gives you a shot.

If not then it's 3.7+ 175+