Thinking about law school in 1-2 years Forum

[Blackguy123]

So I'm thinking about going to law school soon, got about another year and a half of college to go.

My GPA right now is only about 2.8 Really brought my grades up, got no less than a 3.5 Last two semesters I think can bring it up to a 3.2ish by graduation time. Hoping for a T14-T20 school
Gonna start preparing for the LSAT too heard that's real important

[Blackguy123]

BTW I go to the University of Connecticut too. Really hoping for Cornell possibly, that's my number 1 choice!!!! Are they URM friendly????

[Redfactor]

.

[Motivator9]

If you're an AA male like your name states, you've got a great shot at some of the best schools in the country. I would apply to every T14 and then select the best fit. I bet you're in at Harvard on down.

I wouldn't go to Cornell with your score as a black male unless it was 100% free.

Shoot for the stars this application cycle because you're going to get some excellent options.

Retake if you really want HLS. But you're probably going to have a great cycle regardless. Enjoy

[stuckinthemiddle]

Wouldn't go that far. Dude is still below both medians.

[rebexness]

Wouldn't go that far. Dude is still below both medians.

Clearly you don't know how URM cycles work.

[Blackguy123]

Wow, I never imagined being a AA male would give me that much of a boost, I always figured my GPA would keep me out of such top schools

[stuckinthemiddle]

Do URM's as a whole also statistically get lower GPA's? My bad then.

[Motivator9]

Wow, I never imagined being a AA male would give me that much of a boost, I always figured my GPA would keep me out of such top schools, I really screwed up my first couple semesters. I worked my ass off for the 167 though, I took a testmasters prep course and spent 8 months doing weekly practice tests so I'm really not sure if there's much I can improve. When I first took a diagnostic I got a 149 LOL. Really excited to start applying this coming fall, I want to do biglaw for T14 admission w/ money would be amazing though I do feel my softs are lacking

Play around with this.

http://mylsn.info/qrizix

[Blackguy123]

Wow, I never imagined being a AA male would give me that much of a boost, I always figured my GPA would keep me out of such top schools, I really screwed up my first couple semesters. I worked my ass off for the 167 though, I took a testmasters prep course and spent 8 months doing weekly practice tests so I'm really not sure if there's much I can improve. When I first took a diagnostic I got a 149 LOL. Really excited to start applying this coming fall, I want to do biglaw for T14 admission w/ money would be amazing though I do feel my softs are lacking

Play around with this.

http://mylsn.info/qrizix

Why does this say automatic searches are not recommended for URM's?

[Motivator9]

Wow, I never imagined being a AA male would give me that much of a boost, I always figured my GPA would keep me out of such top schools, I really screwed up my first couple semesters. I worked my ass off for the 167 though, I took a testmasters prep course and spent 8 months doing weekly practice tests so I'm really not sure if there's much I can improve. When I first took a diagnostic I got a 149 LOL. Really excited to start applying this coming fall, I want to do biglaw for T14 admission w/ money would be amazing though I do feel my softs are lacking

Play around with this.

http://mylsn.info/qrizix

Why does this say automatic searches are not recommended for URM's?

Because the sample size is not large enough. Still, you can somewhat of an idea.

[LSATSCORES2012]

Wow, I never imagined being a AA male would give me that much of a boost, I always figured my GPA would keep me out of such top schools, I really screwed up my first couple semesters. I worked my ass off for the 167 though, I took a testmasters prep course and spent 8 months doing weekly practice tests so I'm really not sure if there's much I can improve. When I first took a diagnostic I got a 149 LOL. Really excited to start applying this coming fall, I want to do biglaw for T14 admission w/ money would be amazing though I do feel my softs are lacking

Play around with this.

http://mylsn.info/qrizix

Why does this say automatic searches are not recommended for URM's?

Because the sample size is not large enough. Still, you can somewhat of an idea.

This, and the bigger problem is the automatic search's response to a small sample size in the context of URM admissions.

The automatic search basically works like this:

1) Run search within narrow range (0 LSAT points, .02 GPA points)
2) If sample size is inadequate, expand range (the expansion is based on the number of loops that have already occurred... the more loops, the more quickly it expands... this is primarily to reduce the time it takes to run the search) - in this expansion, the computer will prevent the range from crossing a median; if both the GPA and LSAT are at the median, it won't expand significantly
3) when sample size is adequate or 15 loops have passed, report the data

(this process is repeated for every school)

The primary concern, then, isn't just one of sample size... though that is definitely a problem, because in response to the low sample size the system will sometimes expand the ranges to be very large. For non-URM's this isn't a huge problem... If there aren't many data points for 162/3.5 non-URM applicants to Harvard and it has to expand to 158-166, 3.2-3.7, it's no big deal because, well, all the applicants in that range are extremely unlikely to be admitted. However, for URM's, a 166/3.7 is looking at a completely different cycle than a 162/3.5. The computer prevents the range from crossing a median, which is useful for non-URM's, but, as can be seen from this example, does absolutely nothing for URM's. In some situations I could see that even skewing the results for URMs. For example, a search for a 169/3.8 URM applicant might end up with a range of 160-171, 3.2-3.88. Clearly this search range will not be representative of this candidate's chances.

IMO calculating URM chances really needs a human touch. The graphs are, IMO, the best way to analyze a URM's chances through mylsn because you, being the organism perfectly evolved to recognize patterns in its environment that you are, can interpret them in a way that I don't have the skill to make a computer do. To check these out click on the link Motivator posted then click on the ">>>>" on the right side of the table for any given school.

To the OP, unfortunately, for someone with your numbers there are very little non-URM datapoints, let alone URM datapoints, and this is a place where the advice of experienced individuals such as those who have posted in this thread really helps. MyLSN can supplement that, but I don't think there's enough data for it to be a replacement for URM's... and the automatic search least of all.

It's not useless, but, as Motivator9 has suggested, its usefulness is limited.

[Blackguy123]

Wow ^^^^ that was comprehensive lol. Also I'll need a lot of scholarship money. $$$ is a key figure so I'll also take a shot at BC, BU since those two seem to have good employment prospects.

[LSATSCORES2012]

feature has been removed from mylsn

[Motivator9]

Well aren't you the helpful type.

[Blackguy123]

Thank you LSATSCORES2012 that looks amazing! It seems AAs specifically are really valued at these institutions. I'm not a huge proponent of AA but I'm more than willing to reap the benefits regardless lol. I'd be estatic if I could get into Georgetown, but really any of these schools would serve me well. Hard to imagine I had my sights set on Uconn Law not too long ago!

[Motivator9]

Thank you LSATSCORES2012 that looks amazing! It seems AAs specifically are really valued at these institutions. I'm not a huge proponent of AA but I'm more than willing to reap the benefits regardless lol. I'd be estatic if I could get into Georgetown, but really any of these schools would serve me well. Hard to imagine I had my sights set on Uconn Law not too long ago!

Welcome to TLS!

[Athlone McGinnis]

Do URM's as a whole also statistically get lower GPA's? My bad then.

The average GPA for AA applicants as of 2008 was a sub 3.0 (2.96).

http://blogs.law.columbia.edu/salt/

[Blackguy123]

Would it be reasonable to assume an AA male has a good shot at any school if he meets their 25% GPA/LSAT???