Advice Needed: Black Male URM 3.4 Ivy, 155 LSAT. What to do? Forum

[najumobi]

I got into a T14 with a 3.0 GPA, but unless your story is as good as mine was, you shouldn't look to me as an example at all. I got in because of my PS and softs, and it was a hell of a story.

[-KommonOddity_]

recent black grad from cornell. i am too. similar situation. hit me up on the inbox.

Interesting tar? Greek are we?

[toughie]

I hate AA debates on AA posts. Honestly peeps give OP advice instead of debates.

OP: you may have a shot at cornell if you apply early. Plus your a URM male so you get pretty much the biggest BUMP everrr

how big of a bump? i'm a black male with a 3.1 gpa and a 171 lsat. thumbs up or thumbs down for harvard?

Thumbs down. You can play the waitlist game but don't hold your breath.

What LSAT would you need for H with a 3.1...or would the GPA doom you even at the highest LSAT scores?

[drew]

Point of reference: isn't the URM boost most applicable to folks with really nice GPA's? I think you probably will need to best 158 to get to the DNCG bracket; though, I could be really off base here.

[drew]

I hate AA debates on AA posts. Honestly peeps give OP advice instead of debates.

OP: you may have a shot at cornell if you apply early. Plus your a URM male so you get pretty much the biggest BUMP everrr

how big of a bump? i'm a black male with a 3.1 gpa and a 171 lsat. thumbs up or thumbs down for harvard?

Thumbs down. You can play the waitlist game but don't hold your breath.

What LSAT would you need for H with a 3.1...or would the GPA doom you even at the highest LSAT scores?

I think that GPA is the death-knell for a Harvard admit.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

...

[najumobi]

Point of reference: isn't the URM boost most applicable to folks with really nice GPA's? I think you probably will need to best 158 to get to the DNCG bracket; though, I could be really off base here.

you're not off base at all....with a gpa of a 3.4, a sub 160 score it's incredibly tough to get into DNG. for cornell a 156-159 is all he would need.

[Kohinoor]

not sure i agree. although that gpa obviously doesn't help, lsn seems to indicate that a 173+ lsat might do the trick. you've gotta realize that 173+ would place a black dude easily within the top 5 for that demographic for a given year; harvard enrolls over 20 each year. in fact, im considering a december retake precisely for this purpose...

Didn't work for me, but more power to you. You might be in the top 5 re LSAT, but there are probably quite a few with slightly lower LSATs and much higher GPAs.

[APimpNamedSlickback]

not sure i agree. although that gpa obviously doesn't help, lsn seems to indicate that a 173+ lsat might do the trick. you've gotta realize that 173+ would place a black dude easily within the top 5 for that demographic for a given year; harvard enrolls over 20 each year. in fact, im considering a december retake precisely for this purpose...

Didn't work for me, but more power to you. You might be in the top 5 re LSAT, but there are probably quite a few with slightly lower LSATs and much higher GPAs.

Hey man, your experience notwithstanding, I remain defiantly optomistic. I just took a peek at LSN and it looks like I'm the undisputed heavyweight champion of urm lsat scores (for whatever thats worth).

considering how much work i've put into this godforsaken process thus far, its quite likely that i'll flip out and and throw a tantrum that'll make kanye west look like mother theresa if/when i'm dinged across the board at hys.

[vanwinkle]

not sure i agree. although that gpa obviously doesn't help, lsn seems to indicate that a 173+ lsat might do the trick. you've gotta realize that 173+ would place a black dude easily within the top 5 for that demographic for a given year; harvard enrolls over 20 each year. in fact, im considering a december retake precisely for this purpose...

Didn't work for me, but more power to you. You might be in the top 5 re LSAT, but there are probably quite a few with slightly lower LSATs and much higher GPAs.

Hey man, your experience notwithstanding, I remain defiantly optomistic. I just took a peek at LSN and it looks like I'm the undisputed heavyweight champion of urm lsat scores (for whatever thats worth).

considering how much work i've put into this godforsaken process thus far, its quite likely that i'll flip out and and throw a tantrum that'll make kanye west look like mother theresa if i'm actually dinged accross the board at hys.

I have a conjecture, which is that URM status may be considered sufficient to offset one low number, if the softs are strong enough that the school can point to them and claim "That's why we took them", and could allow a high-LSAT URM splitter in. I think this usually applies to the LSAT, for taking URMs with a low LSAT score, pointing to their solid GPA and their socioeconomic background (or whatever else they wrote) as a reason to admit them in spite of their low GPA.

But if this is true, it may also work the other way around. A school may look at a URM's high LSAT and their softs and choose to admit them in spite of a low GPA. For this to work, I think your LSAT score has to be high enough to be admitted. 173 is the median LSAT for Harvard, so a URM with a 173 LSAT may have a shot.

This is all just speculation, but it's something I've had brewing in my mind for a while now, and I've seen no specific proof it's invalid.

[02082010]

not sure i agree. although that gpa obviously doesn't help, lsn seems to indicate that a 173+ lsat might do the trick. you've gotta realize that 173+ would place a black dude easily within the top 5 for that demographic for a given year; harvard enrolls over 20 each year. in fact, im considering a december retake precisely for this purpose...

Didn't work for me, but more power to you. You might be in the top 5 re LSAT, but there are probably quite a few with slightly lower LSATs and much higher GPAs.

Hey man, your experience notwithstanding, I remain defiantly optomistic. I just took a peek at LSN and it looks like I'm the undisputed heavyweight champion of urm lsat scores (for whatever thats worth).

considering how much work i've put into this godforsaken process thus far, its quite likely that i'll flip out and and throw a tantrum that'll make kanye west look like mother theresa if/when i'm dinged across the board at hys.

Definitely be prepared to be disappointed then. Barring a successful retake, I predict outright dings at all of HYS with a 3.1 171.

Also, with a 168 already under my belt, I'm currently PTing in the 177 range. I'll get back to you mid-October about being this highest AA male LSAT on LSN.

Edit: To the OP, take in Sept and if you get in the 155 range EA to Cornell and register for the Dec LSAT. If they accept you relatively quickly, and you'd be happy there, your cycle is over. If not, go ahead with the retake as long as you believe you can improve.

[Kohinoor]

not sure i agree. although that gpa obviously doesn't help, lsn seems to indicate that a 173+ lsat might do the trick. you've gotta realize that 173+ would place a black dude easily within the top 5 for that demographic for a given year; harvard enrolls over 20 each year. in fact, im considering a december retake precisely for this purpose...

Didn't work for me, but more power to you. You might be in the top 5 re LSAT, but there are probably quite a few with slightly lower LSATs and much higher GPAs.

Hey man, your experience notwithstanding, I remain defiantly optomistic. I just took a peek at LSN and it looks like I'm the undisputed heavyweight champion of urm lsat scores (for whatever thats worth).

considering how much work i've put into this godforsaken process thus far, its quite likely that i'll flip out and and throw a tantrum that'll make kanye west look like mother theresa if/when i'm dinged across the board at hys.

G'luck. If you get into Stanford after they dinged me, I'm burning Palo Alto to the ground.

[toughie]

not sure i agree. although that gpa obviously doesn't help, lsn seems to indicate that a 173+ lsat might do the trick. you've gotta realize that 173+ would place a black dude easily within the top 5 for that demographic for a given year; harvard enrolls over 20 each year. in fact, im considering a december retake precisely for this purpose...

I wonder if that still holds. The only numbers I have seen are the 2004 numbers saying that 29 blacks total scored 170 or above. How does that stand 5 yrs later with more and more people taking the LSAT (and doing better and better at it)? You have to do better now to get 99th percentile now than you ever did. It may be that in 2009 it will be 29 people over 172, not 170. And you may need 175 or whatever to get in the top 5

Also, who knows what this means, but in this thread alone there are 3 AA high LSAT/low GPA scorers who will be applying this cycle. How many more are not on LSN/TLS? And that's without even getting into high LSAT/moderate-to-high GPA people.

[earthlawyer]

OP: use lawschoolpredictor

Blanket T14 - ask to hold for december is a good plan. You'll get into one of them, with $ if you hit 166+.

I got into a T14 with a 3.0 GPA, but unless your story is as good as mine was, you shouldn't look to me as an example at all. I got in because of my PS and softs, and it was a hell of a story.

what was your story? & are you URM?

[DEANBIGBROTHERALMI-T]

law school predictor is depressing.

with my stats it doesnt seem like im getting in anywhere. hopefully i can get around the 170 range for the december test and give myself a fighting chance at T14.

[lawlover829]

law school predictor is depressing.

with my stats it doesnt seem like im getting in anywhere. hopefully i can get around the 170 range for the december test and give myself a fighting chance at T14.

LSP Is good estimation but the calcuation should be higher for an AA bump.