Top Law Schools

Hi.

im an undergrad junior who is looking at law schools. My first choice is to get into Yale, not only because its a top law school but for other reasons as well which I wont state here because I dont want this post to become my own personal statement (ha ha)

Anyway, one problem is I have a GPA of 3.6. Im definately going to try my best to raise it up but in my worst case, I feel that I may only be able to maintain my 3.6 instead of raising it to 3.8 which seems to be the median at Yale. I haven't taken a practice LSAT score but have old LSAT tests and the PS bibles which I plan to study to get a high LSAT score to offset my weak GPA.

When looking on the YLS admissions forums however, the accepted class seemed to consist of very unique people ranging from a flamingo dancer to poker player to youngest college graduate in German history. I know that softs play an important part of Law school admissions but many opportunities such as fellowships (Rhodes Scholar, Goldwater) are closed off for me since Im a social studies/economics double major international student from Asia (which means URM doesn't apply to me either).

I was wondering if anyone has heard of unique opportunities, fellowships, awards, or scholarships international students have gotten which had helped them in their quest for law school.

My current softs are these:

Worked part-time on a variety of oncampus jobs to support personal income to purchase books, member of the honor board, member of Model UN, member of Debate club, worked as an intern/job shadow for a law firm, worked with Christian fellowship in rebuilding effort in Katrina (dont know if this really applies).

By senior year, ill probably become co-chair on the honor board.

Yale is a great aspiration to have, but with a 3.6 and no LSAT score it's also a lofty/quasi-unrealistic one. Until you hit a 178+ on your actual exam, you can't really know your chances at Yale. Everyone studies hard and wants the high score, but only a few can actually achieve it.

The first thing I'd tell you is to wipe out any notion that you're going to apply straight from undergrad. You need to get some interesting work experience - and by interesting, I mean f-ing incredible. If there's a way you could get back to Asia to work/volunteer in a unique situation, that would be good. In the end, though, Yale loves numbers and if you don't have them, you're out of luck. Remember that Yale is Yale because it's nearly impossible to get into (among other things).

But don't despair - even though Yale is your number one choice, don't make it the end-all-be-all of your legal education dreams. With a 3.6 and a good LSAT score, you should make it into the T14 at least. You have "decent softs" (a favorite TLS expression) but, as you're aware, nothing insanely spectacular. I would take a look at what you want to do with a JD and then look at schools from that perspective.

Not to pile on, OP, but... ROFL at "flamingo dancing"

barrinmb wrote:Not to pile on, OP, but... ROFL at "flamingo dancing"

It's straight from Yale's website.

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bees wrote:

barrinmb wrote:Not to pile on, OP, but... ROFL at "flamingo dancing"

It's straight from Yale's website.

Yikes... wonder if it was misspelled on the application and copy-pasted or if it was an oversight on Yale's part. Either way, never would I attend such a disreputable institution

Option C: In addition to flamenco dancing, there is an undoubtedly hilarious form of dance out there that I would desperately love to see.

HeartBlade wrote: I was wondering if anyone has heard of unique opportunities, fellowships, awards, or scholarships international students have gotten which had helped them in their quest for law school.

Just to let you know, these things don't happen because you're looking for softs for law school. These things usually happen because people are dedicated to what they do. My theory is that schools like Yale look for people who excel in their field and decide to pursue law school, not people who always planned to go to law school and plan softs around law school. Do what you are really interested in doing and the rest should fall in place.