my odds Forum

[robertlasvegas]

I have a 3.55 GPA, a 166 Lsat, 28 yrs old and have run my own business for the last 3 years (in my first years of business I made over $100k) I am caucasian and served for 2 years in South America as a missionary and speak fluent Spanish, will my life experience boost my app enough to get me into a top 20 program?

[BenJ]

You should get into at least some of the lower T20 (BU, USC, WUSTL, Vandy, UCLA, Texas) and maybe into the T14 (GULC and Cornell). Maybe a bit further up, too, if you get lucky or apply early on next cycle. So, yes, good enough for T20 even without the life experience (which makes some difference but not necessarily a big difference).

[hmar78]

Olvidate Top 20!!! Aplica a BYU LAW y te ahorras muchisimo dinero en tuition. Ademas el estado de la profesion hoy en dia no estan tan bueno para que estas gastas tanto dinero en una educacion legal.

Hazme caso.

(Yo tambien servi mi mision en espanol)

[rw2264]

if you made 100k in your first few years of business, you probably don't need to save that much money by going to BYU...but he's right, they would give you money at a lot of lower-ranked schools if that's a concern.

you are good for the upper 20s, apply all around, your entrepreneurial spirit will take you places

[BenJ]

I don't know whether BYU favors Mormon missionaries (if OP was indeed a Mormon missionary)-I assume they do-but BYU actually has much more stringent admission requirements than other schools of its rank. OP is, numerically, no more likely to get into BYU than the lower T20, ignoring missionary status.

OP is 25th GPA and 75th LSAT at BYU, or about 50th-50th at the lower T20.

[robertlasvegas]

All the Law school sites I have read come across as if the non-numerical portions of the application are very important to them. Is that true or just something that helps them sound interested in diversification?

[rw2264]

i'm gonna go out on a limb and assume BYU favors mormons. they give them cheaper tuition, for christ's sake (no pun intended)

[wardboro]

i'm gonna go out on a limb and assume BYU favors mormons.

They don't necessarily disfavor them, but they are looking to build diversity. They favor women and any kind of minority. White male, post missionary is so generic and common at BYU that to say they are favored is completely overstating things.

If OP wants to stay out in the Mountain West region, I'd skip BU and WUSTL. Texas, Vandy, UCLA, USC might give you modestly (emphasis on modest) better placement in the Mountain region than BYU but probably wouldn't be worth the cost difference. Depends on where you want to end up.