Top Law Schools

Hi, all.

I'm interested in applying to law school and right now I have three main interests: a program in international law (human rights), a joint JD/master of philosophy program, and a joint JD/PhD in human development program (the first two being ideal).

First, the basics: I'm a 23 year old Buddhist-Christian caucasian gay male from the midwest.

In undergraduate college (a small liberal arts school), I graduated cum laude (my GPA was either 3.6 or 3.7) with majors in English, writing, philosophy and religion and a minor in global studies. I belonged to the philosophy and religion club, ALLIES (a gay-straight alliance), and Think Green! (an eco group). I worked at the university's Writing Center for three years.

I'm currently on my way to obtaining my master of divinity at one of the U.S.'s top five divinity schools. I belong to our gay-straight alliance, economic concerns group, office of women's concerns, and political action group. For the past year I've worked at the university's Office of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer and Intersex Life as a spiritual and religious resource to students, faculty and staff. This semester I'm founding a faith discussion group for queer and questioning persons who are struggling to understand the intersections of spirituality and sexuality. Unfortunately, my GPA in my master's program is just a 3.3 right now (I am not satisfied at all with this but generally attribute it to being in a graduate program and at a harder school).

Without the LSAT, how are the stats looking? My top three choices for schools right now are George Washington, Georgetown, and University of Toronto. Any chances here? Any suggestions? Thanks for your help; will give more info once I get the LSAT taken care of.

Well, you've got some spectacular softs.

And your GPA isn't bad either, at a 3.6/7. Your graduate GPA won't matter much. The only problem is that we can't really predict much without a hard LSAT score to work with (it's that important to admissions). The good news is, you majored in 4 (FOUR?!) areas that require heavy reading/writing/thinking, and you worked at the writing center. That means that you're probably going to do very well on the LSAT, but it's no guarantee. If you can score a 168+ on your LSAT you'll be golden. A 170+ and you'll be able to pick and choose which of the best schools in the country you want to go to (with a couple of the most elite being exceptions).

Basically, everyone is going to tell you everything you are involved in is very nice and all, but aside from your GPA it means almost nothing.

Which is true.

You have a pretty good GPA and it sounds like you have a good idea of why you want to go into law. Congrats on that, now go study for the LSAT.

Without the LSAT, it's impossible to say. But GW and Georgetown will definitely admit you assuming you manage an LSAT around their respective medians or above. As others have said, very little matters except LSAT and GPA; soft factors are only significant in breaking ties. (The exception would be if you were a non-traditional applicant many years out of undergrad, in which case work experience would matter a lot more than undergrad GPA.)

As for the University of Toronto, no idea. I know nothing about non-US law schools.

Btw, feel free to join our TLS LGBT Facebook group; PM YCRevolution about it.

No one can offer you any good input on what your chances are at various schools without an LSAT score. Come back after you've taken it. Or better yet use this forum to help you prep for it. Looks like you have some good soft factors and will be able to write a strong personal statement. LSAT is by far the biggest piece of the puzzle though.

Btw- does your grad program have a ridiculous amount of grade deflation? If so, that might be worth mentioning in an addendum since it's much more common for grad schools grades to be much higher than undergrad.