Engineer with questions Forum

[Gatorbull84]

I was wondering if anyone could let me know what I can do to make myself more competitive. I have a BS in engineering with a 3.02 gpa and I am currently in a medical masters program with a 3.9 gpa. I am studying for the LSAT but considering the fact that my ugpa is pretty low for law school I was wondering what else I can do to make myself a more competitive applicant for UF or FSU law.

Also, from what I understand schools will consider my masters program but they will not count it into my gpa. Does anyone know how much weight it will actually carry.

[DOOM]

Hey, fellow engineer here.

To answer your question; LSAT. The better you can perform on it, the more competitive you can be with your lower GPA. If my cycle is any indication, the engineering background may give you a slight boost at some schools with respect to the unique contribution you could make to their class, but it won't have a major effect on your chances (won't make up for the GPA).

Your master's GPA won't count towards the GPA used in law school admissions, but your master's transcript can be viewed by the admissions officers. It seems that they do not place much weight on these grades however. An example is given by Dean Perry of UChicago:

"Graduate work can be beneficial to an application (“I’ve never seen it be a disadvantage,” Dean Perry said), but a high graduate GPA won’t count for much, since they tend to be inflated across the board"

Good luck with the LSAT!

[Gatorbull84]

Thanks a lot, that seems to go with pretty much everything I have read so far. The schools I am looking at have a mean gpa of 3.5 and a LSAT around 160, so I guess my best shot to try to do great on the LSAT

[DOOM]

if your goals are specifically University of Florida and Florida State, an LSAT in the 165+ range should get you into UF without any problem, you could manage Florida State with lower (maybe a 160). If you have any interest in a T14/T20, like many users on this site, a 168+ should comfortably get you into Emory (BU/WashU/etc. as well).

also: you can try to use this website to get a better of sense of what your LSAT goals might be:

http://www.lawschoolcalculator.com
http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com

[Aeroplane]

If your UG school ranks students, and your class rank is higher than your GPA would suggest, ask your UG registrar to provide it to you and incorporate it into a GPA addendum.

[Gatorbull84]

I will have to check and see if they rank us. Thanks a lot, I appreciate the help

[Gatorbull84]

Can any of you recommend a good LSAT test prep? Right now I am using Barrons 13 edition.