Top Law Schools

Hello, everyone. I'm new to the boards after lurking for several
months, and am trying to figure out what path I'm going to take for
law school.

I'm currently working full time (after graduating in Winter '09), and
have two years left on my contract-- so it would be fall 2012 before I
would be able to enter.

My undergraduate GPA from Ohio State is 3.44, with honors in the Arts
& Sciences. (Which means I was in the school's honors program and took
a sufficient number of honors/upper level courses-- don't know if that
will matter to any admissions committee or not.)

I haven't yet taken the LSAT, but I'm consistently scoring 174-176 on
practice exams.

While I really feel I can do well on the LSAT, I'm extremely concerned
about my GPA.

Ohio State is the only school I'm really interested in; I'm married
and we just bought a house, and moving is really not an option
considering the house, and my husband's career and education. (He's
currently working on his masters locally.) The 25th percentile GPA at
Ohio State is 3.66.Capital University would be
a backup, if I didn't get into Ohio State.

While I think I'd have a shot at getting in, I also really need to get
some scholarships. So what I am wondering is, would going back to
school for an online MBA (and getting a very high GPA) increase my
chances of getting some of my J.D. paid for? I have about $35k saved
for my education-- and it would take about $20k to get the MBA. But
if that would mean I could save on the J.D.... it might be worth it?

Another option would be attending Capital part-time until I can
transfer to Ohio State for their full time program. But I don't know how
that would effect scholarships.

Or do you even think I'd be able to get into OSU with a 3.44?

Again, I'm just starting this journey-- so if I've said anything dumb
or made any wrong assumptions, please forgive me. I know many of these
questions should probably be taken to admissions, but I was hoping to
get a little guidance here first.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

mandrake wrote:Hello, everyone. I'm new to the boards after lurking for several
months, and am trying to figure out what path I'm going to take for
law school.

I'm currently working full time (after graduating in Winter '09), and
have two years left on my contract-- so it would be fall 2012 before I
would be able to enter.

My undergraduate GPA from Ohio State is 3.44, with honors in the Arts
& Sciences. (Which means I was in the school's honors program and took
a sufficient number of honors/upper level courses-- don't know if that
will matter to any admissions committee or not.)

I haven't yet taken the LSAT, but I'm consistently scoring 174-176 on
practice exams.

While I really feel I can do well on the LSAT, I'm extremely concerned
about my GPA.

Ohio State is the only school I'm really interested in; I'm married
and we just bought a house, and moving is really not an option
considering the house, and my husband's career and education. (He's
currently working on his masters locally.) The 25th percentile GPA at
Ohio State is 3.66.Capital University would be
a backup, if I didn't get into Ohio State.

While I think I'd have a shot at getting in, I also really need to get
some scholarships. So what I am wondering is, would going back to
school for an online MBA (and getting a very high GPA) increase my
chances of getting some of my J.D. paid for? I have about $35k saved
for my education-- and it would take about $20k to get the MBA. But
if that would mean I could save on the J.D.... it might be worth it?

Another option would be attending Capital part-time until I can
transfer to Ohio State for their full time program. But I don't know how
that would effect scholarships.

Or do you even think I'd be able to get into OSU with a 3.44?

Again, I'm just starting this journey-- so if I've said anything dumb
or made any wrong assumptions, please forgive me. I know many of these
questions should probably be taken to admissions, but I was hoping to
get a little guidance here first.

Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer.

No the MBA won't help at all.

You'll get in if you get over 170.

As for scholarships, I can't tell, there aren't a lot of data points. I sure as hell wouldn't go to OSU with 174/3.4 .

Apply to Columbia, Chicago, NYU, Mich, Penn, Nortwesterns, Duke, Cornell, and Georgetown.

If you can pull a 170+ on the LSAT they would love to have you because you would boost their LSAT stats. I would just write a good PS explaining your situation and that your committed to attending OSU. On LSN there are people who scored in the high 160's and had sub 3.5 GPAs and got $$ from OSU.

Just make sure you apply to a variety of schools, even if you are 100% set on Ohio State. If you get admitted to much higher ranked schools, which would be probable with an LSAT above 170, or get scholarships from schools equal to or better than OSU, you can use those admittances and scholarships to negotiate a higher scholarship from OSU.

Am I the only person for whom that post looks like it was written in verse?

Like DF said, a 170 should more than suffice to get you into OSU. In fact, if you score, 174-176, you should be looking at the lower T14 and T20.

.

REALLY SUCKS you have to stay in Ohio.* You could get into some amazing schools with a 3.4/175.

I guess it depends what you want to do with your degree...but still...




*Though you can make anything work if you want it bad enough.

rate your husband on a scale of 120-180.

if you score higher than him, move.

vespertiliovir wrote:rate your husband on a scale of 120-180.

if you score higher than him, move.

I never really even considered anywhere better ranking because I thought even OSU would be a stretch considering my GPA. If I do well on the LSAT, what do you think the best school I could get into would be? Also, how much do extracurriculars play into admissions?

Thanks for all the feedback.

mandrake wrote:I never really even considered anywhere better ranking because I thought even OSU would be a stretch considering my GPA. If I do well on the LSAT, what do you think the best school I could get into would be? Also, how much do extracurriculars play into admissions?

Thanks for all the feedback.

Best? Maybe University of Chicago or NYU.

Extracurricular aren't a factor unless they are VERY good. And by very good I mean things that are unique, prestigious and difficult. History officer of I-felta-thigh isn't good.

OP, you could do so much better than OSU, assuming you test the way you practice. It's much better to have a high LSAT, and your GPA really isn't that low -- sure, you're not going to HYS, Columbia, or Berkeley, but the rest of the T14 is well within your grasp.