Broad, Tactical Advice Needed Forum

[Excel]

Trying to plan out exactly my course of action to get into the best law school possible. This is my situation:

Junior, who recently transferred to a bigger school after my sophomore year. My current lsac GA is 3.2, pol sci major, econ minor. I will work to get that up, ideally to over 3.4 prior to graduation. LSAT Diagnostic score was a 163, with many bonehead errors. I have little real work experience (held a part time job for 2 1/2 years, not much else). I am on the hunt for an internship this summer, but a semester abroad which has getting home July 1st is limiting my options. This means prior to my application, I'll have spent only a total of 1 semester at the school from which I am graduating. I am not overly close with any professors, so letter of recommendation might be tough. I have a professor or two who would write for me at my previous school, and could possibly go out of my way to get in with a professor at Sydney Uni, but atm those are lacking. However, graduating on time (spring 2012) is important to me, but so is going to the bp ls.

So, the way I see it, I have 2 possible course of action:

1. Prep to apply this coming fall. Study hard for LSAT and take the test in June. Try to intern over the summer, and if not, just work at job I have had since 2008. Submit a letter of rec from all schools attended. GPA and degrees as is.

2. Add another semester (fall of 2012) before graduation. It would allow me to add on another possible internship, boost my GPA a tad, perhaps obtain another major/minor, get closer with professors for letters of rec. LSAT score prob. wouldnt change a whole lot, and neither would GPA.

Graduating on time is very important to me, but so is going to the best school possible. Is it worth waiting all that time in order to boost work experience, gpa, etc? I think what I will likely do is study hard and take the LSAT's in May. If I score where I hope to (170/175+), I will just apply for next fall, with my application as is. If I score lower, I'll just add on the extra semester, to boost everything else, and retake the LSAT's again in hopes of scoring better. Basically, I am asking whether or not its worth holding off a semester to boost the more minor parts of the application (as the major ones-LSAT and GPA-likely wont change too much).

What Should I do? If I apply for fall 2012, and dont get it in...am I allowed to apply again, with a stronger app, for spring 2013 (may be a stupid question, but I couldnt find it on most websites...RC fails perhaps)?

[Excel]

nobody?

[northwood]

work on making good contacts with professors to get a solid letter of recommendation from them. Aim to get your gpa up. Have fun and prep for the test in june. With a diagnostic of 163, you are allready in a decent place, but you can do better. IF you dont like teh results of the june test, prep over the summer and take the october test. Make sure you get all of the rest of your application ready ( resume, personal statement, etc). Work on these after the June test. Keep the job you currently have, and get another LOR from your boss. While its always nice to stay an extra semester to boost the gpa, is it really cost productive? Yes you can raise the gpa a bit, but if you have to pay a lot of money for an extra semester, I would say dont bother. Especially if you score in the high 160's+ A 3.4 would be fine.

You can always re apply again if you dont like how your cycle goes. You can use the same references you have. Just make sure to update your resume, and revamp your personal statemnt. I personally would recommend taking a year off from school to recharge your batteries. Use this time to make sure Law is what you want to do. You can also dedicate your full energy to prep and work. A lot of people take time off between ug and law school, so its not a big deal. HTH

[champ33]

Internships/work experience will matter exactly 0. Go to one of your professors' office hours, in a course you like and talk to him a few times, then ask for a letter. You don't need to be extremely close. Letters probably almost never effect whether you're accepted, you just need to have them. It is all about the LSAT and GPA, so just take your LSAT, if you're happy with the score, apply, if not take it again and/or take some time off. Also, reapplying in back to back years is no problem.

[NoJob]

Trying to plan out exactly my course of action to get into the best law school possible. This is my situation:

Junior, who recently transferred to a bigger school after my sophomore year. My current lsac GA is 3.2, pol sci major, econ minor. I will work to get that up, ideally to over 3.4 prior to graduation. LSAT Diagnostic score was a 163, with many bonehead errors. I have little real work experience (held a part time job for 2 1/2 years, not much else). I am on the hunt for an internship this summer, but a semester abroad which has getting home July 1st is limiting my options. This means prior to my application, I'll have spent only a total of 1 semester at the school from which I am graduating. I am not overly close with any professors, so letter of recommendation might be tough. I have a professor or two who would write for me at my previous school, and could possibly go out of my way to get in with a professor at Sydney Uni, but atm those are lacking. However, graduating on time (spring 2012) is important to me, but so is going to the bp ls.

So, the way I see it, I have 2 possible course of action:

1. Prep to apply this coming fall. Study hard for LSAT and take the test in June. Try to intern over the summer, and if not, just work at job I have had since 2008. Submit a letter of rec from all schools attended. GPA and degrees as is.

2. Add another semester (fall of 2012) before graduation. It would allow me to add on another possible internship, boost my GPA a tad, perhaps obtain another major/minor, get closer with professors for letters of rec. LSAT score prob. wouldnt change a whole lot, and neither would GPA.

Graduating on time is very important to me, but so is going to the best school possible. Is it worth waiting all that time in order to boost work experience, gpa, etc? I think what I will likely do is study hard and take the LSAT's in May. If I score where I hope to (170/175+), I will just apply for next fall, with my application as is. If I score lower, I'll just add on the extra semester, to boost everything else, and retake the LSAT's again in hopes of scoring better. Basically, I am asking whether or not its worth holding off a semester to boost the more minor parts of the application (as the major ones-LSAT and GPA-likely wont change too much).

What Should I do? If I apply for fall 2012, and dont get it in...am I allowed to apply again, with a stronger app, for spring 2013 (may be a stupid question, but I couldnt find it on most websites...RC fails perhaps)?

Wow. My advice is to go for an econ major and then try for a business gig. Until you brought in the New Year objecting to Interrogatories, you will not have any idea what the practice of law truly entails.

[Excel]

thanks to the first 2, appreciated.

Trying to plan out exactly my course of action to get into the best law school possible. This is my situation:

Junior, who recently transferred to a bigger school after my sophomore year. My current lsac GA is 3.2, pol sci major, econ minor. I will work to get that up, ideally to over 3.4 prior to graduation. LSAT Diagnostic score was a 163, with many bonehead errors. I have little real work experience (held a part time job for 2 1/2 years, not much else). I am on the hunt for an internship this summer, but a semester abroad which has getting home July 1st is limiting my options. This means prior to my application, I'll have spent only a total of 1 semester at the school from which I am graduating. I am not overly close with any professors, so letter of recommendation might be tough. I have a professor or two who would write for me at my previous school, and could possibly go out of my way to get in with a professor at Sydney Uni, but atm those are lacking. However, graduating on time (spring 2012) is important to me, but so is going to the bp ls.

So, the way I see it, I have 2 possible course of action:

1. Prep to apply this coming fall. Study hard for LSAT and take the test in June. Try to intern over the summer, and if not, just work at job I have had since 2008. Submit a letter of rec from all schools attended. GPA and degrees as is.

2. Add another semester (fall of 2012) before graduation. It would allow me to add on another possible internship, boost my GPA a tad, perhaps obtain another major/minor, get closer with professors for letters of rec. LSAT score prob. wouldnt change a whole lot, and neither would GPA.

Graduating on time is very important to me, but so is going to the best school possible. Is it worth waiting all that time in order to boost work experience, gpa, etc? I think what I will likely do is study hard and take the LSAT's in May. If I score where I hope to (170/175+), I will just apply for next fall, with my application as is. If I score lower, I'll just add on the extra semester, to boost everything else, and retake the LSAT's again in hopes of scoring better. Basically, I am asking whether or not its worth holding off a semester to boost the more minor parts of the application (as the major ones-LSAT and GPA-likely wont change too much).

What Should I do? If I apply for fall 2012, and dont get it in...am I allowed to apply again, with a stronger app, for spring 2013 (may be a stupid question, but I couldnt find it on most websites...RC fails perhaps)?

Wow. My advice is to go for an econ major and then try for a business gig. Until you brought in the New Year objecting to Interrogatories, you will not have any idea what the practice of law truly entails.

...

[dextermorgan]

Trying to plan out exactly my course of action to get into the best law school possible. This is my situation:

Junior, who recently transferred to a bigger school after my sophomore year. My current lsac GA is 3.2, pol sci major, econ minor. I will work to get that up, ideally to over 3.4 prior to graduation. LSAT Diagnostic score was a 163, with many bonehead errors. I have little real work experience (held a part time job for 2 1/2 years, not much else). I am on the hunt for an internship this summer, but a semester abroad which has getting home July 1st is limiting my options. This means prior to my application, I'll have spent only a total of 1 semester at the school from which I am graduating. I am not overly close with any professors, so letter of recommendation might be tough. I have a professor or two who would write for me at my previous school, and could possibly go out of my way to get in with a professor at Sydney Uni, but atm those are lacking. However, graduating on time (spring 2012) is important to me, but so is going to the bp ls.

So, the way I see it, I have 2 possible course of action:

1. Prep to apply this coming fall. Study hard for LSAT and take the test in June. Try to intern over the summer, and if not, just work at job I have had since 2008. Submit a letter of rec from all schools attended. GPA and degrees as is.

2. Add another semester (fall of 2012) before graduation. It would allow me to add on another possible internship, boost my GPA a tad, perhaps obtain another major/minor, get closer with professors for letters of rec. LSAT score prob. wouldnt change a whole lot, and neither would GPA.

Graduating on time is very important to me, but so is going to the best school possible. Is it worth waiting all that time in order to boost work experience, gpa, etc? I think what I will likely do is study hard and take the LSAT's in May. If I score where I hope to (170/175+), I will just apply for next fall, with my application as is. If I score lower, I'll just add on the extra semester, to boost everything else, and retake the LSAT's again in hopes of scoring better. Basically, I am asking whether or not its worth holding off a semester to boost the more minor parts of the application (as the major ones-LSAT and GPA-likely wont change too much).

What Should I do? If I apply for fall 2012, and dont get it in...am I allowed to apply again, with a stronger app, for spring 2013 (may be a stupid question, but I couldnt find it on most websites...RC fails perhaps)?

Wow. My advice is to go for an econ major and then try for a business gig. Until you brought in the New Year objecting to Interrogatories, you will not have any idea what the practice of law truly entails.

...

He is saying get a job, a real one. Honestly that is your best bet. A 3.4/170+ will get you in a T14, but WE will get you in better schools, and put you in a better position come OCI.

[Excel]

I understood that part, and will take it into consideration. I failed to see how he concluded I'd have no " idea what the practice of law truly entailed". Im focusing on lsats atm; getting distracted at this time would only effect my scores I have no worries regarding the type of lawyer I will become, either, if thats what he is referring to.

[seriously????]

<Im focusing on lsats atm; getting distracted at this time would only effect my scores >

Why are you distracting yourself here and now?

[paulinaporizkova]

TL;DR. shorten that baby up

[Excel]

TL;DR. shorten that baby up

sorry man, what does "tl, dr" mean?

[NoJob]

I understood that part, and will take it into consideration. I failed to see how he concluded I'd have no " idea what the practice of law truly entailed". Im focusing on lsats atm; getting distracted at this time would only effect my scores I have no worries regarding the type of lawyer I will become, either, if thats what he is referring to.

Thank you for confirming that you really have no idea what you are getting yourself into.
Forget my previous advice, go to Cooley, and take out as many loans as possible.

[Montevillian]

I would be a little curious as to why you want to be a lawyer, since you don't even really hint at much practical interest in the law in the OP or any after. Not trying to be snarky, it's just that law school is a huge investment and a huge waste of time if you're not completely devoted to the idea of having no life outside of paperwork and idiot clients.

Regardless, do whatever/take however much time you can (reasonably) to get that GPA up. You're not in a bad place for the LSAT, especially if you're not completely devoted to going to law school right after graduating, but your GPA's still a bit low and would continue to be a bit low at a 3.4. You're a political science major, it shouldn't be too hard. Work experience while still in undergrad doesn't matter at all, nor do internships (although they are a pretty good way of figuring out if you actually want to be a lawyer). You say the extra semester won't effect your GPA very much, but if it could put you over a 3.4something to a 3.5something, you should definitely take that extra semester.

[Excel]

I see. Thanks for the advice.

I understood that part, and will take it into consideration. I failed to see how he concluded I'd have no " idea what the practice of law truly entailed". Im focusing on lsats atm; getting distracted at this time would only effect my scores I have no worries regarding the type of lawyer I will become, either, if thats what he is referring to.

Thank you for confirming that you really have no idea what you are getting yourself into.
Forget my previous advice, go to Cooley, and take out as many loans as possible.

i feel you.

[paulinaporizkova]

TL;DR. shorten that baby up

sorry man, what does "tl, dr" mean?

too long didn't read hehe