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MJohnson1986 wrote:I'm wondering if I have any shot at all to a school like UofM?

Your GPA is 3.0 and your LSAT 165. The answer is NO.

Also, I was wondering if my LSAT percentile is considered strong?

Overall, yes.

Or, stronger than the appearance of a 165?

The LSAT score and percentile are almost always tied together and vary very little from test to test, or year to year. Therefore, the answer is NO

My next choice would be UNC

UNC loves people with high GPAs and in-staters. You are neither.

I guess what you were really asking is how much do my soft factor help me for law school admissions, right? Answer: Not much. LSAT and GPA counts for at least 90% of the decisions. Check "http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com/" to assess your chances.

You have decent softs but they are only good as a tiebreaker between you and others with similar numbers. You need a higher LSAT if you want UMich.

MJohnson1986 wrote: - 1) Will that type of WE at my age help me considerably?

Depends on the LS, UofM... not so much. You will likely get a boost at Northwestern if you have worked for ~2 years full time. (still need >170 on the LSAT with your GPA for consideration)

MJohnson1986 wrote: - 2) 92nd percentile on LSAT a good compensating factor?

A 165 with a 3.0 for UofM would definitely be a re-take scenario. You should be aiming for ~173 (99th percentile, if you prefer those "metrics"). The median UofM LSAT for the 2010 entering class is 169 (with 168 and 171 as the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively). The median GPA was 3.73 with the 25th and 75th percentiles falling at 3.57 and 3.85, respectively. To be competitive with your GPA, you need to blow them away with your LSAT.

MJohnson1986 wrote: - 3) LOR from prof from those classes, helpful?

Yes, they're helpful but your #s still have to be in UofM's range.

MJohnson1986 wrote: - 4) Thoughts on my potential for a T30 law school?

You'll likely get some T30 schools but scholly money will be thin.

MJohnson1986 wrote: - 5) I pretty much think that I could get a full ride to a T3 school here in Detroit (Wayne State) and maybe even MSU, but I want to get the best education I can...

DO NOT DO THIS unless you have a job locked down 100% (not 99%) after law school.

*All of my responses are under the assumption that you are not URM. If you are, then ~4 point boost in your LSAT and you'll have a shot at UofM.

Not that important but I'm fairly certain this information is incorrect:

I also know that they only have to report either your GPA OR your LSAT score to US News

I've always been under the assumption that law schools report both the UGPA and highest LSAT score to ABA, which US News then uses in its rankings--not that it should matter anyways. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

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@OP: Do you want to work in Michigan or elsewhere? If you want to work in Michigan then I could see taking a large scholarship at MSU (and I'd probably recommend MSU for cheap over UMich at sticker for working in Michigan) but I would avoid the other Michigan schools and I would definitely not go to MSU if you wanted out of Michigan.

You're a splitter. You need your LSAT to be over the median LSAT of the school you are applying to and have that school be splitter friendly to even have a chance (ideally you want to be over their 75th percentile). For example, even if you scored a 180 on a retake, your 3.0 would basically bar you from admission to Duke/USC/UCLA/Boalt/etc because those schools don't like splitters. On the other hand, if you can manage a 170+ you have a shot at UMich/UVa/UPenn/NU/etc because those schools are favorable to splitters. But your LSAT needs to put you in play (as Hopefully2012 put it) and a 165 only puts you in play at schools where their median is 165 or below (which I don't think is any T30 school but I could be wrong).

Hopefully2012 wrote:I've always been under the assumption that law schools report both the UGPA and highest LSAT score to ABA, which US News then uses in its rankings--not that it should matter anyways. If I'm wrong, please correct me.

You are correct, they have to report both highest LSAT and LSDAS GPA to the ABA.

MJohnson1986 wrote:I still think I may re-take the LSAT in October and shoot for a 170+ score, which should be possible given the additional time to study.

You definitely should. You have little to lose (just time spent studying and the money that the LSAT costs, and if you score lower it won't hurt you) and a lot to gain (if you score higher you can get into better schools or get more money from schools you already can gain acceptance to).

MJohnson1986 wrote:Per the last reply, I may be wrong, but I read somewhere that law schools only need to submit one or the other (LSAT score or UGPA) to US News with regards to their rankings. If I'm wrong (which I could be), someone please correct me, but in my online research I believe this is why a school like Northwestern is sometimes willing to take a reach down for an applicant or two?

NU is just willing to take splitters. They reach down for people who have at least one number above the median, but won't take someone who has both below (URMs excepted of course). But as noted above, schools have to submit both.