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Ok ladies and gents I need some advice and don't know who to ask. Any comments would be much appreciated.

OK so I'm graduating with a 2.7 from University of Texas at Austin with a B.S. in Radio-Television-Film

The summer after my freshmen year, my father was diagnosed with cancer. He died the fall of what was suppose to be my senior year.

I took some time off, tried to come back, failed miserably, went back again and on track for about a 3.65 for this semester.

My grades pretty much went up and down with my father's health/my level of depression over the matter, which I explained in an addendum.

In the addendum I basically explain how I got depressed, but made me think long and hard about my purpose in life because I realized I was going to die one day. Also explained how there's no parent pushing/paying for school - it's all my decision.

My Junior, Senior, and super Senior years were pretty bad GPA-wise. Failed three classes, got a D, some Cs.

Outside of this disastrous period I have about a 3.5 (2.7 all and all). I was pre-med for a while too so this included some challenging natural science for science major classes. Also, I'm a white guy and took Chinese, did pretty well. My point is I took a lot of challenging classes not just RTF classes.

I got a 170 on the LSAT and want to work in Entertainment Law.

I have rec from a PhD in psychology who I worked under in a psyche lab fresh/soph year and a teacher from the Film school who is a published author of a fairly popular book on independent film (though I don't want to name names).

I'm applying to the following schools in the Los Angeles area:

UCLA
USC
Loyola
Southwestern - although I'm a little concerned about their notoriety for weeding people out
Chapman (up and coming film school on campus)
**probably not Pepperdine b/c the religious thing freaks me out, if anyone has some argument why I should I'm all ears.

Do I have a shot at USC or UCLA?

I would be very happy with Loyola.

Southwestern or Chapman would be OK, although I'm concerned about SW reputation for failing people out.

I'd like to hear anyone's comments.

Thanks everybody

no shot at USC or UCLA.

Probably in at Loyola.

Don't, under any circumstance, go to Southwestern or Chapman.

Not to be insensitive, but you have a GPA of 2.7. From what I gather, reasoning for a low GPA, even if it is as tragic as yours, does little to change it. It might make it look like an acceptable 2.7 rather than an embarassing one, but it is a 2.7 nonetheless. This will unfortunately keep you out of some good schools. Hopefully the addendum makes them consider an exception. The 170 will totally help as well. Good luck!

The drop off from USC/UCLA to Loyola is pretty vast. I'm of the philosophy that you go where life takes you, and where opportunity is the best. I think USC/UCLA are somewhat possible, albeit not the norm, because of the over median LSAT. The 2.7 will hurt you significantly, and will prob knock you out of those schools. If I was you, knowing this, I'd fly out there and meet with an admissions counselor to discuss this in person as, as a blank face on the page you're def. out. If this doesn't work out, are you completely adverse to living elsewhere? You might get into WUSTL, and WUSTL is not comparable with the other LA schools. Unfortunately, you're in the absolute worst part of the country to have that GPA.

So you're from LA and you went to UT, and now you want to return to LA? I honestly think you'll have some much better opportunities with your LSAT (and an undoubtedly gripping story) elsewhere. Throw some apps to Loyola, USC and UCLA anyway just in case, you never know what might happen.