Few questions from an Undergrad Forum

[Bphart]

Hey guys, I have a few questions that you all can hopefully help answer,

First off, I'm from a suburb of DC and am a Junior at a small state school in Ohio. I'm a Political Science Major and an Entrepreneurship Minor. I'm in the process of making up for a poor freshman year and hopefully will be Graduating with a 2.9-3.4 GPA. I plan to go into the Marine Corp as an Officer after College, fulfill my duty for 4-5 years then get out and apply to Law School.

My question is this; Will my time as an Officer help in the admissions process at all? I'm hoping that it will help make up for a sub-par GPA and will suffice as beneficial work experience. I'd like to stay in the area and plan to apply to most of the Schools in the DC area (Georgetown, GW, George Mason, American, Wash & Lee, maybe even UVA). My uncle is also a pretty prominent Attorney and a Georgetown grad who would hopefully write a LOR.

Please let me know what you guys think, any and all advice/comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[howlery]

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[094320]

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[Bphart]

It won't hurt but in most cases will not make up for a subpar LSAT or GPA. Maybe you have an extraordinary PS/DS and can get in to Yale with a 157/3.61, it certainly happens though not common. Just don't rely on it to be safe. Unless you're a URM (Puerto Rican, Mexican, Black, Native American), which would give you a boost depending on which category you fell under.

I pulled that number combo from Yale's incoming class profile to make my point btw, not saying you'll score a 157. Also I'm pretty sure schools would look down on if not prohibit family members writing recommendation letters. Even if your uncle was the president he would be biased. They'd prefer a professor or employer who has had enough contact with you to give an honest account. These letters are still not as important as LSAT/GPA either, so don't worry.

Thank you for a quick response and I appreciate your help. Could you possibly explain what a PS/DS is? I'm a bit confused.
Thanks again.

[howlery]

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[Bphart]

It won't hurt but in most cases will not make up for a subpar LSAT or GPA. Maybe you have an extraordinary PS/DS and can get in to Yale with a 157/3.61, it certainly happens though not common. Just don't rely on it to be safe. Unless you're a URM (Puerto Rican, Mexican, Black, Native American), which would give you a boost depending on which category you fell under.

I pulled that number combo from Yale's incoming class profile to make my point btw, not saying you'll score a 157. Also I'm pretty sure schools would look down on if not prohibit family members writing recommendation letters. Even if your uncle was the president he would be biased. They'd prefer a professor or employer who has had enough contact with you to give an honest account. These letters are still not as important as LSAT/GPA either, so don't worry.

Thank you for a quick response and I appreciate your help. Could you possibly explain what a PS/DS is? I'm a bit confused.
Thanks again.

I think there might be a couple of stickies you should check out in this forum and a few others. PS is short for personal statement and DS stands for diversity statement. The former is mandatory while the latter is reserved for those that feel as though they have experienced something that would make their class diverse (though everyone is free to write one, it just isn't mandatory like the PS).

Ah well that is a bit obvious. I'll be sure to check them out, Thanks again.

[sinisterkid]

Hey guys, I have a few questions that you all can hopefully help answer,

First off, I'm from a suburb of DC and am a Junior at a small state school in Ohio. I'm a Political Science Major and an Entrepreneurship Minor. I'm in the process of making up for a poor freshman year and hopefully will be Graduating with a 2.9-3.4 GPA. I plan to go into the Marine Corp as an Officer after College, fulfill my duty for 4-5 years then get out and apply to Law School.

My question is this; Will my time as an Officer help in the admissions process at all? I'm hoping that it will help make up for a sub-par GPA and will suffice as beneficial work experience. I'd like to stay in the area and plan to apply to most of the Schools in the DC area (Georgetown, GW, George Mason, American, Wash & Lee, maybe even UVA). My uncle is also a pretty prominent Attorney and a Georgetown grad who would hopefully write a LOR.

Please let me know what you guys think, any and all advice/comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

PM me bro.

I just got out after 4 years as a Marine Officer. I have a 3.61/161 (white male) and my cycle went like this:

- T-14: rejected
- UCLA/USC/WUSTL: rejected
- In at several regional T1s
- Waitlisted at UGA and Emory

Overall, yes I think my Marine experiences helped me stand out and secure admission into a few schools. However, I found out the expensive way that there are certain GPA/LSAT floors at most schools -- if you don't have the numbers, chances are you'll be rejected. I'm retaking the June LSAT in order to get off the Emory/UGA WL and potentially sit out a cycle and reapply with a higher LSAT. What you need to do is get more focused and pull your GPA up. You'll have time on active duty to study for the LSAT to line up for the application cycle during the last year of your contract.

Again, feel free to PM me with all your Marine Corps and law school admissions questions.

[Liquox]

Hey guys, I have a few questions that you all can hopefully help answer,

First off, I'm from a suburb of DC and am a Junior at a small state school in Ohio. I'm a Political Science Major and an Entrepreneurship Minor. I'm in the process of making up for a poor freshman year and hopefully will be Graduating with a 2.9-3.4 GPA. I plan to go into the Marine Corp as an Officer after College, fulfill my duty for 4-5 years then get out and apply to Law School.

My question is this; Will my time as an Officer help in the admissions process at all? I'm hoping that it will help make up for a sub-par GPA and will suffice as beneficial work experience. I'd like to stay in the area and plan to apply to most of the Schools in the DC area (Georgetown, GW, George Mason, American, Wash & Lee, maybe even UVA). My uncle is also a pretty prominent Attorney and a Georgetown grad who would hopefully write a LOR.

Please let me know what you guys think, any and all advice/comments are greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

nepotism will help you only when it's on a large scale: ie, if your father was president. that being said, get a gpa above 3.0 and a lsat around 170-175, and u should be good for most of those listed schools with your military service.

[airbud]

Hey man, current Marine officer here.

I just got back from Afghanistan and met a Marine there that's currently enlisted (chose to enlist rather than go the officer route for a couple of reasons), graduated from a big state school with a 3.85, a 168 LSAT, and has had a few deployments under his belt. He's been accepted at Columbia, where he's already deposited, several other T14s, and is riding out the waitlist at Harvard. He's also white.

I believe he outperformed his numbers because he was able to communicate via his personal statement and resume that his experience in the Marines was unique, maturing, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting, etc, etc. He was able to leverage his experience to make the AdComms say, "yep, we want this guy in our incoming class."

I don't think the "military boost" works in some sort of formulaic way that other characteristics of an applicant sometimes do. Like, it's not "hmm, military vet, check, add 3 points to his LSAT and .2 points to his GPA." But, I do think that military guys are successful in admissions because uniformed service offers fertile ground to really differentiate yourself from the average K-JD applicant.

Anyway, best of luck to you. If you need any info on becoming an officer, etc, shoot me a message. I'll be taking the LSAT this June and sending in apps next fall while deployed, so we're on kinda similar timelines. Keep in touch!