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I am graduating college a year early next May. I want to apply to law schools this fall, but my undergrad may seem a little incomplete. I currently have 79/120 credit hours required for my degree, and this is what law schools will see if I apply this fall. I have a 3.9 gpa and am shooting for 172+ on the LSAT. I am obviously aiming for the top schools. Before I start investing time and money into lsat prep and applying to law schools, I need some advice regarding whether I should think about applying this year.

Any suggestions?

Do you want to practice law?

Aawaldrop wrote:Do you want to practice law?

Yes

thisismyalias wrote:

Aawaldrop wrote:Do you want to practice law?

Yes

Okay just making sure. If you have a good idea what a practicing lawyer does and are willing to take some debt and a risk to become a lawyer then you might want to go to law school. You said you had 79/120 credits, does that mean you will be taking 41 credits from now until next May? If so, would you be able to study sufficiently to obtain a high LSAT while maintaining the high GPA? What are you options job wise post graduation? Most people suggest getting work experience to not only bolster your resume, but to gain some perspective of a full time job.

Aawaldrop wrote:

thisismyalias wrote:

Aawaldrop wrote:Do you want to practice law?

Yes

Okay just making sure. If you have a good idea what a practicing lawyer does and are willing to take some debt and a risk to become a lawyer then you might want to go to law school. You said you had 79/120 credits, does that mean you will be taking 41 credits from now until next May? If so, would you be able to study sufficiently to obtain a high LSAT while maintaining the high GPA? What are you options job wise post graduation? Most people suggest getting work experience to not only bolster your resume, but to gain some perspective of a full time job.

Thanks. If I don't apply next cycle then I will take a smaller courseload and come back a fourth year to get a second undergrad degree. So I think my options are to apply next cycle and plan to start law school in 2014 or rack up another year of debt as an undergrad or live in my parents basement for a year.

I'm thinking I'll get waitlisted if I apply in the fall because of the fact that law schools will see that I need 41 more credits for a degree. I'm just trying to figure out what a law school would think if I applied like this?

Someone else can chime in, but a strong GPA+LSAT will trump those concerns. Staying longer in school accruing more debt might limit your options. If you get 172+ you will be in a great position regardless of the credit thing. The only thing is that you have to keep your GPA up as schools will require you to update your transcripts.

thisismyalias wrote:

Aawaldrop wrote:

thisismyalias wrote:

Aawaldrop wrote:Do you want to practice law?

Yes

Okay just making sure. If you have a good idea what a practicing lawyer does and are willing to take some debt and a risk to become a lawyer then you might want to go to law school. You said you had 79/120 credits, does that mean you will be taking 41 credits from now until next May? If so, would you be able to study sufficiently to obtain a high LSAT while maintaining the high GPA? What are you options job wise post graduation? Most people suggest getting work experience to not only bolster your resume, but to gain some perspective of a full time job.

Thanks. If I don't apply next cycle then I will take a smaller courseload and come back a fourth year to get a second undergrad degree. So I think my options are to apply next cycle and plan to start law school in 2014 or rack up another year of debt as an undergrad or live in my parents basement for a year.

I'm thinking I'll get waitlisted if I apply in the fall because of the fact that law schools will see that I need 41 more credits for a degree. I'm just trying to figure out what a law school would think if I applied like this?

I did three years UG and applied with 38 credits left. Nobody cared and it didn't impact my cycle at all. If you know you want to go to law school then there's nothing wrong with this route.

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ingeniusprep please stop!