Top Law Schools

So I came late to the process of applying to law schools, but I think I'm a pretty strong applicant. I have a graduate degree already and while my UG GPA isn't great, I have some extenuating circumstances at work there. My Graduate GPA is something like 3.8 and I got a 166 LSAT.

I'm not trying to get into a super top tier school, and I'm limited geographically...

Basically, University of Maryland is the top option for me just now, and I suspect I'd be in if I'd started in October, but I didn't get my LSAT scores until a month ago. I still don't have the required LORs to apply, despite my best efforts, and I wonder if I should start to consider going to another school to transfer in or even waiting for fall 2015.

So, in a nutshell, is it realistic to get into UM if I don't apply until May? June?

clevername wrote:So I came late to the process of applying to law schools, but I think I'm a pretty strong applicant. I have a graduate degree already and while my UG GPA isn't great, I have some extenuating circumstances at work there. My Graduate GPA is something like 3.8 and I got a 166 LSAT.

I'm not trying to get into a super top tier school, and I'm limited geographically...

Basically, University of Maryland is the top option for me just now, and I suspect I'd be in if I'd started in October, but I didn't get my LSAT scores until a month ago. I still don't have the required LORs to apply, despite my best efforts, and I wonder if I should start to consider going to another school to transfer in or even waiting for fall 2015.

So, in a nutshell, is it realistic to get into UM if I don't apply until May? June?

Maybe? Guess it depends on their application deadline, ya?

The deadline's not until August, actually, but has anyone actually gotten in past the "priority" deadline (April 1)? Did it impact your financial aid?

you very sneakily left your UGPA (the only one that counts) out of the post ... Are we talking sub-3.0? If you've above 3.0 UMaryland will probably fall over themselves to admit you with a 166.

clevername wrote:The deadline's not until August, actually, but has anyone actually gotten in past the "priority" deadline (April 1)? Did it impact your financial aid?

Yeah, schools can't afford to be choosy. I'm guessing you could apply in July and get a full ride if you had the numbers.

If my best option was the University of Maryland I would do something else with my life.

Mal Reynolds wrote:If my best option was the University of Maryland I would do something else with my life.

Harsh. (and maybe unfairly so, since UM is ranked #1 for certain specialties and is ranked in the 40's, I think)

But I'm being realistic about my reasons and my goals here. I'm not trying to make a fortune or be on the supreme court. I'm married to a Ph.D. student so relocation isn't realistic, and I'd rather practice law than temp or teach, which is what one does with a history degree.

My UG GPA is, in fact, sub 3.0, and was figured to be a 2.7 if I recall right. This is addressed in my SOP, but without oversharing, I withdrew failing from my first UG school and had a semester's worth of Fs factored in. It didn't help. (nor did statistics).

I'm going to apply regardless, I just wanted to know if anyone accepted there or at similarly ranked schools did so applying so late in the game.

Specialty rankings correlate to academic prestige of the faculty and mean precisely nothing for you or your employment outcomes. Maryland gives you at best a coin flip's chance at any legal job so I think you can find something better to do with three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars.

No matter what you do in life, you have to be tactical about it. The struggle for law students is just getting any legal job, forget getting a high paying or prestigious job. So approach your law school search with that in mind.

Now, what you've got going for you is a pretty good LSAT score. Given your narrative, I suspect you didn't study too hard to get that 166, which means you're smart. You should be able to get 170+ if you follow the study advice on TLS and take the LSAT again this summer.

I assume your SO is in Baltimore. Which means schools in both DC or Baltimore should be in play. What I would do in your shoes is retake, get a 170+ score, and try to get as much scholarship money as possible. You should apply to schools broadly within the top 50. Even if you don't go, you can play schools off each other to leverage scholarship money from schools you would go to.

I could see you getting into Georgetown, then using that to get a big scholarship from say GW, which would be commutable from Baltimore.

Do not go to a school expecting to be able to transfer. Even if you're not trying to get a good lawyer job, U of MD is not worth paying sticker for which you will as a transfer. Only go there if you get close to a full ride, which you could with the right LSAT.