How Much Does Being An Older Candidate Hurt? Forum

[Causa Mortis]

32. Graduate from a top 25 in 2005. Graduated from a midling state school with an MA in 2010. Published while I was at the state school in law and economics in a good journal where I was only non-PhD to publish. 3.5 undergrad GPA, 3.8 graduate GPA. 780v, 760q, 5.5 AW on the GRE, and I've always tested 95%> on almost every standardized test I've taken.

With LSAT >170, how much will a decade of work in an unprestigious but high-paying industry matter? Presume top 3 are out, but would think that others remain on table with a sufficiently high test score, fair grades, and a publication. Money and funding aren't a focus, and I can self fund if need be - really looking for challenge, contribution, and status.

[A. Nony Mouse]

Being older won't hurt and your work experience will probably help to some extent. Get an LSAT score first, though (it's a different beast from other standardized tests).

Also go here http://mylsn.info/r/pre-law/admissions/search/ and plug in various LSAT scores with your GPA to see your prospects. The rest will only matter at the margins.

[SnakySalmon]

Just to be sure you know, a 170 isn't 95th percentile, it's 97.5th. A 173, which I think you'd really want with your GPA if you want top schools is 99th percentile.

[Causa Mortis]

Just to be sure you know, a 170 isn't 95th percentile, it's 97.5th. A 173, which I think you'd really want with your GPA if you want top schools is 99th percentile.

They'll only likely consider undergraduate GPA, right? Will they even look at graduate GPA?

[ScottRiqui]

I probably put more stock in "soft factors" than most people here, but the strength of your application is still going to depend mostly on your uGPA and LSAT score, so you really owe it to yourself to kill the LSAT; it's the last part of your application that you have any real control over.

You uGPA is hovering right around the 25th percentile for most of the lower T14. Not ideal, but it does mean that a full quarter of the class got in with similar (or lower) GPAs.

LSN is a good resource, but take the probabilities with a grain of salt; when you're talking about non-traditional applicants with significant work experience and advanced degrees, the number of data points is limited. Add to that the fact that you'll (hopefully) be a super-splitter, and its predictive value goes down even more. Lastly, the people reporting their scores on LSN are stronger overall than the schools' total applicant pools, and that can skew the picture as well.

[elterrible78]

32. Graduate from a top 25 in 2005. Graduated from a midling state school with an MA in 2010. Published while I was at the state school in law and economics in a good journal where I was only non-PhD to publish. 3.5 undergrad GPA, 3.8 graduate GPA. 780v, 760q, 5.5 AW on the GRE, and I've always tested 95%> on almost every standardized test I've taken.

With LSAT >170, how much will a decade of work in an unprestigious but high-paying industry matter? Presume top 3 are out, but would think that others remain on table with a sufficiently high test score, fair grades, and a publication. Money and funding aren't a focus, and I can self fund if need be - really looking for challenge, contribution, and status.

Hey there. I'm also an older candidate (I applied at age 34, started at age 35, and also published a book chapter when I was in grad school. Also a consistently high standardized test scorer). Being older is not going to hurt you at all, as a standalone factor. I think it helped me, if anything. But law school admissions really does come down to a numbers game, for the most part, with other factors filling in those gaps (I have run the numbers, and LSAT + GPA seems to account from anywhere from 50% at the low end (Yale) to 80% at the high end (Columbia) in the Top 14 for admissions decisions. In generally, that number is even higher outside the T14).

They aren't going to give a rat's ass about your grad school GPA, unfortunately. At least it won't get as much weight as your undergrad GPA. The simple reason for this is that undgrad GPA is what counts for purposes of reporting to USNWR, and that matters to schools. It's not that it won't be a factor; I think a grad degree is a great soft.

The bottom line is you have to try to kill the LSAT, and I have no doubt you can. But I mean KILL it. 95% is not going to be enough in your case. You need 99% or better to have the best shot at getting into a great school. I prepped for 3 months and managed 99.9%. It is a much different beast than the GRE (which I didn't prep for at all and got essentially the same score you did) or the SAT (which I took long enough ago to not be able to remember it). Buckled down on some LSAT prep, kill it, and you'll be sitting pretty.

Good luck!

[Causa Mortis]

I ran the math, and basically I need to be in the 175-180 range. Numbers are showing some with my GPA and that range of LSAT can got into even Havard and Stanford, and I think my publication and graduate degree are good soft pluses which would at least offset a decade of selling out.

I've got oodles of time to devote to LSAT test prep, and will crush it by the end of this summer.