What can I do about this situation? Forum

[nuissance92]

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[mattf]

Not to burst your bubble but law schools don't care a whole lot about your extra-curriculars unless they are unique or spectacular (not that yours aren't, just not what they are looking for), so those will help you only a small amount. However a 171 LSAT is pretty good and a 3.4/3.5 isn't detrimental to getting into a T20 law school, especially considering you're an URM.

Looks like you got a strong shot at Northwestern, Georgetown and Cornell for T14, anything below that would be pretty guaranteed assuming you have a good PS and strong LORs and haven't been convicted of any serious crimes. You could also reach for some higher ranked law schools if money is of no object to you.

[Clemenceau]

Not all hispanic is URM, so make sure to check that your particular ethnicity is considered urm by law schools.

Assuming you are urm, you have significantly better chances at very top schools than the above poster explained. Aim high. I'm thinking top 6 with decent scholarships could happen, but who knows.

[Clemenceau]

But dear god a december 2016 graduation is a long way away. Take the time to explore other options and decide if law school and law practice is really where you see yourself.

[Clearly]

Agreed, that poster is being overly conservative, even non-urm k-jds with 3.4 171 consistently get bottom t14. I think applying ED NU is a pretty good idea, it's kind of a long shot with that GPA, but if you're going to ED anywhere thats the place to try it. You'll have one of the rare GPA addenda that actually helps mitigate your GPA to a degree. I'm glad you're feeling better! Also, I second the above post, go enjoy your life for a while and keep your GPA up, you've got a while before you need to worry about it. Also, I usually wouldn't advise a junior to take the LSAT so early, but you did well, how hard did you study? Do you think you could do any better on a retake? You're not a textbook retake case, but if it came easy to you as a junior a few more points does at least make a statement.

[Tiago Splitter]

Would that 3.4-3.5 be your LSAC GPA? Typically people who spend multiple semesters on academic warning won't be able to get their GPA that high because LSAC counts every class and does not ignore retaken classes. If that really is your GPA then you're in good shape.

[nuissance92]

My university does not leave classes that haven't been passed on official transcript sent to graduate schools, so they won't be able to see them to add them in. Unless I'm wrong? My law advisor calculated my LSAC GPA.

I did not study for the first LSAT. I am currently studying for the next six months to get it higher before I apply.

Thank you for the help, everyone.

[Clearly]

My university does not leave classes that haven't been passed on official transcript sent to graduate schools, so they won't be able to see them to add them in. Unless I'm wrong? My law advisor calculated my LSAC GPA.

I did not study for the first LSAT. I am currently studying for the next six months to get it higher before I apply.

Thank you for the help, everyone.

That can't be right.

[ballcaps]

aim high.

[Clearly]

aim high.

we don't know about the urm details yet.

[nuissance92]

I'm aware of the details. Thank you for the help.

[Clearly]

I'd double check with how your transcript gets sent. Also a lot turns on whether/to what degree a urm bump would help, so if you provide more information you'd get better results. Glad your considering retaking. I wouldn't recommend it if you felt you studied hard or couldn't do better, but if you coasted to 171, a few points always helps. Best of luck.

[cron1834]

Your GPA still needs to actually improve, LSAC needs to actually calculate it as such, your URM status needs to be verified, and the application environment may be different two cycles from now. This is way premature, duder. Come back in a year.

[BillsFan9907]

Not all hispanic is URM, so make sure to check that your particular ethnicity is considered urm by law schools.

Assuming you are urm, you have significantly better chances at very top schools than the above poster explained. Aim high. I'm thinking top 6 with decent scholarships could happen, but who knows.

You sure? On my apps I never saw an option for Mexican American. Also there are plenty of anecdotal accounts of all Latin Americans in a group performing equally regardless of place of origin.

[nuissance92]

I checked my URM status before posting this, so I made sure that I was not just throwing that label around.
As for the GPA, it will get back up there. I worked very hard to get where I was originally, and fortunately am in a place to bring myself back to that level now.

As for the transcript issue brought up before, my university has an internal and an external transcript. The internal one has a list of courses attempted and failed, but the external one only shows courses that have been passed. It is understood with my advisor and with previous law applicants at my university that the LSAC receives the official external transcript only. Since that's the case, they have no way of knowing what classes were attempted. It's a blessing.

I guess my primary worry was the GPA and if it would hurt submitting an application for ED to NU in December of 2016 if that was the very semester I was graduating. But you all have been very nice and helpful. I know admission varies depending on the application cycle, but regardless, there is some sort of threshold for the top tier schools, and I didn't know how I objectively stood out to other people as an applicant.

[Clearly]

Really look into the system, that isn't allowed, so I'm inclined to think someone misspoke. Or there's been a string of oversights!

We're not asking about the heritage thing for nothing, it's important. you saying you've got it under control I guess is fair if you have some privacy concern or something, but it's still frustrating to the next person who might be in your shoes and can't find anything here. But like I said I understand if you have some specific reason to limit this information.

[altf4]

My university does not leave classes that haven't been passed on official transcript sent to graduate schools, so they won't be able to see them to add them in. Unless I'm wrong? My law advisor calculated my LSAC GPA.

I did not study for the first LSAT. I am currently studying for the next six months to get it higher before I apply.

Thank you for the help, everyone.

IF (and only if) you're sure your official transcript doesn't show retakes, then you should be fine. I was in a similar boat.



I'm chortling because you had everyone thinking you had a solid 171 on your LSAT which is what everyone based their advice on, but if you don't have one yet and assume you're gonna get a 171 then a lot of this talk is moot.

Assuming you get that score though, you can apply to law school as a senior so there's no problem applying in the fall of 2016 before you graduate and matriculating in the fall of 2017.

BTW on URMs:

Which groups are considered URMs?

American Indians/Alaskan Natives, African Americans/Blacks, Mexican Americans, and Puerto Ricans are typically considered URM’s. Please note that there is a difference between Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and other types of Hispanics in the admissions process. Additionally, I would like to offer a small caveat to international students, who fall into a separate category of their own.

[R. Jeeves]

I did not study for the first LSAT. I am currently studying for the next six months to get it higher before I apply.

I'm chortling because you had everyone thinking you had a solid 171 on your LSAT which is what everyone based their advice on, but if you don't have one yet and assume you're gonna get a 171 then a lot of this talk is moot.

I read this as him saying that he got a 171 on the actual, officially administered LSAT without studying. Now he's studying for a retake.

But if that's not the case, then don't ponder the advice here too heavily - focus on getting that LSAT first.

[nuissance92]

Yes, that is an official LSAT score. I made sure and checked with my university about the transcripts yesterday, too.

Additionally, since I'm not really disclosing a specific URM detail, I will say for other posters looking at this thread that a substantial URM boost may not be seen for people out of those categories, but a great diversity statement expanding on being, for example, first generation, Cuban with average family income and your culture may not necessarily discount some sort of boost in Hispanic diversity (or with any other Hispanic not specific to the URM label); that was a situation I saw with about four students in different cycles from my university who most definitely saw a bump in admissions with lower scores (but that could also be attributed to my university's tier status combining with hispanic? Could be). Some law schools are also not specific in the Hispanic type question.

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[pancakes3]

You're so far ahead of the game with a cold-ish 171 and 3 semesters left to pull up your GPA without even getting into the URM bump.

[Ehrler]

Ivy + URM + >75th LSAT (when you retake) + holyshitcancer + Damn solid softs.

A quarter of LS classes have GPAs below their school's 25th (just saying because TLSers speak as though this isn't the truism it is). This is you. YHS entirely doable. Just get that score, which I'm sure you can.