lawschoolgirl312 wrote:Or do you think I should quit my job. I work at a pretty prestige law firm as a paralegal, and I truly enjoy working there...but most likely, I won't be able to continue after August but my work has put in so much effort to accommodate my schedule that I feel bad...
So i guess the question is.
GPA/LSAT/or Work
Wait, so you're going to quit your job in August regardless?
So, to be clear, your question is: which is greater, the marginal value (towards law school admissions) of
(a) approximately two extra months of work as a paralegal at a prestigious law firm;
(b) the chance of an additional ~2 points on your LSAT due to your additional time studying; or
(c) the chance of a GPA increase from 3.56 - 3.60, due to your summer classes?
Assuming re (a) that you don't need the two month's of $$, re (b) that you're talking about a couple LSAT points + in the 160s, and re (c) that you haven't gotten a degree yet and therefore summer school classes will actually boost your LSAC GPA, I think that the LSAT is easily most beneficial. The difference between a 164 and 166, or a 166 and 168, or a 168 and 170, or a 170 and 172, etc, is greater than the difference between a 3.54 and a 3.6, and
both will be of substantially greater help to you than two extra months of work at a prestigious law firm as a paralegal (assuming, that is, you've worked there for more than a couple of months already). I don't think it's that close -- 2-3 points of LSAT (in the 160s/low 170s) > 0.05 points of GPA >>>>> 2 extra months of work experience as a paralegal anywhere.
That said, your work experience is guaranteed whereas the other two "bonuses" are probability-based: you're assuming that more studying will = a better score, and that extra classes will = an increased GPA. I'm assuming the increased GPA is pretty likely because you'll be taking joke classes. Given that, I think it becomes a tougher question between the GPA and the LSAT. If it were me, I'd quit your job, take classes to boost your GPA, and then spend most of your extra time studying for the LSAT. There is diminishing value to every additional hour spent studying for the LSAT at a certain point, and if all you're doing is taking classes and studying for the LSAT, I think that gives you more than enough LSAT time to get your scores close to your max potential.
tl;dr: I think you can get the LSAT boost and the GPA boost together, and the cost of quitting your job early is relatively minimal--especially if you don't plan on trying to work at this firm as a lawyer. Quit your job, take the classes, and study your butt off.
If I want to be competitive with a 3.5 GPA, what should I aim for my LSAT score to be?