Best option for TX if I cant get into UT Austin? Forum

[Tiny123]

My family just moved to TX, Dallas to be exact, but I love Houston and have no problem working in the area.

UT Austin was my top choice, then I realized there is no way I can overcome the GPA that was caused by my previous math major. I hate it and all of my major related class were between C level. (I didnt pick that major, my parents did)

Now my GPA is 2.98, I still got 2 semester and a summer, my hope is bring it up to 3.1-3.2.
Dec LSAT I got a 163, retake in June maybe Oct if needed. Some soft, decent, but nothing too special.

I checked all the other school in the area beside Austin, but employment rate of those schools are kinda low on Law school transparency, it got me wonder if is a good idea to go out-state for law school then apply job back to Houston/Dallas area?
Or is just better to pick a school in TX and hope for the best?

Like I said before in other posts, I am an intentional student still waiting for my green card and the wait time is about 5-6 years, that means I will still need couple years of work visa sponsorship after graduating law school. So I probably only can work for law firms, maybe only middle to big law because I don't think small firm give sponsorship.

Scholarship can be nice, but is not 100% necessary, my parents probably can pay my tuition anyways.

Thank you so much

[lymenheimer]

It's generally UT for Texas, SMU for Dallas, UofH for Houston. You will definitely want to retake if you want UT, it's doable. Will have to pull a 170, but that is not impossible to do. You look to be okay numbers-wise for SMU and Dallas, but if you want to make the payments easier for your parents, I'd retake and bump your LSAT as high as possible for better scholarship options. As far as biglaw work, you can find a lot about the Texas market by looking through old threads. Zuck or BVest will probably come in and give you the scoop, but if you look at the placement statistics you can see how difficult it will be to get biglaw from SMU and UofH...even from UT it's far from a lock.

[BigZuck]

Low GPA, lack of strong ties, and international student status make this tough

Generally if you want TX big law I would say go to a T14 (ideally, like, Harvard or something) over UT. But the lack of strong ties points to UT if you can get in.

SMU/UH are fine schools with modest career goals (small firm, local government, things like that) but I don't think they are justifiable with big law goals. If you did one of those it would have to be SMU in my opinion, and you would have to play up the family ties hard and crush it grade wise which is unlikely.

My gut says if the GPA is too low for UT but you can get into a splitter friendly T14 like Northwestern or UVA that would be your best bet. Just keep in mind that TX big law might not happen and you would have to have your sights set on NYC big law as well. I don't think any T14 is worth sticker but I guess it's your parents money, not mine.

If you end up with like a 3.1/163 I don't think law school is really going to make sense for you.

[BigZuck]

Assuming you still have the option of traveling the world I would still do that:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=253777

[Tiny123]

Assuming you still have the option of traveling the world I would still do that:

http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=253777

I already took a year off, and I did travel quiet a bit. Be honest my GPA for the past couple semesters were pretty decent (3.6+), but since I already had over 120 semester hours, it didn't help much. Even if I can get 3.7 average for the next 2 semester and 1 summer, my overall will land somewhere around 3.15-3.25.As for LSAT goes, I m gonna do my best, however since my gpa is way below 25% for both northwestern and UVA, do you think I have a shot if I can get a higher LSAT? (Something like 170ish)

Thanks

[BigZuck]

Play around with www.mylsn.info to get a sense of your chances with different LSAT scores

[Poldy]

Your GPA doesn't rule you out of UT if you break 170. Mine was worse than yours and I was accepted with a decent scholarship.

[Tiny123]

Your GPA doesn't rule you out of UT if you break 170. Mine was worse than yours and I was accepted with a decent scholarship.

Hey, thanks for the confidence. Also do you think is a good idea to early decision on UT? it said Nonresidents admitted by Early Decision receive resident tuition plus a $1,000 stipend for each of their three years of law school. Does that sound like a good deal or I should just stick with RD?

Thanks

[Poldy]

Your GPA doesn't rule you out of UT if you break 170. Mine was worse than yours and I was accepted with a decent scholarship.

Hey, thanks for the confidence. Also do you think is a good idea to early decision on UT? it said Nonresidents admitted by Early Decision receive resident tuition plus a $1,000 stipend for each of their three years of law school. Does that sound like a good deal or I should just stick with RD?

Thanks

I don't know anything about ED vs. RD. I applied in March.