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I only had a 3.5 in my undergrad from a mediocre state school and I don't really have any extracurriculars. I want to pursue a career in politics and would like to go to a t14 for that reason. What would I need to get on my LSAT and what would I need to do for extracurriculars in a small town. Thanks!

171-ish would be the bare minimum to have good T14 chances. Higher in the 170s would be much preferable given your low GPA.

Law school won't help you much for a career in politics. It's only a good idea for being a lawyer.

Extracurriculars don't matter much.

Thanks for the reply! I never really cared about school or grades so its strange to hear 3.5 is low lol. But I get it.

Agreed with Airbender. A JD won't help you anymore than an MBA for politics unless you view like an AG as a political role. The basic route is: become known or successful/well connected in your community, run for office. Lawyers, business folks, even teachers, all have good avenues to do that- if you want to be in Sacramento or Nashville politics, it is much better to be from the area and you ought join societies and go to events etc. Law won't help you anymore than some other job- it is the connections you make that matter.

Don't go to law school if you don't want to be a lawyer.

Now you don't need to score anything on the LSAT. You're welcome.

I would like to be a lawyer. Politics are in the far future plans. The majority senators went to law school and many of them to top law schools. I was just giving justification for wanting to go to a t14 instead of chasing a scholarship or picking a place I'd like to practice and going to school there.

jimmybuttons wrote: ↑

Mon Sep 13, 2021 10:38 am

I was just giving justification for wanting to go to a t14 instead of chasing a scholarship or picking a place I'd like to practice and going to school there.

It's not a very good justification. There are lots of lawyers in the Senate because of the overlap between [factors that enable a career in politics] and [factors that make someone able and willing to attend law school] (e.g., being a born into a rich white family in a small state in the 1960's), not so much because one career enables the other. The overwhelming majority of practicing lawyers, the overwhelming majority of Harvard/Yale Law graduates, and the overwhelming majority of people who paid $300k for a law degree all have the same chance of becoming a senator: zero.

So why become a lawyer?

To practice law.