Top Law Schools

Hi everyone. I just found this forum and decided to post my scores and situation to get some opinions.

My decision to attend law school came in November of this year. I've been out of school after finishing my Master's in history in May of 2008. Needless to say, there weren't many jobs available, as I managed to graduate just as the markets were sliding. I've been working as an adjunct professor since then, with a brief stint as an EMT over the summer.

Anyway, I took the December LSAT after studying for about a month and got a 154. I realize this was short notice, but I wanted to apply for the priority application at the University of Florida. I'm registered for the June LSAT that's coming up. I'm from FL, though I now live in Phoenix. My undergrad GPA from the University of Tampa is 3.79.

I've been focusing my school search on Florida and New York. These are the two places that I could realistically see myself practicing, though anywhere on the East coast wouldn't be bad. So far I've submitted applications to UF, U of Miami, and Yeshiva.

I know that my LSAT is a little on the low side. But I'm wondering if my GPA, grad degree, work experience, and the fact that I'm Latino would help me at the higher ranked schools. Do you think I should be looking toward Tier 2 and 3 schools mostly?

Thanks for your help!

you are going to get bombarded with replies telling you to retake--and you should. if you can get up to the mid-low 160s, and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to, you'll be able to go to some good schools. also, URM depends on what kind of ancestry you have, I believe...Mexican and puerto rican I think? have a boost. your soft factors are fine but won't be game changers, I don't think.

housie07 wrote:you are going to get bombarded with replies telling you to retake--and you should. if you can get up to the mid-low 160s, and there's no reason you shouldn't be able to, you'll be able to go to some good schools. also, URM depends on what kind of ancestry you have, I believe...Mexican and puerto rican I think? have a boost. your soft factors are fine but won't be game changers, I don't think.

TITCR. If you can get up to 160+ and are Mexican or Puerto Rican, you can get into T14 or at least T25 schools. Retake and apply next cycle.

GPA is good, but LSAT is way below their 25th %tile. Retake.

...

That's a stellar GPA.

You'd be wasting it to not re-take and push into the 160's.

Retake.

You'll do better the second time -- look at the LSAC stats. People tend to at least jump a few points, and if you study the right stuff (go over your answers, figure out why you're missing questions), you can improve by more than that.

Good luck!

Thanks for all the input, guys! Retaking the LSAT and possibly waiting a cycle is an option that I wasn't really considering before, but I'm leaning toward it now. I wish I had signed up and studied for this Feb. LSAT, but I was told that it wouldn't really matter much because they average the scores. I researched that and have found a few schools that say they average. What's the truth on this? Is averaging of scores a common practice?

Also, is it worth to apply to some of these better schools now? When I take my next LSAT will the app be updated automatically, or will I have to reapply?

Thanks!

I think most schools take the higher score now, but regardless, getting a higher score always looks better.

kalvano wrote:I think most schools take the higher score now, but regardless, getting a higher score always looks better.

Thanks, that's good to here. I'm registered for the June LSAT now, so I'm going to study for this time around properly. I knew I screwed up my first time around while I was taking the test. I did really well on all of the sections except for logic games. For that one section I had skimmed over the question types to find the ones that I was best at. Unfortunately I overlooked one of them. So I spent way too much time on a few questions that I didn't get right. I would love to retake that one section again!

Anyway, do you think that I will have decisions by June? Or will the new LSAT score be taken into account by admissions?