Top Law Schools

so as you can see this gpa is low, but the lsat is high, should i even attempt law school or should i take more undergrad classes, even though i've graduated, to raise my gpa?

tbird88 wrote:so as you can see this gpa is low, but the lsat is high, should i even attempt law school or should i take more undergrad classes, even though i've graduated, to raise my gpa?

That won't work, only classes before your first bachelor's degree are counted towards your LSAC GPA. Just apply broadly and widely, you will get in some T1's I bet, they will want your LSAT enough to take that GPA hit. Might as well send out applications and see how your cycle goes.

Def worth trying if being a lawyer is what you want. There are plenty of solid regional schools you'd be competitive at with a solid application submitted early. I think I even saw a profile on LSN with a ~2.2/170 and professional experience accepted early decision at Northwestern this year.

OG Loc wrote:Def worth trying if being a lawyer is what you want. There are plenty of solid regional schools you'd be competitive at with a solid application submitted early. I think I even saw a profile on LSN with a ~2.2/170 and professional experience accepted early decision at Northwestern this year.

It's definitely worth noting however, that this was obviously an exceptional applicant, and most likely an exception; don't consider this indicative of your potential cycle, unless you are similarly exceptional.

ED to Northwestern and apply to a whole bunch of T1's.

legalease9 wrote:ED to Northwestern and apply to a whole bunch of T1's.

Do you, OP, have any post-graduate work experience? If you don't have at least a year I'm not sure it would be the best strategy to ED to NU.

Knockglock wrote:

legalease9 wrote:ED to Northwestern and apply to a whole bunch of T1's.

Do you, OP, have any post-graduate work experience? If you don't have at least a year I'm not sure it would be the best strategy to ED to NU.

Yeah without work experience it wouldn't make sense to apply to NU. In that case, your best bet may be to take a year and get some really interesting and solid work experience, then apply ED to NU next cycle.

thanks everyone

wustl will bite.

OG Loc wrote:Def worth trying if being a lawyer is what you want. There are plenty of solid regional schools you'd be competitive at with a solid application submitted early. I think I even saw a profile on LSN with a ~2.2/170 and professional experience accepted early decision at Northwestern this year.

No, the lowest reported GPA acceptance on LSN ---> NU was 2.7 (172 LSAT). Good luck, though!

http://northwestern.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/0910/

ncct07 wrote:

OG Loc wrote:Def worth trying if being a lawyer is what you want. There are plenty of solid regional schools you'd be competitive at with a solid application submitted early. I think I even saw a profile on LSN with a ~2.2/170 and professional experience accepted early decision at Northwestern this year.

No, the lowest reported GPA acceptance on LSN ---> NU was 2.7 (172 LSAT). Good luck, though!

http://northwestern.lawschoolnumbers.com/stats/0910/

The 2.1/170-171 (can't remember) guy deleted/made private his LSN account. It was there, though.

well i got the 170 the 2nd time i took the lsat... do you think i should try to take it again to get a higher score to better my chances or just stick with what i have and apply to law schools.

tbird88 wrote:well i got the 170 the 2nd time i took the lsat... do you think i should try to take it again to get a higher score to better my chances or just stick with what i have and apply to law schools.

With your GPA, all the schools that would even consider taking you will already take you with a 170. Getting a 175 really wouldn't be that much more help. There's a bunch of Midwestern T1 schools that compete with each other ever year for high LSATs, though. WUSTL, Illinois, Minnesota and Indiana are all good bets, especially if you apply early. Applying late with numbers like yours will kill you, so get those LORs in. You should get into at least one of the above with your LSAT alone.

If you want to do better than these schools, your best option really is to work in a professional job for about two years to show you have become more mature since your terrible undergrad performance. Northwestern and Virginia have been known to take some lower GPAs if students have work experience and apply ED...but your GPA is lower than low. 80% or so of Northwestern's class has at least 2 years of work experience, so one year probably won't cut it with a GPA like yours. And although Virginia takes some sub 3.0 GPAs, I don't know if they'll ever go that low.

So your choices are go to WUSTL/Illinois/Minnesota/Indiana right now, or get 2 years of work experience under your belt (preferably corporate) and give Northwestern/Virginia a shot at ED (neither of which is a sure thing).

JCougar wrote:

tbird88 wrote:well i got the 170 the 2nd time i took the lsat... do you think i should try to take it again to get a higher score to better my chances or just stick with what i have and apply to law schools.

With your GPA, all the schools that would even consider taking you will already take you with a 170. Getting a 175 really wouldn't be that much more help.

Disagree. This last cycle there was a small chance at NU with WE and ED at 171; 170 didn't have a good chance, even with a much higher GPA.

Yes, you should try.

You have a shot at adequately ranked schools (top 25-35) range. Maybe BC will be willing to take a chance on you? Try for some t14s, but your lsat score is nothing phenomenal and your horrendous GPA will make the prospects of a t14 very very unlikely. You will certainly be admitted into the Toilets, but you may have a shot from the BC to American range. Make sure you have bitchin LOR, PS and a very good addendum. Perhaps, some t30 will let you in bc of your lsat!

Good luck. Hope it all works out!!