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puerto rican male
gpas: 2.01, 3.75, 3.83
lsat: 165

I dropped out of my first school because I was having some personal problems and my family could no longer afford it. More specifically, my father had to stop working due to his health. I attended community college for a few semesters and managed to transfer into Rutgers New Brunswick. It took me about six years to get my degree. Should I retake the lsat? Where should I apply?

Garfeeld wrote:puerto rican male
gpas: 2.01, 3.75, 3.83
lsat: 165

I dropped out of my first school because I was having some personal problems and my family could no longer afford it. More specifically, my father had to stop working due to his health. I attended community college for a few semesters and managed to transfer into Rutgers New Brunswick. It took me about six years to get my degree. Should I retake the lsat? Where should I apply?

First figure out what your LSAC GPA would be. You won't have multiple GPA's when applying to schools. All of your grades from all three schools will be combined to make one GPA.

Your LSAT score is good. How much did you study in order to get that score? Do you think you could raise it?

What are your goals? Where do you want to work?

I'd like to attend the best school I can. I'm not exactly sure of what specialty, but I'm leaning towards international law. In regards to a particular region, I think I'd like to practice in either California or New York.

My practice tests averaged in the lower 170s. I started studying about 4 months in advance.

Will adcoms place more weight on the last couple of years? If so, how much does that matter?

Garfeeld wrote:I'd like to attend the best school I can. I'm not exactly sure of what specialty, but I'm leaning towards international law. In regards to a particular region, I think I'd like to practice in either California or New York.

My practice tests averaged in the lower 170s. I started studying about 4 months in advance.

If you were testing that much above what you got you should seriously consider retaking the LSAT. A 170+ can open lots of doors for you, and is a requirement for many of the top schools. Without knowing how many classes went into each of your three listed GPAs it is impossible to tell what your cumulative GPA will likely be.

Garfeeld wrote:I'd like to attend the best school I can. I'm not exactly sure of what specialty, but I'm leaning towards international law. In regards to a particular region, I think I'd like to practice in either California or New York.

My practice tests averaged in the lower 170s. I started studying about 4 months in advance.

Will adcoms place more weight on the last couple of years? If so, how much does that matter?

Okay well if you want to practice in Cali or NY then look at schools in those areas to apply to. I'm not great at giving advice on where to apply because I've only really concentrated on looking at schools I want to get into (mostly LA schools) so I'll leave that to someone else to help you with.

It sounds like you worked pretty hard for your score. I would say only retake if you really think that you can raise it. Why do you think you scored lower? Was it mostly just nerves? If it was, do you think you'll be less nervous the second time around since you already know what's going to go down? If so, maybe consider a retake.

An "upward trend" is a very very small soft but your LSAC GPA is what will really matter to them. Do you have access to your unofficial transcripts online? http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com has a GPA calculator that will help you figure out your LSAC GPA so you can have a better idea of what schools you are likely/unlikely to get into.

your URM status will help you significantly and just so you know, I would kill for your LSAT score

according to lawschoopredictor.com, 3.03

Garfeeld wrote:according to lawschoopredictor.com, 3.03

I know it sucks that it's much lower than your last GPA but its very good that it's above a 3.0.

Did you mess around on the predictor to see your chances at different schools? there is a URM box that you can check to get somewhat of an idea of your chances at schools in cali and new york

When you submit the your transcripts to LSAC they give a report that averages out your GPA. I am in the same boat you are in relation to GPA situation. Everyone keeps telling me upward trend either doesn't matter or very little help, but every time I read something from admission or deans they always mention it's importance. I attended a forum in Miami and every single admission counselor told me that that really like to see upward trends in GPA. So unless upward trend is a mass law school conspiracy to give ppl like us false hope I believe that they do like to see it. Good Luck

tas817 wrote:When you submit the your transcripts to LSAC they give a report that averages out your GPA. I am in the same boat you are in relation to GPA situation. Everyone keeps telling me upward trend either doesn't matter or very little help, but every time I read something from admission or deans they always mention it's importance. I attended a forum in Miami and every single admission counselor told me that that really like to see upward trends in GPA. So unless upward trend is a mass law school conspiracy to give ppl like us false hope I believe that they do like to see it. Good Luck

An upward GPA trend is always better than the same GPA with a flat trend, but you can't really make up a low GPA other than having a high LSAT.

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