3.3/180 Forum

[chenghsiang]

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[2014]

Wow intriguing prospect.
HYS pretty much never dip below 3.5, but on paper you sound good.
I imagine you will end up at CCN though realistically.

[chenghsiang]

Thanks for your reply.

So HYS don't care at all about my other credentials, including my grades in the LLM?

[PinkCow]

I tentatively agree with 2014, but I also think you ought to put out an app to at least one HYS - I'd say you have by far the best shot at Harvard. It's a shame to couple a 180 with such a low GPA, but you also have impressive (to me - I'm sure others are gonna poo-poo it because you didn't cure cancer) credentials, so I think you'd be remiss not to at least make a helluva an app and apply to HYS.

[09042014]

I don't want to troll for my school but Northwestern Law has a 2 year JD for LLM's. Might be something you'd want to look into if you don't get T6.

[straxen]

Thanks for your reply.

So HYS don't care at all about my other credentials, including my grades in the LLM?

Not enough. 3.3 is a big longshot. Given your softs, I'd definitely throw an app to H, but wouldn't count on it, YS even less likely but it couldn't hurt to apply I suppose.

[09042014]

I think his LLM grades might be more important than we might imagine. At least if i was an Adcom I'd consider them.

Apply and see what happens.

[AztecaRex]

Mannaggia la miseria...I thought I was good with languages...

I admit I'm not the most experienced poster around, but maybe if you had an addendum for your GPA? What happened Sophomore year? If you had to take extra hours at a job or a tragedy happened, I would think that one of HYS would take that into consideration (probably Harvard). I would anyway--you've got cool softs, and the 180 is amazing, of course. If you just got lazy that year, maybe not. Either way, I'd give it a shot--nothing ventured, nothing gained, after all.

[whymeohgodno]

Y and S are out for sure. Maybe H will bite but I honestly doubt it.

[dissonance1848]

OP is out at YS, prob H as well. Last year LSN had a 3.4/179 get in, but they went complete 10/08, and were WL before in.

CLS has a better chance, since they care a lot more about softs than H does (CLS and NYU have same numbers, but CLS has a much lower admit rate, so other stuff must matter).

Everything else I would say you are good to go, save for Penn where you need some essay, they YP like nuts.

[chenghsiang]

I don't want to troll for my school but Northwestern Law has a 2 year JD for LLM's. Might be something you'd want to look into if you don't get T6.

Somehow I missed this in my law school research. This one, right?

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academics/jd/jd2.html

[09042014]

I don't want to troll for my school but Northwestern Law has a 2 year JD for LLM's. Might be something you'd want to look into if you don't get T6.

Somehow I missed this in my law school research. This one, right?

http://www.law.northwestern.edu/academics/jd/jd2.html

Yea I was talking with a guy in my section who is in the program. You basically do the first year of law school, and then do a year of electives. I don't know if the admissions is different.

3.3/180 MIGHT get you some cash at Northwestern. Don't really know.

I'm also not sure how many other schools have a 2 year JD.

[chenghsiang]

Seems like I'm a definite in at Northwestern. I might as well send them my app.

[chenghsiang]

I should've started earlier and applied ED to a reach school, I guess...

[09042014]

I should've started earlier and applied ED to a reach school, I guess...

You still have some shot at NYU. You never really had a shot at the T6 outside of that though.

[dueprocess14]

I'm going to break from the pack here and say you should apply to all of the T6 you'd like to go to. There's certainly no guarantee of anything, and you might be risking a couple hundred dollars, but I think you're decently competitive despite the GPA. After all, even if you're the very lowest GPA, you're also the very highest LSAT, so you're pretty much an extreme splitter. This is especially true at HLS, b/c they've got so many seats to fill.

Further, I think your softs are really strong and I think they'd be a little crazy not to consider the LLM and insane language fluency as a very strong positive. Just be sure to provide a quick and concise addendum explaining your sophomore year slip and be sure to make it clear that whatever caused it won't interfere with your law school studies and that you've learned and moved on from it. No excuses, just the facts m'am. My general attitude is: anything worth investing $200k into is worth spending an extra $500 to improve your outcomes for that $200k investment. If it's any consolation, the fact that you're questionable for any of the T6 is a textbook example of why the law school admissions process is not based on substantive measures... Good luck!

[chenghsiang]

EDITED

[FutureApplicant]

I'm going to break from the pack here and say you should apply to all of the T6 you'd like to go to. There's certainly no guarantee of anything, and you might be risking a couple hundred dollars, but I think you're decently competitive despite the GPA. After all, even if you're the very lowest GPA, you're also the very highest LSAT, so you're pretty much an extreme splitter. This is especially true at HLS, b/c they've got so many seats to fill.

Further, I think your softs are really strong and I think they'd be a little crazy not to consider the LLM and insane language fluency as a very strong positive. Just be sure to provide a quick and concise addendum explaining your sophomore year slip and be sure to make it clear that whatever caused it won't interfere with your law school studies and that you've learned and moved on from it. No excuses, just the facts m'am. My general attitude is: anything worth investing $200k into is worth spending an extra $500 to improve your outcomes for that $200k investment. If it's any consolation, the fact that you're questionable for any of the T6 is a textbook example of why the law school admissions process is not based on substantive measures... Good luck!

+1

Unless application fees pose a serious burden, what's the downside? I'm not saying your chances are good; they're not. But Yale especially does not (based on LSN) appear to just blindly take the people with 177+/3.9+ numbers. They review applications thoroughly, and with a 180 and such strong language capabilities there may be a chance.

That said, there's no question it's a long shot at HYS, perhaps most so at Stanford since they seem to place so much value on GPA's. If you're against throwing money at long shot propositions, then all of HYS are most likely (statistically) a waste of effort.

[FutureApplicant]

Lawschoolpredictor.com, with just your numbers and no consideration for soft factors, shows you as "weak consider" at Yale and "consider" at Harvard and Stanford. I know LSP is imperfect, but "Consider" seems to me worth an application.

[Mike12188]

Congrats on the 180.

I can't give you any advice on the languages and stuff although I think you have good softs and they would only be a plus. I would advise not to write an addendum for your grades in science courses, I would think it would only hurt you. Take into account I'm a 0L in the same position but the consensus on this forum is that a grade addendum is only worthy if there was something out of the ordinary that you were dealing with at the time. I would love to write an addendum for my Freshman year but I have no excuse except the fact that I didn't take Chem and Calc II seriously. I switched to Poli Sci after that

If I had a 180 I would def shell out the extra cash for an app to Harvard. I assume the worst case scenario you end up at CCN. Good luck.

[chenghsiang]

EDITED

[Kretzy]

I'd echo some of the thoughts above: apply to all 3 of HYS. I can't speak to Harvard/Yale, but Stanford lets in folks with GPAs lower than a 3.3 every year, and it really can't hurt to throw your hat in the ring.

Stanford also gives you a chance to show your love for them through the Stanford-specific LORs you can send. Basically, do whatever you can, and see what happens. (I'm not whoring for SLS, it's the only one who's process I understand well enough to give advice for).

[whymeohgodno]

I'd echo some of the thoughts above: apply to all 3 of HYS. I can't speak to Harvard/Yale, but Stanford lets in folks with GPAs lower than a 3.3 every year, and it really can't hurt to throw your hat in the ring.

Stanford also gives you a chance to show your love for them through the Stanford-specific LORs you can send. Basically, do whatever you can, and see what happens. (I'm not whoring for SLS, it's the only one who's process I understand well enough to give advice for).

Most of them are URMs I'd guess.

[mst]

Might end up at CCN, and that's not bad considering a 3.3 UG GPA... And NYU has an awesome international law program, whatever that means, so there's that. (I assume you might be interested in that Mr. 10 languages)

[Ginj]

I agree with above poster. Apply wherever you want to go and see what happens. But, one condition.... keep us posted on your cycle.