Soft Factors Forum

[mimi82]

My gpa is 3.4 and I just finished taking the LSAT. I expect in the low 150's. I've been reading a lot about the soft factors. So I figured I'd list some stuff and see if folks think they would make a difference. My first pick school is American University's part time program.

28 AA female/worked fulltime and went to school fulltime the entire time in undergrad (no money from family because they thought it was a dumb idea to go to school...sorry I'm still bitter)/currently work as contractor with federal gov't as an intel analyst with human trafficking issues/went on trips overseas as part of the Presidential Advance Team with Bush and Obama/worked as research assistant for speechwriters of one of the Cabinet members/first in my family to go to college/ I have no community service experience because I was too busy supporting myself and to me it doesn't make sense to mentor other kids when my niece and nephews need my help because my sister is a single mother/and I guess I come from a disadantage household.

Give me your opinion please. Thank you.

[Dex]

My gpa is 3.4 and I just finished taking the LSAT. I expect in the low 150's. I've been reading a lot about the soft factors. So I figured I'd list some stuff and see if folks think they would make a difference. My first pick school is American University's part time program.

28 AA female/worked fulltime and went to school fulltime the entire time in undergrad (no money from family because they thought it was a dumb idea to go to school...sorry I'm still bitter)/currently work as contractor with federal gov't as an intel analyst with human trafficking issues/went on trips overseas as part of the Presidential Advance Team with Bush and Obama/worked as research assistant for speechwriters of one of the Cabinet members/first in my family to go to college/ I have no community service experience because I was too busy supporting myself and to me it doesn't make sense to mentor other kids when my niece and nephews need my help because my sister is a single mother/and I guess I come from a disadantage household.

Give me your opinion please. Thank you.

Bold is going to help a lot, italics is going to help a little. Everything else, other than your GPA and LSAT, probably won't matter much.

[bk1]

Depending on your actual score, I don't think it looks that good.

AA is going to help, but being low 150's is killer. I would suggest retaking if at all possible and aiming for as high as you can, especially considering going to GW or Georgetown's PT programs would be better than AU's.

[Grizz]

Depending on your actual score, I don't think it looks that good.

AA is going to help, but being low 150's is killer. I would suggest retaking if at all possible and aiming for as high as you can, especially considering going to GW or Georgetown's PT programs would be better than AU's.

Yeah AU is bad new bears. DC is just so tough right now. Retake, because your softs, while cool, won't let you outdo your numbers.

[kkklick]

Everyone has great softs, that's a fact. Grades is usually the distinguishing factor and a low LSAT would be basically bombing 1/2 major decision-making factors. Re-take.

[FuManChusco]

Study more. AA is really the only soft making a difference for you. Low 150s is awful though and I wouldn't touch anything outside GT/GW with DC is such bad shape. Also, any reason why you decided to use slashes instead of correct punctuation?

[Adjudicator]

I think those are pretty good soft factors, but not enough to make up for a 3.4 and an LSAT in the 150s. You will be an intriguing applicant but it will be difficult to get in anywhere that you are below both medians.

Now, if you had a 170+ LSAT, being an AA female with those softs, you might have a shot almost anywhere.

[FiveSermon]

I stopped reading at AA.

[mimi82]

Thanks for the honest opinions. And yes there are many other law schools in DC but I'm not going to law school for the money. Although I hope I do make enough to pay those student loans off. I'm going because of the type of work I want to do/have a passion for. Luckily I'm already working in the field I want to, I just want to move up and be able to do more. American has the exact programs I need to do this. So I'm not trying to get a 170...nor can I...believe me I've tried. I just want to get a score good enough to get in AU.

And I did see someone on LSN that had a 153 and 2.99 AA female that got accepted into American. Shocked me but its nice to know its possible.