Top Law Schools

Chances for South Carolina, Ole Miss or Charleston? Out of state.

I have been working for a law firm for about a year, since graduation.
A few additional questions:

Can a relative (former judge) write a letter of recommendation, how does this look?

I could apply as URM (Asian), would this help my chances, since these schools are predominantly Caucasian?

Flame on, thanks.

Asian is not URM.

I'd say:

OUT
OUT
OUT

Your GPA is too low. 2.3's and 170s wind up in TT and TTT sometimes. You ahve a 154.

retake/

Thanks for the input, retake it is.

Is having a relative write your rec. frowned upon?

Would applying at these schools as asian help me, since they are minority starved?

EOO wrote:Would applying at these schools as asian help me, since they are minority starved?

Technically, you aren't a minority. Only Native Americans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Blacks/African Americans are minorities.

Some speculate small bonuses are given to Hispanics in general.

EOO wrote:Thanks for the input, retake it is.

Is having a relative write your rec. frowned upon?

Would applying at these schools as asian help me, since they are minority starved?

Ole Miss is not minority starved. There are many East and South Asians attending there, as well as a large number of African Americans.

I think you are out at all three. You will not get far in law school admissions with a 2.3 GPA, unless you can explain it away somehow. I recommend considering another line of work. This is coming from someone who often wishes he had chosen another line of work, and who had better numbers and attends a better law school and has good grades.

BrownBears09 wrote:Technically, you aren't a minority. Only Native Americans, Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Blacks/African Americans are minorities.

Some speculate small bonuses are given to Hispanics in general.

To be specific, technically the OP is a minority, however the OP is not a URM.

Anyone else notice that as of late, this forum has been bombarded with average LSATs and terrible GPAs?

I predict you're out at all of the schools listed. Your gpa is really rough and your LSAT is not high enough to compensate for it. Your work experience is pretty ordinary.

I would not suggest having a relative write the LOR, unless you worked for him/her. The guidance on LORs is that it matters less who the recommender is than what he/she is able to say about you. Having a blood relation or friend write it will diminish any value the recommender is able to bring to the table.

And as others have said, asians are not deemed URM in the legal field and thus you will not receive any noticeable admissions numbers boost. With your gpa, you'll have to get some temporal separation between you and your undergrad, and blow the LSAT out of the water.

MrPapagiorgio wrote:Anyone else notice that as of late, this forum has been bombarded with average LSATs and terrible GPAs?

It may be characteristic of people who decide late-cycle to apply to law school. This group is probably, on the aggregate, less numerically qualified since they haven't been obsessing about it for years.

Please, for the love of everything holy, retake (if only to get some $$ from those TTT schools).

TommyK wrote:

MrPapagiorgio wrote:Anyone else notice that as of late, this forum has been bombarded with average LSATs and terrible GPAs?

It may be characteristic of people who decide late-cycle to apply to law school. This group is probably, on the aggregate, less numerically qualified since they haven't been obsessing about it for years.

I don't really look at the LSAT for law school success. I know that it has the highest correlation to 1L grades, but even then the r value isn't that strong and can be clouded by the ability to practice and "learn" the test. But a 2.3 GPA? Come on, if you can't get above a 3.3/3.5 in undergrad, how the hell can you expect to excel at law school?

MrPapagiorgio wrote:

TommyK wrote:

MrPapagiorgio wrote:Anyone else notice that as of late, this forum has been bombarded with average LSATs and terrible GPAs?

It may be characteristic of people who decide late-cycle to apply to law school. This group is probably, on the aggregate, less numerically qualified since they haven't been obsessing about it for years.

I don't really look at the LSAT for law school success. I know that it has the highest correlation to 1L grades, but even then the r value isn't that strong and can be clouded by the ability to practice and "learn" the test. But a 2.3 GPA? Come on, if you can't get above a 3.3/3.5 in undergrad, how the hell can you expect to excel at law school?

Ask half the class at northwestern. I don't think shit gpas are doing all that poorly there.

bk187 wrote:

MrPapagiorgio wrote:

TommyK wrote:

MrPapagiorgio wrote:Anyone else notice that as of late, this forum has been bombarded with average LSATs and terrible GPAs?

It may be characteristic of people who decide late-cycle to apply to law school. This group is probably, on the aggregate, less numerically qualified since they haven't been obsessing about it for years.

I don't really look at the LSAT for law school success. I know that it has the highest correlation to 1L grades, but even then the r value isn't that strong and can be clouded by the ability to practice and "learn" the test. But a 2.3 GPA? Come on, if you can't get above a 3.3/3.5 in undergrad, how the hell can you expect to excel at law school?

Ask half the class at northwestern. I don't think shit gpas are doing all that poorly there.

I will get right on it.

if you can't get above a 3.3/3.5 in undergrad, how the hell can you expect to excel at law school?

I would imagine that many people with high LSATs and mediocre GPAs below your 3.3/3.5 level didnt get a low gpa because they couldn't handle the material. For me anyways I think hundreds of thousands of $ of debt and competition to get a job might motivate me to put in a little more effort than my UG days... and I won't be in a fraternity.

I always thought anything above a 3.0 was a good gpa.

Sandro wrote:

if you can't get above a 3.3/3.5 in undergrad, how the hell can you expect to excel at law school?

I would imagine that many people with high LSATs and mediocre GPAs below your 3.3/3.5 level didnt get a low gpa because they couldn't handle the material. For me anyways I think hundreds of thousands of $ of debt and competition to get a job might motivate me to put in a little more effort than my UG days... and I won't be in a fraternity.

I always thought anything above a 3.0 was a good gpa.

What? No more TLS elitism? I'm actually starting to miss it.