Top Law Schools

Hello,
I'm currently an undergrad at a top 5 liberal arts college, considering applying to law school in the next few years (interested in intellectual property law in the biotechnology field).
Although I haven't taken the actual LSAT yet, I've taken a couple of practice tests and scored between 173-176. I scored 2380/2400 on the SAT, for anyone who believes that could be an indicator of actual LSAT performance. I consider myself strong in both the humanities (writing, in particular) and sciences. Though I still have a year of undergrad left, my main concerns are about 'soft' factors. My extracurriculars consist of extensive laboratory research experience (including international experience) and two on-campus jobs. I'm pretty sure my letters of rec will be good, but nothing really expresses a particular inclination towards law. Which schools should I be looking at? Columbia, UChicago?

wa waaa.. retake

Standard advice is to get an actual score first and then come back for questions. If you hit 173+ with that GPA (and from a top UG no less) you should be aiming Y/H/S. The higher the LSAT the better chances though of course. CCN should pretty much be a lock if you have that GPA with 173+.

Lawquacious wrote:Standard advice is to get an actual score first and then come back for questions. If you hit 173+ with that GPA (and from a top UG no less) you should be aiming Y/H/S. The higher the LSAT the better chances though of course. CCN should pretty much be a lock if you have that GPA with 173+.

Thanks-- I'm planning on taking the LSAT this September, once I'm actually back in the States. I guess the main thing I'm worried about is my lack of "interest" in law school on my resume..but hopefully numbers (if I can actually perform well on the LSAT) can make up for that?

cerralis wrote:

Lawquacious wrote:Standard advice is to get an actual score first and then come back for questions. If you hit 173+ with that GPA (and from a top UG no less) you should be aiming Y/H/S. The higher the LSAT the better chances though of course. CCN should pretty much be a lock if you have that GPA with 173+.

Thanks-- I'm planning on taking the LSAT this September, once I'm actually back in the States. I guess the main thing I'm worried about is my lack of "interest" in law school on my resume..but hopefully numbers (if I can actually perform well on the LSAT) can make up for that?

yes, id take 2 points more on the LSAT instead of a legal internship/prelaw society anyday. dont worry, that biology major makes you a unique candidate, just maybe tie it in with a sentence in your PS and you should be golden

take the real lsat and get back to me homie

Great, thank you all for your advice! Sorry for the premature post, I'll come back once I actually have a score in hand. I guess I'll focus on maintaining my GPA + studying for the LSAT, and hoping that being a female science major makes me something of a unique applicant.

HowdyYall wrote:

cerralis wrote:

Lawquacious wrote:Standard advice is to get an actual score first and then come back for questions. If you hit 173+ with that GPA (and from a top UG no less) you should be aiming Y/H/S. The higher the LSAT the better chances though of course. CCN should pretty much be a lock if you have that GPA with 173+.

Thanks-- I'm planning on taking the LSAT this September, once I'm actually back in the States. I guess the main thing I'm worried about is my lack of "interest" in law school on my resume..but hopefully numbers (if I can actually perform well on the LSAT) can make up for that?

yes, id take 2 points more on the LSAT instead of a legal internship/prelaw society anyday. dont worry, that biology major makes you a unique candidate, just maybe tie it in with a sentence in your PS and you should be golden

Does being a science major really have any kind of impact? I am a science/English double major, science/arts double minor, but I never really thought of my major/minor choices as a factor at all.

fltanglab wrote:

HowdyYall wrote:

cerralis wrote:

Lawquacious wrote:Standard advice is to get an actual score first and then come back for questions. If you hit 173+ with that GPA (and from a top UG no less) you should be aiming Y/H/S. The higher the LSAT the better chances though of course. CCN should pretty much be a lock if you have that GPA with 173+.

Thanks-- I'm planning on taking the LSAT this September, once I'm actually back in the States. I guess the main thing I'm worried about is my lack of "interest" in law school on my resume..but hopefully numbers (if I can actually perform well on the LSAT) can make up for that?

yes, id take 2 points more on the LSAT instead of a legal internship/prelaw society anyday. dont worry, that biology major makes you a unique candidate, just maybe tie it in with a sentence in your PS and you should be golden

Does being a science major really have any kind of impact? I am a science/English double major, science/arts double minor, but I never really thought of my major/minor choices as a factor at all.

You say it yourself in your profile that your GPA is low due to the science courses you took. If someone is keeping a humanities GPA in a hard science or engineering, law schools may see that as a good soft. Also, there are much fewer people applying to law school with 3.8+ hard science GPA's than there are people with 3.8+ liberal arts/humanities GPA's.