GPA 3.26 > Brooklyn Law School? Forum

[Polycarp]

Hello,

What LSAT score do I need to get, in order to have a decent shot at Brooklyn Law School with a GPA of 3.26? I majored in Political Science, if that is relevant. I'm confident that I can score relatively high on the LSAT, though I have just begun to study, but I would like to have some idea as to how high my score needs to be to compensate for the low GPA.

I'll appreciate any comments.

[aliarrow]

Check out http://www.lawschoolpredictor.com and http://www.lawschoolnumbers.com

Off the top of my head - 159ish

[MrPapagiorgio]

Is there a reason as to why BLS is your top choice?

[Polycarp]

It's simply a very convenient school for me in several respects and I don't expect to be admitted to better Law Schools in New York City with my low GPA.

[aliarrow]

It's simply a very convenient school for me in several respects and I don't expect to be admitted to better Law Schools in New York City with my low GPA.

Its not that low. You can get Fordham with a 168 or so.

[JD2014]

Its not that low. You can get Fordham with a 168 or so.

There's a lot of negativity on this board about Brooklyn Law School, but it's definitely not an exaggeration to say don't go to Brooklyn unless you get a significant scholarship. The only way you'll get a scholarship to BLS is if your numbers are good enough to get into Fordham, so you're going to need to break 170 on the LSAT. If you do that, you'll have other options besides BLS and Fordham, even with a 3.26.

[Polycarp]

Does a potential scholarship result directly from a high LSAT score?

Regarding my GPA, do they take into account that my last several semesters were all 4.0 which brought my GPA up from a 2.5 in the first year? Unfortunately, I didn't take school seriously in my freshman year.

Since this has been mentioned, can anyone expand on the notion that Brooklyn Law School gets a lot of negativity on these boards? What is the reason? I'm new on these boards.

[aliarrow]

Does a potential scholarship result directly from a high LSAT score?

Regarding my GPA, do they take into account that my last several semesters were all 4.0 which brought my GPA up from a 2.5 in the first year? Unfortunately, I didn't take school seriously in my freshman year.

Since this has been mentioned, can anyone expand on the notion that Brooklyn Law School gets a lot of negativity on these boards? What is the reason? I'm new on these boards.

A scholarship will result from your index, a number calculated based on how they weigh your GPA and LSAT. A decent LSAT will be able to net you a signficant scholarship.
FYI, I'm 3.5/167 and I got 37.1k per year at BLS, which is about 75% of tuition.

The main thing that counts is your overall GPA as calculated by LSAC, however they will look at any grade trends (this doesn't usually mean much).

Brooklyn gets a bad rap because it's VERY expensive (46k tuition + ~20k cost of living) and yet only offers about a 5-10% chance of being able to land a high paying job than can pay back all your loans if you do go at full price.

[Polycarp]

Thank you.

Aren't other schools even more expensive? And by high paying job, I'm assuming you mean over $100,000?

[aliarrow]

Thank you.

Aren't other schools even more expensive? And by high paying job, I'm assuming you mean over $100,000?

There are cheaper options, typically public schools. Rutgers would be one example.
Brooklyn is especially expensive since its in New York with such a high cost of living.

Yes, high paying in New York is 140-160k, and about 5-10% of Brooklyn Grads land those jobs.

[Polycarp]

Well, I already live in NYC and have always lived here, so the cost of living is not an issue.

[aliarrow]

Well, I already live in NYC and have always lived here, so the cost of living is not an issue.

If you plan on living with parents or can fund COL without loans then thats a plus, but $46k tuition is still nothing to scoff at.

[Polycarp]

Absolutely, in fact, I have no idea how I'm going to pay for it, but the same goes for any other Law School. Even if it's $30k instead of $46, it's almost equally as challenging. By the way, how hard is it to get a loan to pay for a Law School, I mean cover the costs in their entirety? And thanks, I'll look into Rutgers, I haven't really considered it, because it's a little out of the way. I know there are substantial reductions for NJ state residents, unfortunately (in this case) I reside in NY.

[aliarrow]

Absolutely, in fact, I have no idea how I'm going to pay for it, but the same goes for any other Law School. Even if it's $30k instead of $46, it's almost equally as challenging. By the way, how hard is it to get a loan to pay for a Law School, I mean cover the costs in their entirety? And thanks, I'll look into Rutgers, I haven't really considered it, because it's a little out of the way. I know there are substantial reductions for NJ state residents, unfortunately (in this case) I reside in NY.

Law school loans come pretty easily.

The first $20,500 is pretty much guaranteed, all you need to do is fill out a FAFSA.
Anything in excess of that will have to be through GradPlus, which does run a credit check. You don't need any sort of credit history though, all you need is to not have an adverse credit history (debt that you haven't paid for >3 months, a foreclosure, bankruptcy, default on a loan). You can borrow up to the entire cost of attendance through gradplus (which is provided by the school, cost of attendance is tuition, fees, rent/food, transportation, books).

If you plan on living at home in NY I guess Rutgers isn't the greatest option since you won't qualify for in-state.

But first just take the LSAT and see how you do. Or at least start taking practice tests so you have an idea of how you'll do.